I have a fixed budget and would like to purchase a Kuro Plasma. I can buy a 111FD without an extended warranty or a 5020 with an extended warranty. I have researched this forum and do understand the performance gains and picture controls the 111FD offers over the 5020. However, my concern is reliability. I have no experience with flat panel televisions as I am moving from a Sony HD CRT projection TV. I am looking for feedback from Kuro owners as to the reliability of these sets. I am I better off getting the 5020 with an extended warranty rather than buying the better set. Please share your thoughts regarding KURO reliability. Thanks

Well, they are reliable but that doesn't mean you can't have bad luck. Pioneer has the best TVs around not just when it comes to quality but also reliability. Let me explain that a bit. You won't get burn-in (which by the way is not covered by any warranty) on a Pioneer unless you're crazy enough to turn off the pixel orbiter and leave it paused while you go in a long vacation. They use top quality materials and they are ahead of any other manufacturer in the R&D department. So if Pioneer TVs aren't reliable I don't know what other brand is.

Of course if you have bad luck, any device can die. There's no such thing as 100% reliable. Personally I'd go for 111FD but that's me. If you want 5020 that's a great plasma too. Is not like you're not going to be 100% happy with it. So if you want peace of mind, get the 5020 with extended warranty. Of course, that's a decision you must make yourself. Personally I don't think anybody can say that Pioneer models have reliability issues. If they would, their description would be "great quality but unreliable" not "best plasma TV known to mankind" ;)

I have a fixed budget and would like to purchase a Kuro Plasma. I can buy a 111FD without an extended warranty or a 5020 with an extended warranty.

One option you can look at is to get the 111, which comes with a two year warranty, and then purchase an extended warranty right before the manufacturer's warranty expires. There are plenty of places online to purchase extended warranties. I did this with my last TV purchase. I saved money, up front, by purchasing a extended warranty a year later. In the case of the 111, you'll have two years to save up for an extended warranty. Just make sure you buy the 111 from an authorized Pioneer retailer.