Has anyone jumped on the 4K television bandwagon? Any thoughts?

My trusty DLP is dying and I need to decide if I should cheap out and buy a plasma, go mid-stream and buy a projector or go all the way and get a 4K television. 4K projector is NOT currently being considered.

I would hardly call getting a plasma "cheaping out", quite the opposite, if you can swing the purchase of the now out-of-production Panasonic VT or ZT series 60 or 65" panel there is really no finer image available currently.

The bandwidth issues that there are for 4K will mean any kind of "broadcast" including streaming is just not very likely to be in the cards and the degree to which the content owners like Sony want to keep the 4K owners under their thumb really concern me...

Eventually the manufacturing costs of Organic Light Emitting Diodes ought to be closer to the current plasma cost but I would not invest in that technology until 4K density is more common.

A 4K projector would of course have LOTS more potential for really knocking your socks off but the other factors that go into not just resolution but also an extended color space and more tightly defined specs for dynamic range (which Dolby is working on...) could be the trigger for a whole new era of "beyond UHD" sets but like other "format wars" the early adopters will get burned.

I'd agree with renov8r. A lot of people like being early adopters and have the finances to do so, but I'm not in that boat. Plasma displays look great and they don't suffer when you're at an off angle. Get a nice Panasonic plasma and I'm sure you'll be happy with it.

Cheaping out may not have been the best phrase. What I meant by that is I would probably stay with my current 50"ish form factor rather than jumping up in size and price. If I do that I can get a good quality plasma for 1/4 what I paid for my DLP projector back when I bought it.

I've owned DLP, LCD and Plasma and by far the plasma has the nicest picture.

Plasma sounds like the way to go.

Hmmm, I wonder if I can fit a 60" in my current space...

Well I finally had to put the old girl down: The DLP is dead.

I am now the proud owner of a 51" plasma.

And I also am upgrading to the OppO BDP-103 as one of the guys at work was selling his to upgrade to a -105. Everyone wins.

Can't wait to get it all set up.

Well I am going to resurrect this thread. Can't believe it's been 3 years. But I have gone through the entire 4K plasma roller coaster. I have been through 3 Samsung 4K TV's in the past year. Every single one I have sent back to Best Buy. The most recent one was their KS-8000 65 inch. It was better than the two I went through last year but still unacceptable. There are just things with 4k tv's, primarily LCD that I cannot live with. I ended up finding a ridiculous deal on a Panasonic VT30 65 inch and have had that in my home for the past two weeks. Hands down, the BEST picture I have ever seen. Throw it in THX mode and tweaked a couple of settings and I feel like I am in a movie theater. I was watching hockey last night and was blown away by what I saw. Going plasma, especially the higher end, top of the line ones like the VT and ZT series from Panasonic, is by no means cheaping out. In my opinion, you are taking a step up from 4K LCD TV's. I will watch this plasma until it dies on me. Hopefully by then, OLED will be in it's prime and will be more affordable.

I have never understood the decisions to stop making Plasma and DLP TVs. Both are the absolute best for watching sports.

The Samsungs aren't that great. Mine is a JS8500. The picture is almost okay, but plasma was far better, but the Samsung firmware is also terrible, and regularly blanks out. OLED looks good though.

Funny that you bring this up at this particular time HiFiJeff. I'm once again looking at 4K TVs and I'm really struggling with the decision to go with either the Sony 850D or 930D or paying the extra $$$$ and going straight to OLED.

Not a fan of Samsung so won't be looking at those.

I'm really afraid that if I change Plasma for LCD I'm going to be disappointed.

And yes, it's hard to believe it's been three years already.

I too am looking into getting a 4k TV. My plasma is on the way out. It has a panel issue. So I'm starting the process of deciding what to get.

I am interested in getting one with Dolby vision or HDR10. Hope to have one in place by the time the 976 arrives.
65" is what I'm looking to get as that is the largest that will fit in the area over my fireplace.

Viewing angles are one thing I'm worried about going from a plasma to LCD.