Psychotropic: I indeed respect your view here. Brand etc is a personal choice and I for one did not make any sweeping statements without getting facts. I dont consider myself an audio expert but an early adopter for Home Theatre setup. My US days had taught me a lot. In fact, we had setup a media room in our 2 bedroom house and 5 of us stayed in one bedroom so that we can have a dedicated media experience. We did have a complete system not a HTB with all bells including sound proofing and theatre lightings (wish i can go back to those days).
On the Samsung vs Pana part, there are two parts. One is a personal preference which I respect and you liked Samsung and none can dispute it. In fact, I liked LG plasma much better than Samsung and Pana 5 months back. Only in the last 2 months, I have been bowled by Pana is many aspects. Its an excellent TV for the price. Now the second part, in Industry Pana PV80 rules, thats the fact, there is no sweeping statement here. You can read CNet to Trusted Review to HD Test and you will see Plasma PV80 is uncrowned king. I made this based on the reviews I have read on trusted review sites and magazines.
Now the topic of Philips HTB vs Onkyo. Now, this I am stating based on 5 months research by 5 of my buddies. The starting model of Onkyo was no way as good as Philip 4750 period. We were tight on budget and had to get something below 30k. At that time the Onlyo 55K setup still didnt match Philips centre soundstage and Music clarity when compared. So I will vote for Philips 4750 anyday when compared to systems of similar price. We also compared Sony, Samsung, LG HTB (we did all research in UK and India). So again this is my personal taste. Based on my research, I gave Sujith inputs and asked to take a demo and decide and not blindly believe me. He did the demo and he loved it and bought it.
So just wanted to say, I dont make sweeping statements, I am just expressing my POVs. Taste is personal, I request you to take demo of 4750 in Philips Arena and give your honest feedback like how VSG did.
Moserw: Even I had the same impression till I meet Philips 4750. It was an instant hit and I felt none of the startup models of Onkyo beats this. Trust me my friend who owns a Onkyo THX certified setup says Philips sounds better in MP3 sound processing than his system. I am not saying its better than that, I am saying Philips 4750 is a very good all round HTB for its price and a great VFM.