Seriously, if you’ve never seen Pioneer’s Elite series of plasma TVs in person, they really do have incredible pictures (though they come with some pretty incredible price tags to match). The company is excited for you to know about its new plasma HDTV technology. So excited in fact that it produced six short videos to school you about it. (It’s all about the black levels, baby!)
Anyway, if you’re not familiar with what plans Pioneer has for plasma TV this year, the first video (above) gives you a sufficient rundown of things to come. The other five videos go a little deeper into the things mentioned in the first video. Hit the link below to see those.
Not surprisingly (considering these videos are essentially marketing materials) Pioneer says the best way to enjoy HD content is on a plasma. Of course, that’s all the company makes in the TV arena, so that would be the grain of salt you’ll want to take these videos with. Oh yeah, go to the last video to hear why HD DVD is wrong wrong wrong.
On weekends I run the “HD Testdrives” for Sony at my Local Best Buy and Circuit City. That being said, I have spent a LOT of time in these stores and have had a lot of time to compare the different sets available. If I were to buy a plasma television, there is no other brand i would recommend other than Pioneer.
The 720p sets from Pioneer are EXTREMELY comparable to Sony’s 1080p flagship XBR2/XBR3 models, but I do beleive that Sony still has an edge when comparing these sets.
However, if we’re comparing 1080p to 1080p… i have to admit that the Pioneer Elite has the Sony beat hands down! The PQ just looks amazing on the Elite. The only downside to the set is the plasma’s inherent susceptibility to image retention and burn-in.
I know plasmas have gotten a LOT better at dealing with and avoiding burn-in issues, but I have seen 2 different Pioneer Elite sets with irreparable burn-in, and 1 Pioneer Elite that has a bad case of image retention. All of these sets were ISF calibrated so it wasn’t because of poor settings.
Anyway, chances are you won’t be running your TV in the same way they run them at a retail store would, but I can’t help but be paranoid about it.
And there really big and heavy too. John Biggs helped me schlepp one into my basement. More like push it down the stairs. It didn’t fit so we took it apart. It is never coming out the same way it got in. What a fun experience.
Best way to go in my opionion is to buy a good plasma at an afordable price. When it goes bad just get another. The technology changes so much you almost have to treat the transaction like you are buying a computer.