Pioneer Plasma for Video + DVD + PC ?

CW,

Unless you are planning on buying a new TV again soon or plan this to be a TV for only occasional viewing, I would buy something capable of displaying 1080p.

While you might be 'waiting out the format war' of HD DVD and Blu-ray, one will win, and both are building up steam (seems Blu-ray is surpassing HD DVD and steadily growing but the final outcome is still up in the air) not to mention the set you listed a link to, while a very nice plasma, is only 1024x768 resolution, so significantly LOWER than the little Sony monitors you just bought. If you step up to a 1920x1080 set you will obviously have much better resolution for using it as a monitor for you're computer (try out these two resolutions on your current monitor and see how much you lose with 1024x768... you will feel like you just stepped back to 1985) not to mention when and if you finally decide to purchase one or more of the High Def disc players, you will be able to take advantage of their native 1080p output. Think about how long you ussually keep a TV, most people do so for 10 years or more...... Do you really think you'll not buy into a new format in 10 years??

While your last statement can be correct 720p and 1080i can be close to indistinquishable from a distance, having good 1080p is far better for your anticipated use as a computer monitor and will allow you immediate upgrade to an HD disc player...

I guess what I am saying is buy it now or buy it again later...

Kennyt - thank you.

Part of my frustration here is that the 1080 devices seem very consumer oriented, typically with cheapo speakers, amps and stands, compared the sleeker cleaner but 720 monitors for the "pro" market where both Pioneer and Panasonic models seem attractively priced.

I am not sure why the "pros" need less resolution than coach potatoes watching TV?

The newer 1080 devices also seem to be 42" and up? Other than the Dell monitors at 30" everyting seems so big to me, as I am using this in a "nearfield" setup, and dont necessarily need even 42".

Why we dont have a range of 1080 choices, in a variety of sizes, offering a variety of inputs for both PC and video, with appropriately "high end" build quality and bezels, and without the cheapo integrated speakers and amps is beyond my comprehension.

I suppose it is because the average TV watcher is not an obsessive audiophile freak like me?

I have a Pioneer Plasma 50" and love it. We sit about 14' away and while it doesn't dominate the room, it fills it pretty nicely. We could have used up to about a 55" screen with our size room (the recommended size is even bigger), but love the Pioneer and thought the picture was the best of the bunch. We look at pictures quite often on it from our trips and they look very good.

We use an upconvert dvd player thru the hdmi input and it is very, very good. We also watch a ton of hd content from our dish network dual tuner hd tuner (alot of espn-hd and rush-hd) and it is very, very impressive.

gigiandgogo, what dvd player do you recommend?

Isn't burn-in from stationary text likely to be a problem if you use plasma for a computer monitor?

I don't understand why Cwlondon can't just ignore and by-pass the "cheapo" amps and speakers, or why he believes the build qualty is better in so called commercial units by the same manufacturer in which the amps and speakers have been deleted. AIUI, commercial Panasonic units do have more adjustments available to technicians than thier consumer counterparts if that's important to him.

db