I just finished a review of the gorgeous Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD 42" plasma HDTV. As I was writing it, a lyric kept resonating in my head. It's from an old bluesy song that Maria Muldaur used to grind out in that sultry voice of hers. "It ain't the meat, it's the motion." In the HD World of sexy black bezeled beauties, that earthy adage translates to "It ain't the pixels, it's the picture."

In this season of 1080p HDTVs dominating the landscape, a lot of us are falling prey to the pixel envy trap. We are swayed by marketing to believe that if it's not 1920 by 1080 progressive, it's not worth considering. And if we have anything less, poor, poor, pitiful us.

Imagine my surprise – after ogling over the voluptuous video emanating from the Pioneer – when I looked at its measurements only to discover a runty resolution of 1024 x 768. Not 1920, not 1366, not even 1280, what's a poor boy to do? I'll tell you what I do. I savor the sumptuous image, smile and sing in my best blues growl, "It ain't the pixels, it's the picture."

Horsepower

If you're a NASCAR mom or dad, think of your HDTV as a stock car. If it's not perfectly hooked up and it's loose in the turns, what difference does it make if it has 350 horses or 175 mules under the hood? You're still going to be lapped traffic.

Let me admit that I like muscle cars as much as the next man's man. And if I have the choice between a sweet 720p roadster and an equally sweet 1080p 1968 Ford Mustang, I'll be riding with Frank Bullitt. But when you are shopping for a new HDTV, don't be blinded by the pixel pixie dust being hyped in your eyes. Consider the whole package.

Beyond the splendid spectacle the Elite served up, I appreciated its responsiveness to the picture controls. I felt comfortable knowing that if I wanted to desaturate the image a bit or add a little green, I could dial it up and the monitor would respond.

But first and foremost, it's the picture, stupid. I don't want to know about pixel count or market-speak terms like super helical chromatic capacitors. Are the colors rich and true? How does it handle the content that I watch the most? Does the image rev my engines?

I realize that you can't judge those things by standing in front of a row of overly bright TVs at a big box store. Though next time you find yourself browsing the HD aisle, see if there's a remote handy and take your favorite sports car for a spin.

And of course, keep checking back here to read what we discover when we pop the hood on more of these high def hot rods.

Stay tuned,