Pioneer pdp-4214 at Costco

I just purchased the Costco 4214 and of course I read all your posts ?after? I bought the Plasma. Anyhow, I probably would have NOT purchased the unit with so many negative postings. I am happy to say?the TV works well. I am not sure what all the fuss is about?

DVD picture quality?I noticed a HUGE difference when I enabled the ?progressive? mode of my DVD player. Very Good. Throw in Star Wars III or Black Hawk Down and you will drool in awe.

Sound?so loud I can hardly get past ten without my wife complaining. Excellent.

Cable HD, my Comcast is not yet up and running. I expect HD to be near flawless!

I do see ?mosquitoes? at times, but heck?show me a TV without some form of gnats?especially one for $2k flat! Put it this way?do you think an ?ED? TV would hold up to the Pioneer? Nope, and they cost nearly as much!

Regarding rumors?my manual also states PDP-42A3HD. I think this is the model that sold at Tweeter. There is no distinction so I assume the 4214HD is this very TV. There may be some truth that these Pioneer?s are Pio-NECs. Pioneer did acquire NEC?s plasma display business. I am not a plasma TV engineer, so I do not know what parts can be mixed, matched, or upgraded.

All that really matters is that I saved a lot of money and the display may not be the best, but you certainly get your value for $2k.

My 2 cents and happy viewing!

Ldr. D

Just bought the 4214 as my first plunge into HD. Been looking around for a while and couldn't pass up the price at Costco this past Saturday. I'm still waiting on my HD satellite hookup, so just currently watching "regular" TV, and I must say the quality so far for regualr broadcast is very disappointing for such a high end name like Pioneer. Very "digitized" and "posterized" colors and images, especially for dark colors. Can anyone help? Is the quality going to get better with a new DTV receiever and dish? I assume the HD channels will be awesome, but what about non-HD broadcasts? Any recommendations or suggestions? Should I chuck this one and return it for something else? Any input or ideas are much appreciated.

My feelings exactly. I, too, bought the 4214 from Costco on Saturday. With discount, it seemed too good a deal to pass. So far, I am not over the moon with the picture. I am not sure what artifacts or mosquito effects are, but I have been seeing some weird picture effects at times, although some channels are better than other. But, and it is a big but, like yourself, I do not have HD cable set up yet and my DVD player is not progressive scan. I think we will have to reserve judgement until we have everything set up properly, before we give up on this tv.