Have your say & ask the experts

hdmad, thankyou, at last one happy Sony owner.  Really am struggling now with decision as both sets excellent.  Have seen PQ on PZ80/81/85 and really good 800b meant to be better.  Am too concerned refernce screen burn / phospher trails / power consumption on plasmas.  But then the LCD probs.  Must admit was blown away by black level on panny plasmas, but my friend hasjust got a W4000 Sony, and set up "in house" looks awesome.

Might wait till Jan sales and see which one has more flexibilty in price.  Still leaning towards Panny tho. 

True Blue, just let yours eyes do the talking cause what is good to one person might be different to you.  This whole thing is very subjective and it is easy to get caught up in hype and technologie cause I did just that but your eyes won't let you down.  Happy viewing!

hdmad is of course right go with what your eyes and insticts say. we are all guilty of overanalyzing stuff and being blinded by specs wish it was all as simple as do i want a red one or blue one. choose one and dont look back.

Yeah hdmad is right. I was having the same problem. I coundlnt decide between sony plasma and sony w4500. Ive always liked pannys. My parents have one. I went and compared the sony and panny but i just  prefered the sony. Thought it was brighter and slightly better picture. I had the remotes but just preffered the lcd sony, which i didnt expect. I know there is a big forum on problems but i met someone who had one and he said no problems what so ever. Went in the sony shop and they said they had no returns due to problems. Internet forums always gets people complaining. Yes there is some dodgy sonys out there but i doubt they are anywhere near the scale that everyone thinks. Sony sells millions of tvs. If everyone was deffective they wouldnt sell. As clare has said also, whathifi have had 3 w4500s and no problems, so i would just buy the one you prefer. Go see for yourself and make your choice.

Just bought the PZ85 - recommended. Nice picture even on most SD channels and excellent picture through my upscaling Denon 1940 DVD. Was originally going for the PZ80 but saw the 85 in the shop and preferred it (also liked the design a little more). Got mine for £888 from PRC Direct (good service).

Was thinking of the W4500 (to the point of almost clicking on the 'Place Order' button) but then went to see it in the shop. Too stark for my liking, looking like the screen was covered in vaseline when watching SD, and my girlfriend said she couldn't watch it for more than 5 mins without getting a headache. Plasma on the other hand was much smoother, easier on the eye (but can still do vibrant if that's what you want). Found out that Plasma tends to be the better technology (at least for larger screens) but LCD is cheaper for the manufacturers to make as they produce it in warehouse size sheets which are then cut to size whereas each plasma screen is made as one.

So, that's the PZ85 - if you can go for the 800 then even better.

Thanks everyone, mind now decided on Panny PZ800, question is now or January?????

Sound choice! It may lack some of the fine detail the sony displays (very slightly) but is better imo in every other respect.

.....and as many have said before, you need to be in a specialist retailer, watching under 'home' conditions - trying to make a judgement in a large store is a disaster waiting to happen.