TH-50PH9UK vs TH-50PF9UK: why so much price diff? SDTV Viewing?

The PH has a resolution of 1366 x 768 while the PF has a full HD resolution of 1920 x 1080. If you are going to sit 10 feet or more from the display, you will not likely be able to see much difference. Also, the PH has a slightly better black level than the PF.

SDTV will look about the same on both, meaning bad to good (not excellent) depending on the quality of the source. SD-DVDs will look fine.

-Steve

How does the PX line differ from the PF and PH?

the px and now the new pz models are the standard consumer line with tuners, speakers and stands(except the 65" px/pz does not come with a stand or speakers). the ph/pf are the commercial/industrial models, no tuners speakers stands..

So if I already have an audio system and a hd-dvr, should I be looking at the commercial models? I assume they would be cheaper than the consumer models, right? If so, would I be losing any features? Currently, all the features I use is controlled by the hd-dvr box.

36" at 16 feet? Unless you have eagle vision, get a 50" set.
Since your real budget is a $1000, get the Vizio. It's closer to your budget and at 16 feet it will look good enough.
If you're willing to pay the price, the Pioneer 5070 has the best SD of the ones that you mention.
Cheers

There is no night and day difference between the Panny and the Pio 5070 in terms of SD contents. Fujitsu AVM2 processor equipped sets are the serious player when it comes to displaying SD. Just get the Panny PH9UK since you'll be viewing more SD than HD. The SD performance on the 9UK is very impressive.

as is the SD content on a Pioneer 5070hd and comes complete with stand, tuner (pip) and speakers if needed in a setup where as the Panasonic is a commercial display unit without those amenities. Both sets have very nice HD quality pictures as well.

exactly..... You are heading the right track. The best is to look at the TVs side by side like you've said. Look for any pixelations between the two TVs with the same broadcast signal. You would also want to try running the HD contents such as HD-DVD or Blu-Ray and see how they compare. I have heard many reportings from the people here that the Pioneers have the tendency to output soft images... sometimes a little too soft. I have also immediately noticed this on the Pio Pro FHD-1. The pictures are too soft, and as a matter of fact, it was viewing HD contents from the disc. You want the sharper looking images in HD, not soft.

I would also ignore maxdog3. He has a history of trolling and crapping people's threads. He is inexperienced and just not well regarded in Panny and Fujitsu TVs. He doesn't even know about the Fujitsu TVs and then claims that the Pio SD is just as good as the Fujitsu's SD processing which is completely non-sense....


As for the Panny pro series, the stand can be had for $150.
The Panny Pro series by far, is the cleanest and professional looking plasma in the market. Or heck... save up some for the wall mount. Have you looked at the Panny pro series on their website? You might want to take a look at them too. The pro series have more advanced settings to tweak up the TV further, getting better IQ. These are not available in local stores so check on their panasonic website under consumer products. If you look around they can be had for very low price.

The TH-50PX60U has the same screen as the TH-50PH9UK so the picture quality you see on the PX60 in the stores is virtually the same as you'd see on a PH9UK so if you can find any stores that still have a PX60 on the wall go have a good hard look. Some people here are saying the new 50PX75U has better PQ than the PX60 it replaces and if so then it will look better than a 9UK as well.

But the 5070/5071 to me looks better on both SD and HD though, and is a little less reflective than the Panasonics. Plus, the Pioneer has two good stretch modes for SD channels where the Panny's one stretch mode is just so-so.