idoblu,

For the higher end models, they typically do not have different versions. Same as the Z series last year and the V series from last year.

Anyway, the one problem is the rising blacks and floating blacks. This still needs to be sorted out. I'm just happy to see that Panny is at least still upping the ante on the high end sets. I am not keen on 3D I just want them to keep improving on their black levels and fix the gamma issues as they should.

Floating black is when in dark scenes, u suddenly feel like someone turned up brightness control one notch. I am not sure if ur set is effected by it, it seems more prevalent in the latest series.

Rising blacks is the design that Panny made on the voltages that increases black levels with time. What this means is that ur black levels when u bought them were better then when the set ages.

It is known that Panny has been doing it since 10G but in the 12G they made the voltage changes too drastic within the 1st 1000hrs that caused people to notice it.

It is possible that for the older gens the rise was gradual.

My opinion is if u r happy with ur set and do not see black level degradation, drop the matter and enjoy ur set.

65"   

Boss, how's your subwoofer hobby? Didn't see you in the thread for light years
Boss, upgrading? 

We're all here to learn and share opinions.

To me, HDTVs are more like PCs nowadays. Every year got new tech and improvements over previous models (although people may debate this). This is unlike the CRT tech where it has reached the peak (29" for how many years?) and you can keep the CRT TV for more than 10 years without being too severely disadvantaged.

Just buy the model that fits your current requirement and budget. Use it for 3-5 years and then switch to the latest model with even more improvements.

Sure, it's more expensive than 29" CRT TV currently but later, you may be able to buy > 65" at the same price?!