That all depends on your point of view! If you are asking me if I will be racing to get there then YES! I am just interested in doing a comparison since I haven't seen these two units side by side either, but have been able to pick up differences in video quality without seeing systems side-by-side. I don't believe that video quality is nearly as subjective a thing to discern as audio quality. Video has many definate characteristics that you can use again and again from place to place to differenciate TV's and especially DVD players alike. My favorite store to compare electronics is Magnolia Hi-Fi, due to a very diverse cross section of products of all sorts, not to mention the culprets who have ignited an almost undying obsession I now have for Martin Logan speakers, but that is a whole other subject entirely (the Audio thing again ). I was able to see the Pioneer on a 34" Phillips 16:9 HDTV and again cannot express enough how very impressed I was. But you must understand that I am one of those individuals that is willing to take something that is not quite as polished as other products, and see the potential it has to eventually blow most of those other products' sock's off. (i.e. my beloved sony monitor, which has such an incredibly steep learning curve that even the most technically adept have admitted to me that it is a "nightmare" to recalibrate!) Now this is not to say at all that the Pioneer isn't user friendly, by all means it is extremely understandable and easy to use, but I do admit that some of the higher end brands do have some neater(?) modes, menus, etc, or have friendlier remotes and such. But the BANG that you can get for your buck is undeniable. I personally only have two REAL major obsticles positioned to stop me from purchasing this unit. I have already been the proud owner of something like 7 DVD players in my time, meaning my wife would undeniably, justifiably, and probably literally KILL me if I was to swagger on home with that FINE piece of techno-gagetry! The other roadblock in my pipe-dreaming yellow-brick-road to nirvana is the coming advent of HD-DVD in one incarnation or another, and manufacturers better damn well get their $#!T together on this vital product line and get some damn unification, unlike DVD-A, SACD, DVD+R, DVD-R/RW, and so on. Whew! Sorry for that little blurb. With the advent of HD-DVD on the ever closing horizon, I have perverbialy been stopped in my tracks in purchasing even such a fine DVD player as the Pioneer 47A, but remember that my last player purchase has left me with the very respectable Sony DVP-NS700P progressive scan unit, keeping my itchy swiping-finger tamed for just a little longer.

My advice to you, since you seem to have had some iffy luck on your player purchases in recent months, is to go through your current DVD collection and pick out your very favorite titles that both define reference video quality and vary in presentations. I would recommend picking titles across the spectrum (1 animation, 1 sci-fi, 1 total action, 1 epic, 1 problem disc like your Jeremiah Johnson to help level the playing field as it were). You should speak with a sales person and ask if it would be alright to run the dedicated player through a few tests so that you have a good reference to compare to. Make sure that the player is indeed in progressive mode and hooked up to a "known" quality HDTV monitor (like yours). Pick out specific scenes in each title you have brought, being sure to have tested them first on your system before you go to ensure that they are fresh in your memory, and if you need to write the chapters down to make tests go quicker. I of all people know how impatient and frustrated some sales people can get if they aren't making a commission, and just want to save you that hastle. This is my most tried and true method of sifting through products and coming up with the jems. If you would like some suggested titles to try, other than ones you already prefer, either look through the favorite demo's section or I can try and post my favorite demo material for store comparisons here when I check in next, with my reasons and explainations for each one.

Oh, by the way, I was up a couple of nights ago and saw that STARZ was showing Sergio Leone's " A Fistful of Dynamite", another of his films that I had never seen and it was just great! The chemistry between James Coburn and Rod Steiger was absolutely teriffic. I think that they'll be showing it throughout the month.

As always, I hope that this information has been in some way helpful to you, and anyone else that reads it.

Ya'll have a good night now, ya' hear!

-Jeremy