I've never been all that impressed with the picture quality of LCD flat panels. I'm primarily a nighttime, controlled light environment movie watcher, and the poor blacks and lack of contrast just do me in with these things. On top of that, many LCDs have a "painted" digital look that never suspends disbelief, and the worst of the bunch have response time issues that make motion blur.

The original text of this review stated that the Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD will not accept native 1080p/24 material. That was incorrect. It will. The set will not, however, accept a native 1080p/60 source. In addition, the set includes two NTSC tuners (useful in the split-screen and picture-in-picture modes), a fact not noted in the text but now added to the Specifications section. —Ed.

Panasonic's video division has staked its life on plasma televisions. So far it looks like a pretty good bet. Sure, the company sells flat panel LCD and rear projection LCD and DLP TVs. But newspapers, magazines and televisions are host to countless Panasonic ads for plasmas and nary a one for the other technologies. And have you seen Panasonic promotions for an "LCD Concierge" service like one offered for its plasmas? All of this is paying off. Panasonic sells one-third of all plasmas sold in the United States – more than any other company.