The Panasonic TH-50PX500
We looked long and hard before settling on the Panasonic TH-50PX500. This is the Canadian model that, at the time of purchase in the fall of 2005, was exclusive to Future Shop and Best Buy. It's made with Panasonic's 8th generation "glass" and while the "glass" is identical to the TH-50PX50, it has a couple of more bells and whistles including PIP, an SD card slot and more inputs. The major selling point for us was the black border around the picture on the 500 versus the all silver of the 50.
This set does a great job displaying both standard definition signal and high definition signal. The built-in speakers are a nice-to-have when the home theatre in-ceiling speakers can't be used due to people sleeping above. I'm running component video to the TV from my receiver (the receiver doesn't support HDMI) and I think the picture looks great. See the Panasonic specs here.
The jury is still out on how reliable plasma technology, so I opted for Future Shop's 4 year warranty, which includes coverage for a power surge (2 of which I've had due to lightning strikes in the past 5 years). Some of the cost of the warranty was returned to me in reductions in price to all the other components. If you buy a warranty, I think you'll get some room to bargain.
Other plasma models considered were:
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Panasonic Onyx series. Positives for the Onyx were a separate media receiver, detachable speakers and an all black border. But this model was made with 7th generation glass and cost thousands more. The higher-end retailer of this model wouldn't deal on this so it was thumbs down to the Onyx.
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Panasonic monitors like the TH-50PHD8UK. 8th generation glass and very highly-rated. They come without speakers, a tuner and the like, but I really could have gotten by with just the monitor, having already opted for a home theatre and cable box. These models were not available at Panasonic retail outlets in London, Ontario and appear to only be available on-line in Canada. When I was looking, they appeared to be significantly cheaper than the consumer models and they might be a great option for some.
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Pioneer PDP-5050HD. Again, a set with a separate media receiver which I like. I thought the 5050 compared well beside the Panny at Best Buy, but I didn't think the price difference was warranted. Early reviews of the PDP-5060HD model out in Canada in September '05 didn't indicate that Pioneer had surpassed Panasonic in picture quality and its still higher MSRP were enough to convince me that I didn't need to wait to see a 5060 in London.
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Samsung HPR-5072. Nice looking set with all black border. Unfortunately, its picture didn't stack up when viewed right beside the Panny at Future Shop. I read a few negative reviews about the DNIE technology, whether DNIE-related or not, the picture quality is what ruled this set out for me.