I'm in the market for a new plasma, and currently I'm doing my research. It seems the consensus so far is that Panasonic and Pioneer plasmas have the best pictures.
I have found some deals online for the Pioneer 4270, which received outstanding reviews when it came out last year. It's price has been slashed since Pioneer has released its new model -- the 4280.
My question is how much has plasma technology improved over the last year? The 4270 received extremely high marks last year, but do other new, less expensive plasmas have just as good of pictures now? Has the technology improved a lot in the last year, so that the 4270's picture doesn't stand out in today's market?
I have the Pioneer 50" and it really is stunning. Not yet seen anyone elses TV look this good. The image vibrance blows away even most 1080p screens.
That being said the Pioneer 1080p screen from last year was awesome and the new Panasonics will be great too. The price will likely be much higher though...
You will be happy with any Pioneer or Plasma TV, just make it fit your budget. (somehow)
I have the 5070. Can't comment on the picture of the 5080 as I have not seen it yet, but the new model seems to have some new bells and whistles... like HDMI 1.3. (and more of them) This upgrade to 1.3 does not help the video quality any, but would be somewhat helpful on audio components.
You can ignore any of the image processing features on these TV"s because most of them don't do anything. Most of the pro's will recommend you turn them off anyway. That being said, the panel itself is likely to be improved on the new model, but that's just an assumption I'm making. The development of 720p plasma's has been on the back burner as this years talk is all about the 1080p sets.
In my oppinion, 50" is the turning point to where you may want to consider 1080p. At 60", I think the 1080p is necessary just to fill in all the space between pixels.