Hey, guys, my brother has asked me for an expert opinion in choosing between these two TVs:

Sony KDF60XZ955 60" LCD rear proj. @ $3700 (there's also a 55" version)
Pioneer PDP5041HD 50" plasma @ $5300 (not the 5040 on Pioneer's site)

If anyone has either specific knowledge of either or both, or general LCD vs plasma opinions, please include your thoughts.

Grateful as always,

I would sooner recommend blose than Sony... It's a personal thing...

Larry besides the obvious money difference, the Pioneer I think will edge that Sony out any day of the week. I've installed plenty of Sony rear pro LCD's and never been overly impressed with the performance. On the other hand I've only insatalled 1 Pioneer PDP 5041 HD, but recall good performance.

Good luck

Larry, I have installed both and I would take the Pioneer unless I needed the size. If I went for the rear proj I would have to replace it with the JVC D-ILA 61 inch. The only Sony products I sell are their 400 disc DVD players. BTW, Pioneer has a PDP5045 and a soon to be shipped PDP5050.

Thank you all! This is exactly the info we need. Anyone else, please?

Larry,

The Pioneer would have the better picture quality. But, I would recommend the Sony if he is going to be using in an environment with a lot of ambient light, daytime viewing in an area with a lot of windows, or is going to be used a lot for video games. The Sony is brighter and would be better for those situations. Otherwise the Pioneer is a better choice.

Bob

The analog channels look terrible on the sony RPLCD's. Digital cable and Digital sat look good, but if you have analog cable or no cable box, it will look terrible. The pioneer looks better on analog channels than the Sony.

Mike

Plasma's are much more prone to burn-in. May not be a big deal, but if he watches alot of CNN or ESPN with the tickers across the bottom of the screen there might be an issue. My brother is a financial advisor and went with the Sony LCD over a plasma for just this reason. He is always watching the stock ticker.

Oh and don't forget you will need to re-charge the plasma every two years. ;-)

(Sorry, I couldn't help myself!)

Everybody needs to start thinking of plasmas just like rear projection CRTs. Nobody was worried about burn-in on CRTs with tickers and channel logos. Plasmas and CRTs will burn in at about the same rate. One thing that needs to be done is to setup the TV correctly, meaning don't leave the contrast on TVs turned all the way up like when they come out of the factory.

As for the original question...Pioneer plasma hands down.

By the way, that model number (PDP5041) is either made specifically for Best Buy or is non-existant. One of the reps from a distributor told me that Best Buy was calling PDP5040s 5041s so that it wouldn't be recognized as "last year's" model. I don't know if this is true or not, but Pioneer has nothing on their site about a 5041 (service manuals, etc.).

I'm not a sony fan, but if we were to choose between a 50" Samsung DLP or the plasma, I would pick the plasma. But then again the plasma is more than twice the DLP's cost. Is space a concern? The Pioneer can look great after calibration. Its my opinion that burn in will be greatly reduced with proper calibration

Larry, I second the JVC DILA RP if you have to go cheaper than a plasma. Great picture. But comparing these two is like apples to pears - they should pick the form factor/technology/budget before picking a specific model.

But then you already knew that.

yeah - what he said!

I agree; let's talk generics here: Plasma or RP LCD?

I've heard good things about the JVC, as well as LG.

More?

as someone said on IP a while back .... JVC "home run" ... great set .... my second is Toshiba DLP and followed by Optoma, but I haven't installed a Optoma Soverign yet

Lcds have poor black levels as a whole, a place where most plasmas are way better. This can cause poor definition on dark movies. Plasmas can get burn in , but the model you are asking about has a screen shift to help prevent that. And a key thing is to remember that you get what you pay for. This is really true in this case. As far as charging plasmas ,its a first generation problem that most mfgs are past.