DL, I've seen them, but not next to each other. My impression was that the Pioneer, while excellent, was not better than the Panasonic and was priced much higher.

In the Consumer Reports tests the Panasonic and Pioneer were ranked at the top, essentially equal. You might find this review of the 60U to be of interest. Note that you can save a few hundred dollars if the relatively minor additional features of the 600U aren't essential to you.

How do panasonic tele's handle in the long run? The few panasonic things I've had (cd players/telephones) didn't hold up well over a couple of years.

Here are the top four as rated by ConsumerReports.org

Fujitsu Plasmavision P42XTA51US $4500
Hewlett-Packard HP PL4260N $1700
Panasonic TH-42PX60U $2100
Hitachi Ultravision 42HDS69 $2200

I'm sure all can be had at better prices.

Michael, apparently you subscribe. My reference to the Pioneer was from the March print issue. Does the online rating have it lower or just doesn't cover it?

John, I do subscribe online. I did notice there was no date as to when these ratings were done, I'm assuming it would have been sometime recently as they have changed since the last time I looked a month or so ago.
The next four listed were.
LG 42PC3D $1900
Samsung HP-S4253 $2200
Toshiba 42HP66 $2000
Proview MH-422HU $2200
As a side note I used Consumer Reports recommendations when I bought my Toshiba and have been very happy with it. My guess is with the changing technology and pricing on these TV's, it is very hard to keep their ratings timely for more than a month, but I don't think anyone could go wrong with most of their choices.

I bought a 50 Pioneer Elite PRO-1130hd this summer, and I have been nothing but impressed by it. Granted the Elites are more expensive. But as for Plasma's go I think Pioneer make the best. It was very easy to calabrate, and set up. I found the Pioneers to be more colorful than the Pannys. But the Pannys have a little better blacks. There was very little difference in the black levels. I thought the Pioneer had more WOW factor than the panny. If you do look you can find smoken deals on that plasma at some stores. If you happen to be by any American TV there's a sale going on this weekend that I got my tv with. They knocked off almost a grand off the price. I thought $4600 for a $5500 tv was a pretty good deal.

i live in the states and would like to know who is having a great sale this weekend? i don't think an elite pioneer is in my budget , i'm just trying to justify the extra expence of the 4270hd. i found some internet sites, plasma depot, dtv express, i just don't have any history with them. are they really aurthorized dealers selling new stock.
every place i've seen the panny 600u it seems either the signal being sent to it is bad or it's just not in the same ball park as the pioneer.

i buy the samsung one because they dont have a built in fan inside the tv. panasonic got 2 fan, be awared, a fan will always made a noise,not from the start but after 1 or 2 years. for the price take the sammy, i get the hpr4252c from samsung.