the guy told me to go with the new Samsung 50" 1080p instead. He said that the HD-DVD and BluRay will look a ton better on the Samsung. I was so ready to get the 5080 and I walked out of their sooo confused. I told the guy I sit about 9'5" - 11' away from the thing and plan to use it for PS3 and BluRay and he told me that people are nuts if they think that the Pioneer 5080 is going to play a 1080p movie or game better than the new Samsung. He kept telling me it did not matter how far you sat away from the thing.

Ohhhh the pain!

While I feel the Samsung is an excellent PDP in my own comparisons you need to go buy what pleases your senses. Your marrying the panel so go in an judge for yourself. Visit another store and do your own self interest review and purchase. What's right for him or even us on this forum doesn't mean diddly what may say "Buy Me" to your eyes. A better tactic for the Sales Associate would have been for him to demo on both panels to prove his point rather than puffing it verbally. If he felt so strongly let him earn your bucks by proving it.

In my visits and comparisons I find the Samsung to be brighter than most plasma's I've ever seen in fact it has more of an LCD brightness IMO which I like and the Pio always seems dim and after viewing them four times I simply feel the stores do not know how to calibrate the Kuro since they have never matched the hype on this forum that I've read for months here. Not saying the Pio fanbase is wrong at all but what they present on the shelves/walls in the B&M's guys simply doesn't come close to the Kuro fever on this forum so I can only attribute it to poor setup within the stores.

If I were looking for value and what I've seen I do like the 5084 Samsung or the 58" version very much but I wouldn't be pushing it on you - he should advise and then let you judge between what's available and you should be able to push him aside and us on this forum - don't ever buy via proxy opinion.

My viewing room won't tolerate a plasma but if I were it would be either the Samsung or the Kuro (provided I could find one that matches the hype here and can beat the 5084 or the Samsung 71 series LCD which I observed adjacent to and the 71 had deeper blacks on the Kuro Demo feed which I found shocking) but I would be buying in larger - 58" or 60".

Go back fresh and do your own evaluation after viewing the 5084 Samsung feedback here and the 5080 Pio. Be a little more assertive after all it's your hard earned money not his - make him earn your money and if he continues to be pushy let someone else earn the sale - but don't cave - use his feedback objectively but then let your subjective senses determine what YOU WANT or get a wife that'll tell you what you want.;) Good Luck!

That is the exact opposite feedback I got.
I went into BB a while back to see what all the fuss was about the Pio, and I asked the associate (who Ive since become buddies with) and he simply walked me over to the Pana 1080 and Sammy 1080 and the Pio and showed me differences in black on standby. I was almost sold right there and then. Ive since been back and looked at differences in judder and processing and the Pio is leaps and bounds better when you know what you're looking for.

Honestly take D-Nice's BB settings into the store and put them in and see if you still thing other panels compare to the Kuros. Or rent a cave movie like the descent in HD and see which panels gives you more detail as people crawl around in darkness...

hi, I finished watching Eragon on My PS3 on my elite 1150 kuro with DNice setting and I cannot imagine it looking any better than This !!!!!!!!!!!!
by the way I am 9 ft away !!!!!!!!!

Sfatman

Collect some settings advice from the forums, go back and insist the salesperson hook up a blu-ray player to both tvs and be the judge yourself. A picture is worth a thousand words.

the guy told me to go with the new Samsung 50" 1080p instead. He said that the HD-DVD and BluRay will look a ton better on the Samsung. I was so ready to get the 5080 and I walked out of their sooo confused. I told the guy I sit about 9'5" - 11' away from the thing and plan to use it for PS3 and BluRay and he told me that people are nuts if they think that the Pioneer 5080 is going to play a 1080p movie or game better than the new Samsung. He kept telling me it did not matter how far you sat away from the thing. Was it Best Buy? They continually lure customers away from the other better brand names and recommend the Samsung products. They make more money on the Samsungs according to one cool BB salesguy i talked to.

Was it Best Buy? They continually lure customers away from the other better brand names and recommend the Samsung products. They make more money on the Samsungs according to one cool BB salesguy i talked to.

You hit the nail on the head. If you get a real home theater guy at bby they'll be honest with you. My bro works in the HT department at one and at the sales trainings they tell them to push samsung because of the higher margins. Some listen to this some actually do their job and help the customer get the product that meets their needs.

The sammy does look pretty darn bright w/ the awesome BB feed.It's Brighter then both the panny and pio..

You can be easily led down the sammy path because of it..and if u didn't know the brands and they all had the same feed at BB i'm positive the sammy would be picked more then the others..

I don't think it makes up for the SD and sound though...

But first appearance sells.....and sammy has dat going fo dem