I've been quietly looking for a reason to upgrade my Panny 42" ED 6UY. Love this set but I do have a PS3 and HD Tivo, so the move from 480p to at least 720p would be nice. If it were me, I'd just do the jump to 1080p and be done w/ it. Years ago, I made the decision to stick w/ 480p, thinking I'd never be interested in HDTV. Not a smart decision...
My 42" ED looks great at 8', so there's never been a real need for a 1080p 50", except sheer gadget lust... I've helped my inlaws with 4 displays so far. 2 26" Samsung LCDs, 1 Pioneer Pro FHD1 50" and 1 65" Panny PZ750U. The Samsungs are good bedroom/kitchen TVs, good value. But for main viewing, I'm partial to plasma. I've read good things about that Pioneer you mention. The Panny you mentioned is very similar to the 65", which is stunning IMHO.
I still have to take pix but we have the 65" installed in my in laws pool room. In that room we have Hsu VTF3, 2 W22's, 1 W150, 2 QS8's, Denon 2808, Tivo HD with 500GB external space, and a Harmony 880. He bought an antique pool table (over 100 years old) and had it refinished for the room. I'm not a billiards guy but it is a nice table. Can't play too often though, my 2.5 year old likes to throw the balls around. We almost had one go through the plasma...
