This is a summary of what I have been using to date and why I bought the Panny yesterday.
I have owned the Costco Pioneer PDP-4310 for about a month. It actually is a very nice unit (a close relative of the 433CMX) with terrific PQ right out of the box. A good deal at 4.69K considering it comes with stand and speakers and is backed up by Costco's 100% customer satisfaction guarantee. Its only serious flaw is that it non-upgradeable. It comes with a video card that does not include DVI. It will not accept a PDA-5002 or alternative according to Pioneer. It has a remote that would not provide access to the DVI input. It is POSSIBLE it could actually be made to support a 5002 by buying a card and a 433CMX remote, although I don't believe anyone has done that experiment. Actually, it is hard to fathom why Pio would hide possible upgradeability, so I rather doubt it could be. Other minor issues are some banding - really rare but can be expected with certain content, such as the expanse of blue ocean at some points in Coral Reef (DVD) and some darker scenes.
I bought the Panny from VisualApex yesterday, in-stock for immediate delivery. Got the DVI-HDCP card. With the stand and an extended warranty it will be about the same cost as the Costco Pio. What I am expecting is the same stunning PQ with improvements in black levels and probably less banding due to increased color shade reproduction. I see many statements that banding is inherent in plasma display technology. However, my background in computer graphics hardware tells me this is a color depth issue. So, the Panny 6UY should be better than the Pio or Panasonic has some crow to eat.
I should add that I have seen another PQ issue that I have not seen anyone mention here. it is a well known problem with computer graphics hardware. This has to do with transparency. Computer graphics cards have 3 color channels and a fourth transparency or "alpha" channel. If the total bits available to render color and handle levels of transparency is limited, you may see a mess of purple and green speckles in things such as the fog or car exhaust as it overlays the background as the card does not have enough bits available to display all the shades necessary and it must "dither" the colors. I'm not exactly clear on how the 8 or 10-bit color processing with plasma displays is rated - I assume that is bits per channel. What about alpha? If it is 10 bits per channel and for alpha, then then fog should not be an issue. Actually 8 bits per should have been fine. Anyway, the color dithering I have seen in some fog scenes with the PIO should, in theory, be alleviated with the Panny's 10-bit color processing or I will be greatly disappointed.
I have not been able to view these exact models side-by-side, and I have been generally astonished by the PQ of the Pio I have, with the exceptions noted above. When the Panny arrives in a few days, I will get to do a direct head-to-head for anyone interested. If the Panny does not deliver notable improvements over the Costco Pio, then I will probably do an experiment with the Coscto unit to verify whether it truly is not upgradeable. If it turns out it is upgradeable, someone may get a nice deal on a Panny HD unit taken for a brief test-ride. Sure, I could have done this experiment first, but I am banking on the the Panny PQ winning anyway.
Oh, I went for the HD rather than the ED because the Pio HD has spoiled me. I can stand up close and marvel at the detail and lack of pixel grate. I debated this internally because I agree the ED PQ can be fabulous. I plan to do some HTPC and I think the 1024x768 native resolution may work better. However, it is hard to justify the extra $1400 for HD versus ED overall.
Look forward to the head-to-head report this weekend.
Bill
I have owned the Costco Pioneer PDP-4310 for about a month. It actually is a very nice unit (a close relative of the 433CMX) with terrific PQ right out of the box. A good deal at 4.69K considering it comes with stand and speakers and is backed up by Costco's 100% customer satisfaction guarantee. Its only serious flaw is that it non-upgradeable. It comes with a video card that does not include DVI. It will not accept a PDA-5002 or alternative according to Pioneer. It has a remote that would not provide access to the DVI input. It is POSSIBLE it could actually be made to support a 5002 by buying a card and a 433CMX remote, although I don't believe anyone has done that experiment. Actually, it is hard to fathom why Pio would hide possible upgradeability, so I rather doubt it could be. Other minor issues are some banding - really rare but can be expected with certain content, such as the expanse of blue ocean at some points in Coral Reef (DVD) and some darker scenes.
I bought the Panny from VisualApex yesterday, in-stock for immediate delivery. Got the DVI-HDCP card. With the stand and an extended warranty it will be about the same cost as the Costco Pio. What I am expecting is the same stunning PQ with improvements in black levels and probably less banding due to increased color shade reproduction. I see many statements that banding is inherent in plasma display technology. However, my background in computer graphics hardware tells me this is a color depth issue. So, the Panny 6UY should be better than the Pio or Panasonic has some crow to eat.
I should add that I have seen another PQ issue that I have not seen anyone mention here. it is a well known problem with computer graphics hardware. This has to do with transparency. Computer graphics cards have 3 color channels and a fourth transparency or "alpha" channel. If the total bits available to render color and handle levels of transparency is limited, you may see a mess of purple and green speckles in things such as the fog or car exhaust as it overlays the background as the card does not have enough bits available to display all the shades necessary and it must "dither" the colors. I'm not exactly clear on how the 8 or 10-bit color processing with plasma displays is rated - I assume that is bits per channel. What about alpha? If it is 10 bits per channel and for alpha, then then fog should not be an issue. Actually 8 bits per should have been fine. Anyway, the color dithering I have seen in some fog scenes with the PIO should, in theory, be alleviated with the Panny's 10-bit color processing or I will be greatly disappointed.
I have not been able to view these exact models side-by-side, and I have been generally astonished by the PQ of the Pio I have, with the exceptions noted above. When the Panny arrives in a few days, I will get to do a direct head-to-head for anyone interested. If the Panny does not deliver notable improvements over the Costco Pio, then I will probably do an experiment with the Coscto unit to verify whether it truly is not upgradeable. If it turns out it is upgradeable, someone may get a nice deal on a Panny HD unit taken for a brief test-ride. Sure, I could have done this experiment first, but I am banking on the the Panny PQ winning anyway.
Oh, I went for the HD rather than the ED because the Pio HD has spoiled me. I can stand up close and marvel at the detail and lack of pixel grate. I debated this internally because I agree the ED PQ can be fabulous. I plan to do some HTPC and I think the 1024x768 native resolution may work better. However, it is hard to justify the extra $1400 for HD versus ED overall.
Look forward to the head-to-head report this weekend.
Bill
but...
