I think the Epsion is a better choice than the Panny for most people.
If you were to buy one today, would you still buy the Panasonic?
Hard to say.
If the Epson had been out as early as the Panny I would have ordered both to demo against each other which is what I would do if I bought today. However, I had a lot of time off coming up at work and didn’t want to wait any longer on a purchase. That coupled with some unknown factors about the Epson and known factors about the Panny made the choice easy for me.
What I would say about the Panny is that I like it’s features. Frame response is great for gaming. Frame interpolation works like a charm. Out of the box the colour was spectacular so I felt no need for calibration. The picture adjustment features are great though I don’t use the auto zoom to simulate a lens since I have a 1.78:1 screen. I wouldn’t mind it being brighter (the bulb is closing in on 2000 hours) but not at the expense of shadow detail.
The following are why I would recommend the Epson over the Panny for most people. It’s brighter. For most people the pop-and-wow factor of a brighter image will outweigh most other image differences between the two. Lamp replacements are $100 less and the lamp theoretically lasts longer. Epson has a longer warranty.
I would recommend the Panny over the Epson for gamers as long as the brightness level is adequate. And for those who would benefit from the auto-zoom lens features. And those who want a slightly better implementation of frame interpolation.
Note that I am basing these recommendations on reviews of the Epson and not seeing for myself.
