Sound&Vision review of 1080p Pioneer plasma set

October 2006 Sound&Vision has review of 50" Pioneer Elite PRO-FHD1 at $8500
($10,000 list).

The reviewer says it sets a "stunning picture sets a new standard". Read the
article, though, and you find that the improvement vs. a good conventional
768 plasma set running at 720p is only really apparent at viewing distances
of six feet and under. At seven feet viewing distance and above the author
found "chances are the picture wont look much more detailed than it would on
a native 1080p display". Signal source was an HD DVD player.

Even in our tiny TV room, the viewing distance for a wall mount plasma would
be nine feet. The bottom line is, in my interpretation, unless you sit
REALLY close to your plasma set, save yourself a whopping big sum of money
(at the moment) and just get a good Panasonic (or Pioneer or Samsung, etc.)
720p 50" plasma set.

With rear-projection sets, you might as well get a 1080p set since their
prices have fallen so fast, the difference vs. 720p is only a few hundred
dollars. The 50" sets run around $2,000 nowadays in 1080i.

Other views?

- nopcbs

You are talking about steak but most people care only about sizzle.
The fact that there is no noticeable difference between the perceived image
quality of the two sets when viewed at normal distances from their screens
makes no difference to people who believe one HDTV is better because of its
specifications.