I recently purchased a Samsung 50" 1080P Plasma and Samsung Blue Ray Player.  I'm very satisfied with both pieces of equipment.  I would recommend spending the extra $350.00 to have your Plasma calibrated though.  It will keep it from burning so hot, which equals less wear and tear on hardware, and will define the colors so they look more real to life.  The blacks will have definition to them and not be so blocked and solid.  The set-ups you see in the stores are factory set and are way too color rich.  This is simply marketing on the factory and retail end too assure you will see the displays from across the building.

If you buy HDMI equipment, make sure and buy the best cabling.  Buy cabling that has gold anodized tips and prongs.  You'll spend more, but the end result is that the transfer of information will be at its peak.  You spend top dollar for your hardware, so spend top dollar for the transfer process.  I would also recommend buying a power regulator unit.  Monster has good cabling for high end hardware, however, stay away from Monster's power regulator box.  In side by side testing, the Monster power box didn't live up to the standard against Powermax.  I purchased a Powermax power regulator and all of my equipment is plugged into it.  It takes the place of a power strip.  It will keep the right amount of juice you need to each component and help your home theater produce the best picture and sound that it was was intended to produce.  Again, you spend a lot for the hardware, then keep it safe.  Powermax will also replace any piece of hardware that gets fried by lightning or power surges due to the failure of the Powermax box.  Can't beat that.

I am extremely impressed with Blue Ray.  It has the best reproduction of picture out there right now.  You will find higher levels of "great" out there depending on the brand you buy, but there is a point of diminishing return where the eye can only see beyond a certain resolution.  Don't throw dollars at things that don't matter.  Pioneer has one of the best Blue Rays out there... but pricey.

Lots of info on this equipment, so read up on it.  My wife won't let me hook my rig up to the 50", so I couldn't tell you how it works on that end.  Although, that Plasma you're thinking about has everything you need to hook up your rig to it.  Just read the instruction book and you should be able to get it done.

I didn't care to go to the trouble of hoping I did the adjustments correctly.  It was worth the dollars to have someone else do it for me.

The set will look a bit bland after adjusting.  As Tyler said, give it a week or so before re-adjusting.  If you do readjust, make sure to log all your new settings after calibration down.  Then you know where to go back to if needed.  I took my color up 3 notches from calibration simply because I did want a little richer look.  Remember though, the more you add back, the hotter the set will burn.

As far as burn in goes, it still can happen, but your set will have burn out programs that can eliminate that from becoming permanent if it does happen.  I haven't had any issue thus far with mine.  Plasmas are glass screens, and like Tyler mentions, location is key to great viewing.  Glare becomes a factor and that's one of the major differences between LCD and Plasma.  Although, you can purchase Plasmas with a low glare screen.  The down side to that is you'll diminish some of the richness Plasmas are known for.

Oh, by the way, a fantastic remote to invest into is the Logitech/Harmony 890 Remote.  It'll run you close to $400.00, but it will program any and all your remotes into it.  I have a Bose Lifestyle 35 Surround Sound, Bose patio speakers, Blue Ray Disk, Samsung Plasma and a Sony 6 Disk Changer all on the Harmony.  The Harmony Remote has software you load onto your PC and you program and run updates from there.  It comes with a USB cable to connect with.  This remote can also be programed to dim lights in your house, open and close electric blinds on your windows by the use of Z Wave.  It's an awesome remote if you have multiple remotes laying around.

Well, maybe Ed, maybe not. You've been recently in the market for one and have probably become pretty familiar with the lastest advances in the tech. I sold AV equipment for about 10 years, but it's been over 4 years now since I was in the game, and we all know how fast tech moves.

Edited by Tyler Lowe - 12 Oct 2007 at 2:41am

Well, that'll teach me to ask before agreeing to terms.  I'll check into the disk so I can have it if I need to do it again.  Of course, at the store that offers the service, they're not going to tell you that that disk is available.  All in all, I am very pleased with the service that was performed.  Would've rather spent $50.00. 

Thanks for the input on the disk, Tyler.  Where the hell were ya when I bought the damn thing?

Hehe, no problem Ed.

This is another area where a non audiophile is going to be completely thrilled with the easy adjustments Adapt IQ allows. Bose is probably the *best* system for someone that does not want to have to figure out how to use a sound meter and noise generator to find correct speaker placement, and/or does not want to sacrifice a room's appearance to the audio gods. What took me hours of adjustments with my system, fiddling with delays and sound adjustments, can be done in minutes with a Bose Lifestyle (or at least aproximated so closely that the average user will never know the difference). Had I worked for a Bose dealer, we'd probably have the same audio system right now .