I'm a Panasonic fan for life.
A few years ago (late 2003) I too did a lot AVSForum reading and a lot of side-by-side comparisons. At the time the members on the AVSForum seemed to agree that Fujitsu had the best overall picture (but was very expensive), followed closely by Panasonic, then the Pioneer (w/ the Panny and Pioneer being very close in price). What was being posted was that the Fujitsu and Panasonic had the best black levels and the Pioneer had the nicest brightest colors (The Pioneer blacks were not as deep when compared to the Fujitsus or Pannys). My side-by-side comparisons had similar results. Therefore w/ the price performance of the Panny, I ended up buying the 6th generation 50 inch panel. If I'm not mistaken, the 7th generation panel was the one w/ the shutdown problem - but I'm not sure.
With that said, (as a casual observer) today I think you can pretty much flip a coin and not be disappointed. Everybody's panels PQ seem pretty close to me, but I like I said I'm looking as closely as before. Today I would look for AVSForum postings of complaints for glitches / manufacturing issues (e.g., shutdown issues, weird line issues, weird color issues, etc.).
A few years ago (late 2003) I too did a lot AVSForum reading and a lot of side-by-side comparisons. At the time the members on the AVSForum seemed to agree that Fujitsu had the best overall picture (but was very expensive), followed closely by Panasonic, then the Pioneer (w/ the Panny and Pioneer being very close in price). What was being posted was that the Fujitsu and Panasonic had the best black levels and the Pioneer had the nicest brightest colors (The Pioneer blacks were not as deep when compared to the Fujitsus or Pannys). My side-by-side comparisons had similar results. Therefore w/ the price performance of the Panny, I ended up buying the 6th generation 50 inch panel. If I'm not mistaken, the 7th generation panel was the one w/ the shutdown problem - but I'm not sure.
With that said, (as a casual observer) today I think you can pretty much flip a coin and not be disappointed. Everybody's panels PQ seem pretty close to me, but I like I said I'm looking as closely as before. Today I would look for AVSForum postings of complaints for glitches / manufacturing issues (e.g., shutdown issues, weird line issues, weird color issues, etc.).