when I bought my first plasma in 2000, a 50" commercial-oriented Pioneer PDP-502MX (airport display type) I think I paid $7000 (and that was the internet price, it was more expensive through normal channels, and I think that number included an expensive articulated mount), including a special board to connect it to RGB, which was the popular way of connecting TVs back then (I remember I ran a DVI cable from the wall to the closet, thinking I was being smart, and downplaying rumors that HDMI would become the standard). So the fact that we can get amazingly good TVs (that run circles around those old Pioneers any way you look at it) today for $350 is testament to how far the technology has come!
