Okay, I'm hoping someone will know what I'm talking about and can answer my ultimate question (which I'll get to eventually...if you bear with me).
I don't know if my definitions of "judder" and "flicker" and "film-like" are the same as everyone else's, but, thinking that 3-3 pulldown was what I was looking for, I saw a Pioneer Elite plasma showing a feature film at Good Guys and still didn't see what I wanted. Basically, what I'd like to see is that fluid and, yes, BLURRY movement of objects and scenery (on pans) through the frame that you get in the theater. You know what I mean? That smoothness that almost makes you think you're watching video on film?
I thought this frame-rate discrepancy stuff was at the root of my quest, but, having seen the Pioneer Elite for myself, I have to wonder. The Good Guys sales rep said that it might be a matter of cable connection (as they didn't have the best connections on demo in the store), but that doesn't seem right. I could believe that the connection would affect things like color, brightness, and even resolution, but something like refresh rate or whether the image is interlaced or progressive? I would think that was simply a matter of hardware, not wiring.
If you're wondering exactly what theater-like quality I'm talking about, try this experiment, which I discovered several years ago. Play any of your live-action-movie DVDs (such as "Glory," on which this works really well) on your regular TV, and watch it in a dark room while wearing TWO pairs of sunglasses. (NOTE: Don't do this often or even a second time. It can be pretty wearing on the eyes.) For some reason, this really helps achieve that film-like motion blur. Granted, it makes the picture much darker and dulls color, but, speaking only for myself, that's not my biggest priority when it comes to home theater. (if I could achieve that motion blur with full brightness and color, I'd jump on it, but call me weird; I really, really crave the motion blur.)
So my ultimate question is...is this effect possible at home? Is cable connection really that important to it? What do I need to buy and/or do?
Any input would be much appreciated.