http://www.avforums.com/forums/plasm...gt30-vt30.html
Can't agree with this.
The vast majority of 9g sets give a good realistic image. There is no softness at when set up properly just a correct level of sharpness.
As for noise, I agree your ph8 gives a clean image but that is not true of the 2011 sets. There is more noise in the image with a panny 2011/10/09 with any movement, the only time it's clean(ish) is when the image is still and that is almost never. Yes the pios dither but that prevents posterization/banding and results in a greater perceived colour palette. The dithering on most pios is not noticeable when a few feet back say 3 or 4 but a very very few can be heavier than others but the quality of your mains play a part in this.
It is down to personal taste but the last decent set panny made that could even try to compete with a KRP is the ph8 nothing else comes close.
You can get colour very close to the accuracy of a KRP with the 2011 sets but all the other key areas like motion, processing, posterization/banding, gamma tracking and light output are not in the same league as KRP and I'd take a KRP over a 2011 set any day. In fact I brought a 42VT30 to replace my 4280 and sent the VT30 back after 3 weeks as the 4280 was better in every department apart from minimum black level where the the VT30 is better than an 8g but is no where near the levels of a KRP. And panasonics have always been poor with low level light colour graduation and putting that on top of the unstable gamma tracking can result in strange colour in murky scenes.
That is not to say in isolation when set up properly you can get a decent image from a panny 2011 set but when I had one next to an 8g the overall image from the vt30 set I could not justify replacing the 8g.
If it was any set other than a 9g set I'd say get the panny but it's a 9g KRP and IMHO there is not contest, not even close.
If you were not happy with a gt30 you will not be happy with a vt30 for all the same
Reasons.
The firmware "fixes" are doing what they always do on the pannys shifting and masking the problem at the expense of accuracy.