Rear Projection TV

About a year and a half ago I was looking at the same rear projection TVs you are considering now. I was able to do a side-by-side comparison of all these TVs and found the Pioneer Elite to be the best, followed by the Pioneer regular line, then the Sony, and last, the Mitsubishi. Mitsubishi dealers must make more money on Mitsubishi sales because most of the dealers pushed the Mitsubishi's on me. One of the arguments they used was that Mitsubishi coats their lenses so that their brightness will not diminish over time. Well, the measured brightness of the Pioneer is over double that of the Mitsubishi. So even if my Pioneer becomes less bright after ten years, it will still probably be brighter than a brand new Mitsubishi. As to picture quality, I compared a NTSC Pioneer to a HDTV-ready Mitsubishi. Because of its internal line doubler, the Mitsubishi did have a smoother picture. I still prefered the Pioneer, however, because the picture was so much brighter and the colors so much more vivid. The Mitsibishi looked washed out by comparison. As for the NTSC Mitsubishi, it was throughly out-classed. I would go for the Pioneer - my wife and I love it.

Although I do beleive that Mitsubishi is better than average ( I own one ) If I had the money to spend it would have been the Pioneer Elite. Regular Pioneer is not on the level of Mitsubishi or Sony, It would be better compared to the RCA,Hitachi,Toshiba, Samsung,Sears LXi. The Elite is in a class by itself. In my area it is usually easy to distinguish the combination of quality and price they are not far from each other in most cases. Remember once its in your house there will not be anything beside it to compare it to so its even easier to look good there.

EG1 is right. Pioneer is tops, but depending on whose model is most current, Toshiba and Sony are next. Mitsubishi does not withstand comparison, although they make a good TV.

One manufacturer left out of this discussion is Zenith. They have two new HD units, one a 56", the other a 64". VERY impressive picture, and priced competitively with the Elite and others of the same caliber.

I looked at all the above mentioned and I thought the Pioneer excelled above all but one. I bought a 60" Marantz. I thought the Picture quality was the best I have ever seen on a rear projection. No matter what you decide on spend the extra 50 bucks and get Vedio Essentials to set it up. It makes a huge difference.