Upcoming plasma 1080p tv's vs Sony SXRD LoCS?

The Sony SXRD LoCS rptv's:
1. Won Sound and Visions product of the year and Editors Choice Award for 2005. The HP unit was also tested by Sound and Vision in 2005. [The Sony is NOT a DLP rptv set...it is a LoCS rptv set]. Two different technologies.
2. Won the 1080p rear projection face-off in Home Theater Magazine which also included the HP unit in the face off.
3. Received C-Net's highest rating of any type of video display they have ever tested, including DLP, LCD, Plasma, and even CRT sets.
4. Read Michael Fremer's review in Ultimate A/V magazine.
5. Audio Video Revolution said the Sony SXRD "It seems impossible to find a better looking picture at this price point" and "looks significantly better and brighter than any other television in its price range."
6. ETC., ETC.
Thanks.

I did. Its cool we all have different opinions. No big deal. First off, in answer to the question about whether or not Sony would accept 1080P next year, I didnt get that answer. In fact, among all manufacturers, I found the Sony folks to be more into marketing as opposed to any major fact or technical discussions. ALl other manufactureers mentioned in this thread, were up on much more technical discussions. Even blu ray was really more of a marketing discussion than a technical one. I dont any reason why ALL manufacturers, both for audio and video, wont eventually get around to ensuring a true 1080P signal and hi res audio input and decoding. Kinda where things are headed.

As far as PQ,the Sony displays are quite bright and do well in well lit rooms. And the detail is razor sharp for sure. But color inaccuracies remain an issue, although much better than single color wheel DLPs ( which are awful). AS mentioned above about the pink tint issue, this really plays on skin tones. If you hold your hand up and compare your hand to the skin tones on a screen, plasma always wins. Pioneer, Hitachi, and Panasonic. The colors are just more accurate. Also, like I said, the human eye cant diffentiate resolutions as we get further from the screen. The only technology that beats a plasma on PQ is in fact SED. I hope it isnt still born! ( What a weird analogy). It is really top notch!

AS far as viewing angles, because LCos works on reflecting instead of transmitting, you actually get the viewing angle limitations in the vertical directions and not horizontal, obviously an improvement.

Rsya4,
I whole-heartedly disagree with you about the only thing that is better than plasma's pq is the SED tv's.
CRT easily beats plasma in absolute black level and black quality, and smokes them in contrast ratio.
Plasma at its best has about 3:000 to 1 or 4:000 to 1 contrast ratio. CRT's EASILY have a 15,000 to 1 contrast ratio.
So plasmas are NOT the current best in picture quality.
My Sony KD-36XS955 36" crt tube tv beats the pq on any plasma that I have saw to date, and I have viewed them all.
Plasma still has a ways to go before they will surpass the best HD crt displays in absolute pq.
The new 1080p plasma sets due out this year may be better and may come closer to matching CRT's pq. We will see.
The ONLY disadvantages to crt's is the smallish screens and their bulk.

I've heard many people say that HD on a CRT is the best, but I've never seen it be so. To me, regardless of black levels and various digital artifacts that may occur, the color on a properly set-up plasma display has depth and the kind of warm, rich, natural and organic qualities of real life that drive so many audiophiles to tube amplification. Plasma is to video displays as tubes are to audio amplifiers. YMMV.

Of course, I've never seen an SXRD outside of a Circuit City or a Sony Style store, neither of which bother to set them up properly. (If the Sony Style stores would set their displays up correctly, I bet the stuff would fly out of the warehouse. What can they be thinking?)

Thanks for your reply Dalton. You are welcome to disagree. Black levels alone dont make for PQ as you are saying. But then you say that your CRT has a better PQ, basically saying that the better black levels on a CRT give it better PQ? I've seen all of the 1080P plasma displays including the Hitachi prototype. The 103 inch 1080P panasonic is so far beyond every FP out there that if it is ever released that will be the standard. Second place is truely not close!

The problem with LCDs and LCos is that they depend on light bulbs or light sources in order to display info, so details can be lost in darker scenes, referred to as a loss of shadow detail. Detail and no light simply arent a good fit!!

I think if you will pick up any issue, including the March issue, of Widescreen review magazine, you will see the consistent steps that are used to evaluate a display quality. This by no means implies or devalues someone liking a certain type of display. Its just that things such as grey scale accuracy, color accuracy, black levels and a host of other features are objectively measurable. In this sense, plasma is a better technology in general than most options for pure lifelike PQ in a way that other technologies, except for SED, cannot really reproduce.

Anyone can choose and like whatever they want. Its all good. I'm just sharing some info. No big deal.

By the way, contrast ratios are brand specific and reported ones cant be usefully crossshared to compare diffrent manufacturers. They use different forumlas.