From my own experience, none of the Pioneer consumer models I have seen, and there have been a few, have ever looked like 'best on the market'.
In all honesty, I always thought Fujitsu were considered the best. Only now (within the last 12 months), from what I have seen with my own eyes - and I am forever looking at as many of the different models as I possibly can (I want to be able to provide honest advice ) - I now think of Samsung as a good 2nd place. And considering they are amongst the lesser priced units, I reckon that makes for a great product.
That said, I don't get to lay my eyes on many NEC plasmas and they are supposed to be quite good as well.
P.S. when ever we install any A/V gear we always do a full setup, calibration and test of the whole system.