Pioneer Plasma Screens. Opinions

[ikonia]

I've spent the morning looking at new TV's amd walking around with what hi-fi and seeing how their reviews and comments match up to real life.

Now I saw a few pioneer plasma TV's, from my lmited experience pioneer has always been a "not so great brand" in terms of general electronics, however pretty much every shop I went into (nothing like dixons - all specialists) seems to say that pioneer have always been the best in terms of plasma screens.

What hifi was raving about the new releases of screens from pioneer, so I took a look. I must admit they where VERY good at 42 and 50'' screens. There is a new one coming out that is true 1080HD format which I'll be seeing in the next day or so (only the 50'' is available at the moment).

What are the people in the know on here's opinions.

[bigblue]

I think they're fantastic. When I was TV shopping a while back, for rather a long period of time, it came down to a rear-pro or Panny or Pioneer plasma, simple as that.

I've always liked rear-pros, so they had to factor in my decision, LCD's were scrubbed after not finding a single one I liked, and the plasma's were gradually whittled down 'til I was left with just the Panasonic and Pioneer. Pio seemed to have better image quality, but from others experiences seemed to also suffer with screen burn/retention.

So I bought a rear pro. But now we're moving house again, to a place with a smaller living room (bloomin' new builds), so I need a panel now. And it seems like I'm back looking at Pioneers and Panasonics, and it seems like the same thoughts from 6 months ago still stand. However, this time I'm not so worried about screen burn as the rear pro is going into a dedicated room, and taking the gaming machines with it, so the plasma is just a TV/movie box. So I'm thinking Pioneer !

Since the current range was released fairly recently, they're still pretty pricy. I may hang off for a bit 'til they come down a little. Or 'til Costco get them in ! Or, as is more likely, I'll get impatient and buy from JL. Then at least I'll get a price match, free warranty, and if they come down in price in the following 30 days I can get some of the money back

The new range (Kuro ?) seems to be that rare thing in the AV world, a product that unites the opinions of hi-fi mags and real-world enthusiasts.

I take it you've been through the (admittedly massive) threads on AVForums ?

[Funkstar]

Pioneer have been in the plasma business right from that start (pretty much). As far as i'm aware they have always been good. Perhaps not always the best, there is always something better for more money, but they definitely sit in the high end commodity market.

[ikonia]

every person I've met from specialst AV shops say there is no better plasma than the pinoeer, which shocked me, even at the high end.

The enthusiast mags and as mentioned above avforums seems to agree.

[Funkstar]

Oh well then. I always just assumed there would be something at the very high end that beat them, but perhaps not.

Remember there are very few actual plasma panel manufacturers, seven according to this page: http://www.itfacts.biz/index.php?id=P6855

Matsu****a (note the swear filter!) are Panasonic's parent company.

[bigblue]

With regard to the panel manufacturers, that's a good point. But as shown by the Sony/Samsung LCD partnership, one panel can produce entirely different results with better electronics/processing.

There's Fujitsu if you really want to spend silly money, but I don't know if they have any 1080p sets out yet.

I think people that have experience of Pioneer in other markets, such as car audio, are surprised that they're in the screen "elite". But that's kinda the way with a lot of these companies, fingers in a lot of OEM pies, some more edible than others

[ikonia]

yeah, I'm aware most buy actual screens from others.

Market share doesn't really dicate quality though, I'm personally surprised that so many people I've quiered today say that a brand (pioneer) that I perhaps wrongly thought as a "cheap" option as the best in plasma screens.

Looking at the ones I did today I was shocked at how good they where.

[Blackmage]

Yeah, for Plasma Pioneer is the way to go. The Pioneer 508XD seems to be the best in thier range at the moment. Trusted Reviews gave this tv great praise.

Link
http://www.trustedreviews.com/tvs/re...n-Plasma-TV/p1

[ikonia]

LX508 - got a sneaky look at it today, hence why I'm impressed