There are differences with Pioneer and Panasonic glass on a purely colour and greyscale basis. I think it will come down to taste and the job itself. The Pioneer handles bright rooms better, but I also reckon the Panasonic has the deeper contrast image overall which really shines when the lights are turned down and you are sitting down to a good movie. If you have a projector in the same room then I generally lean to the Pioneer, if the plasma is going to be the movie watching screen as well as general TV use then it has to be a Panasonic (or even better a Fuji) because I think it has the more filmic, CRT like almost, picture.
As I said tho, it also comes down to taste and the above is mine (and a lot of other industry professionals I must add). For some it's the Pioneer on all counts, preferring the brighter image that jumps out at you. Me, I prefer to be sucked in by a Panasonic.
I wondered why I didn't take to the Pio 428XD, over a Panny PZ70. I was watching Thunderball (Bond) - I tried Freeview feed, and a Satellite component feed. Tried a few other films/progs too.
Despite the blacks, the Pio didn't feel right - not natural or cinematic. Is this the actual hardware or picture processing?
Would Liam and MAW care to comment?
IMHO viewing a black and white film (Film4) - Sailor of the King, The Hitachi 42" T series plasma, did it for me : far more natural and cinematic than Pio or Panny: these sets made the material look poor, not the case with CRT or on the Hitachi.
Is their picture processing for standard def. weak to make HD or DVD source look all the better?
The Hitachi is fairly close to CRT (I still have a Super Trinitron set), if you can live with average blacks.
The more I search for my dream panel, the harder it gets!
Keep jumping between Panny, Pio, now Hitachi.
Even more confusing when performance varies from one dealer to the next. Thought the PZ70 was the one, now I'm not so sure!