******** dont agree with you there I am afraid i was going to get a Pioneer 427, then switched to Panny. One thing I agree on is that the Pioneer does better Freeview - HOWEVER once calibrated (not hard thanks Panny!) and run in for few hundre hours the Panny does as good a job with HD, sky and upscaled SD DVD as my mates Pioneer easily.
Yes the Pioneer has better internal processing and colour re-production , but if you plug decent kit into the Panny you can get rid of any of the Pannys weakenesses (pull down, interlacing etc). The Panny does better blacks. Now I guess its a matter of prerference - colour V blacks. I go for better blacks, as inky realistic blacks are what gives a film its 'cinematic' quality.
The Panny needs very little calibrating out of the box to get a beautiful picture, professional reviewers have all noted this as a fantastic selling point as it gets to the optimal color temp etc with little or no mucking about - not everyone wants to sit in front of the set for hours on end tweaking the bugger (especially joe bloggs working 9-5). The Pioneer has a mind boggling amount of tweaks, which as you say for the home AV hi-fi enthusiast great. For a lot of people they just want a great picture out the box. Just because a set costs more, and has more tweaking options doesnt automatically make a better picture. Clearly the Pioneer is an enthusiasts model, the Panny cosumer driven, that doesnt automatically mean the Pioneer is better............
The Panny is cheap because Panasonic have achieved economies of scale via mass production. They have opened 2 new giant plants, they can make plasmas cheaper now, and reap same profit margins. simple economics. Dont forget thge px60 was V expensive 18 months ago..........
The whole comparison is between the 2 is pointless anyway you are talking £1200 (inc stand) for Panny Vs £1800 inc Stand for Pio.
I would argue with the £600 in your pocket you could get better results then the Pioneer with external kit.........I have bought Panny, Oppo 981, and Xbox HD player for less than would have paid for Pioneer.
My best mate has a Pioneer 427, and there is nothing I see on it week in and out, that makes me regret getting the Panny at all. In fact I think my picture looks better (more cinematic) because of the blacks.
Pioneer definitely are an awesome Plasma manufactuer, I just think that they price themselves out the market. Lok at the market share stats, Panny completely dominates, Pioneer only has a small chunk because of its insistence of only marketing to the AV enthusiast. The only affordable option for joe bloggs being the 427xod being a stripped down version with 1 HDMI (and no stand!)
I am sure Pioneer are happy to contiune in this fashion, but I think comparing the px70 against the 427 is a little unfair when looking at the price points. As I have said agreed the Pioneer has better SD because of its internal processing. However no way does it blow the px70 on SD and HD, not by a long shot...............
just to add to my point a few points from HD TVtest which back up my above points:
"The scaling from this panel won't compete your high end external video processor or even an expensive DVD "
"For me, the Achilles heel for this plasma is its black level. It is disappointing to see a greyish black level that is subjectively worse than a LCD (Sharp LC42XD1E or Sony KDL40W2000). "
"The black level deficiency was difficult to ignore and is most apparent in predominantly dark movies. (e.g Batman Begins). The greyish blacks prevents the Pioneer from getting top marks for picture quality in my book"
Test results:
"Screen Uniformity - Uneven (Dirty Screen effect)"
"Black level Below average . Greyish blacks "
"Primary colours - Excellent"
just to add to my points chieck out this review for the px70, it hits all the points I am saying - that is gives a PICTURE as good as any plasma, some twice its price.
http://www.unbeatable.co.uk/p_repr/Panasonic-TH42PX70-Television-Reviews/41406727.html
"If you were given this TV and told it had a spec twice as impressive as the one it honestly owns, you wouldn't be any the wiser"
"We normally look out for black levels, contrast, motion handling, noise, colours, and any other aspects that allow flat screen TVs to shower themselves in glory, or not. And in this case, the Panasonic TH42PX70 ticked all our boxes. The performance could only be described as magnificent. With an overfull colour capacity, and superb motion handling, there are no annoying distractions to take your eye off what is actually happening on the screen. Black levels are just as fantastic as those reported on the Panasonic TH37PX70. We hooked up the PS3, and so far, it's the best motion handling we've had the pleasure of experiencing"
"The 720p support means that the TH42PX70 has to downscale 1080i content, like Sky for example. As a result of this, it usually means you normally lose picture quality, which isn't evident in this case. If you put the Panasonic TH42PX70 next to a 1080p supporting plasma, you'll struggle to notice a difference. "
panny have saved cost on less important stuff - front inputs, SD card input, cheap speakers, connectivity (although 2 HDMI & VGA PC input is pretty good)
Its bout time the px70 is given the credit its due!!!!
