Have your say & ask the experts

If you are a fan of the Sony CRT picture and panny or pioneer will be more to your liking as plasma is a more natural image.

The Sony LCD I've seen are poor on SD material.

No probs...luckily I kept the shortcuts..!

This is the 46 inch on the USA Sony site...

 http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665981653

These are other blogs on the ZX1 replacement ...

Hope that's OK?

Don't they look stunning and worth spending £2.8k on! 

sgrant01@gmail.com:

I've been looking in the shops and reading the whathifi magazine for the last 4 years waiting for LCD and Plasma to be as good as my Sony CRT TV with freeview and have refused to pay good money until they are

Until HD broadcasts are the norm, you're unlikely to see any HDTV come out with a picture as good as a standard def TV for Freeview. My Pioneer 5090 is good with Freeview, but it's not a patch on my old Panasonic Quintrix 32" CRT. It's very simple, the CRT was designed to display a PAL picture, these new TVs are designed to display 1080p. Even with the best upscaling, a PAL picture on a 1080p display will never look as good as a PAL picture on a standard def CRT TV I'm afraid.

However, watching Blu-Ray's on it is absolutely magnificent and when broadcast TV catches up (or if you subscribe to Sky HD), you'll then reap the benefits of your new TV.

Thanks everyone for you valuable feedback.

As suspected seems there is overwhelming support for the Pioneer - the set that i also preferred to start off with.

The only thing holding me to buy it is the price point my budget was around
£1200 & stretchable to £1500.

I will have to buy a stand as well
which is at least another £200.

I was secretly hoping someone
would offer me a strong case to go for the Sony - telling me its
extremly close to the Pioneer in picture quality & a great buy at
its new lowered price point.  Now it looks like i need to find some
more cash from somewhere before as i really don't want to compromise if
everyone here is outright telling me Pioneer is the way to go - even
though its exdem & at a higher price. Hmmm.. what to do now....

Would i be correct to assume that Pioneer & Sony will be pretty much same for viewing Blu-Rays - possibly Sony better ?

And Pioneer more better than the Sony for SD material ? 

 Or does Pioneer take both crowns ?

@matthewpiano

-  Are you saying that in your opinion the newer Z5500 would be a better buy than the X4500 ?

archy121:

Thanks everyone for you valuable feedback.

As suspected seems there is overwhelming support for the Pioneer - the set that i also preferred to start off with.

The only thing holding me to buy it is the price point my budget was around £1200 & stretchable to £1500.

I will have to buy a stand as well which is at least another £200.

Taking you current avalible budget into account I personally would strongly recomend considering the Samsung PS-50B850. It's a fantastic Plasma and has the same sexy looks of the Samsung LED range being ultra thin yet is easily avalible for under £1200.

archy121:

Thanks everyone for you valuable feedback.

As suspected seems there is overwhelming support for the Pioneer - the set that i also preferred to start off with.

The only thing holding me to buy it is the price point my budget was around £1200 & stretchable to £1500.

I will have to buy a stand as well which is at least another £200.

I was secretly hoping someone would offer me a strong case to go for the Sony - telling me its extremly close to the Pioneer in picture quality & a great buy at its new lowered price point.  Now it looks like i need to find some more cash from somewhere before as i really don't want to compromise if everyone here is outright telling me Pioneer is the way to go - even though its exdem & at a higher price. Hmmm.. what to do now....

Would i be correct to assume that Pioneer & Sony will be pretty much same for viewing Blu-Rays - possibly Sony better ?

And Pioneer more better than the Sony for SD material ? 

 Or does Pioneer take both crowns ?

 

@matthewpiano

-  Are you saying that in your opinion the newer Z5500 would be a better buy than the X4500 ?

Why don't you look at the Philips LCD's at this price point?

Just to add, I went through this whole debate between the 46" Sony, the Samsung UE46B8000 and a KRP-500A.  Price, size, partner approval all came into it.  In the end just couldn't help but realise that the picture on the Kuro was second to none.  No matter which other TV I looked at in the shops, if there was a Kuro in the room, all I could think was "Is the picture as good as on the Pioneer", regardless of source SD / HD, etc.

And my partner agreed...

My KRP-500A was bolted to the wall on Tuesday and the cost was about the same as sgrant01 has been quoted and I can say it was worth every penny...  All I can think about at work is what I can watch on TV tonight, even with the screen with lousy contrast for 200h run in.  I feel like a child in a toy store.
 

I would recommend you have a look at the Panasonic plasmas, particularly the v10.

Of the two you mention, I would go for the pioneer. 

archy121:

Thanks everyone for you valuable feedback.

As suspected seems there is overwhelming support for the Pioneer - the set that i also preferred to start off with.

The only thing holding me to buy it is the price point my budget was around
£1200 & stretchable to £1500.

I will have to buy a stand as well
which is at least another £200.

I was secretly hoping someone
would offer me a strong case to go for the Sony - telling me its
extremly close to the Pioneer in picture quality & a great buy at
its new lowered price point.  Now it looks like i need to find some
more cash from somewhere before as i really don't want to compromise if
everyone here is outright telling me Pioneer is the way to go - even
though its exdem & at a higher price. Hmmm.. what to do now....

Would i be correct to assume that Pioneer & Sony will be pretty much same for viewing Blu-Rays - possibly Sony better ?

And Pioneer more better than the Sony for SD material ? 

 Or does Pioneer take both crowns ?

 

@matthewpiano

-  Are you saying that in your opinion the newer Z5500 would be a better buy than the X4500 ?

matthewpiano:

In my view, yes, it represents better performance per pound. The Z5500 is the one I would go for out of the Sony sets.

 Even with the 46X4500 reduced to £1600 ?

Anyhow the Pioneer is now reserved till Monday & tomorrow i hope to audition both sets.

Unfortunately they are likely to be in 2 different shops with different lighting conditions etc.

I accept that the Pioneer has the better picture but i need to determine for myself whether i prefer the softer  plasma image or the sharper LCD one. From my research it seems that although the Sony LCD is not technically quite there with the Pioneer it is close. My eyes may not be able to detect the differences and they have a preference to a type of image produced - irrelevant of which is better technically. I was definitely wowed by Plantet Earth on my friends 40w5500 so lets see what the Pioneer can do. I will be equipped with the same Blu-Ray tomorrow.

BTW Other than size is the LX6090 exactly same as the LX5090 ? I will most likely be auditioning it on the 60" screen.