New to forum and just came across this post and wanted to update based on recent research. Actually the HDMI interface on both the PDP and Elite series are HDCP compliant. In fact it is the same external media box - the only difference are the gold connectors on the Elite version.

After quite a bit of research I can't find sufficent difference to warrant what at least in my area is about a $1500 to $2000 difference in price. As for the extra year of warranty I can buy a 5 year extended warranty for $750. The other differences are very sublte. According to Pioneer they use components that bench test at a higher quality level to assemble, the glass on the front of the screen is supposed to be better (optical quality), and the gold connectors on the media box. My "budget" would accommodate either - I just don't see the added value for the $. I am going to be purchasing whatever the latest non-Elite PDP504x model (5045?) is in the next few weeks. The 5041 is currently like $6500 at Best Buy. The Pro-Elite 1110 is $9000 at Tweeter. Be careful buying Pioneer via mail order as they will honor warranty. They are very clear about this on their web pages and even have pop-ups stating this every time you visit a page with a plasma model. -M

This message was edited by Matt Kennedy on 10/27/04 07:59 ET.