Yes, they had the HD-DVD hooked up at both places and they had the Sony hooked up at both places and the Pioneer was not hooked up at either place and neither was the 52 " Sony . Both places asked me if there was windows in the room and I told them the wall oppisite the TV was all windows and Glass doors. Both said look at the plasma and you will see everything behind you in the reflection and you won't on the LCD and they were right.
Both had the Pioneer in stock but neither had the XBR3 I ended up getting it from their Commercial Division so I felt the salesmen were honest with me as they both missed a sale.
I have always felt that Sony and Pioneer in their top of the line equipment are ahead of a lot of people and if they went with Blu-ray it was good enough for me.