Buy LED, LCD or Plasma

Learsfool, you summed up nicely what convinced me to go for the Panasonic 65". That and I cannot justify several thousand dollars more for the Pioneer, even if it is better.

I'm really a two channel audio guy, the TV is for my wife and when I watch I want it to be good, but perfection is not required. At $2295.00 for the 65" Panasonic it's a good deal and I got the Sencore pro calibration in a package with it. The TV is installed Monday and they come back to calibrate 4 weeks later after it's settled in.

My only fear is the built in speakers will probably struggle to fill my space. The Panasonic TC-P65S1 has only one optical digital sound output and I don't know yet if that's controlled (like built in speakers) via remote.

If the optical is controlled at the same time as the remote, I can run a digital Coax to an amp and power my in wall speakers.

The Pioneer Elite is a wonderful product. Amazing picture

Albert-

The digital out has no volume control (if that is what you mean). You need whatever you plug it into to control the volume.

Mark

Mhedges, Yep, I found that out. The Panasonic has not been delivered so I did not have owners book but got an answer from Panasonic help line.

Looks like no way for the TV remote to control their own speakers plus another pair in the room. Seems like for a screen that large, that would be an attractive option. I was going to buy a cheap two channel integrated, set the volume where it balanced nicely with the TV speakers and then control all with TV remote.

Any other way would mute the TV but not the alternate speakers, bad idea for broadcast since they flood us with commercials and the more expensive V10 Panasonic with digital and analog outputs has same limitations.

Why not just forget about the tv's built in speakers and rely on your other speakers? That's what I do.

Mark