Pioneer’s 2007 line show, held yesterday at the trendy Branch Hotel on Manhattan’s upper east side, was full of contradictions and puzzles. First off, Pioneer has embarked on a company-wide campaign to re-invent its brand, aided by agency TBWA/Chiat/Day’s "Disruption Consultancy." The agency has also developed ad and branding campaigns for Apple, Adidas, and Pedigree.

Next, Pioneer has also re-engineered several aspects of their core plasma technology, including (once again) a new pixel cell structure and electrode design, improved video processing, enhanced color filters, and a lowered "priming" charge (required to fire each pixel quickly) which is supposed to result in richer black levels.

It all sounded good, but one question came to mind immediately during senior VP Russ Johnston’s presentation where he stated the company’s goal was to sell 330,000 plasma HDTVs in the USA this year. Given how intensely price-driven the plasma business has become, how will Pioneer be able to swim against the tide and concentrate on selling to higher-end markets with higher ASPs than anyone else, yet still make their numbers?

While all of Pioneer’s plasma lines will employ the new engineering enhancements, the company doesn’t seem to have ramped up production over 2006. And while the lower priming voltages did result in some really rich, velvety black tones in the displayed content, there is no improvement in power consumption over last year’s models.

What is new for 2007 is an "Optimum" picture mode processor, which Pioneer claims can tell the difference between a cartoon, football game, news, movies, and music videos (perhaps using cadence detection). This "optimum" mode can then make picture adjustments and video processing tweaks accordingly, although we didn’t get an explanation of how those tweaks would work. (The processor can also adjust brightness, based on ambient light levels.)

There are eight models for 2007, with four labeled as "Pioneer" products and four carrying "Elite" badges. Within each family, you’ll find a 42-inch 1024×768 offering, a 50-inch 768p set, a 50-inch 1080p version, and a 60-inch 1080p HDTV.

Pioneer’s new 768p PDP-4280HD ($2,700) will immediately find itself at a serious price/performance disadvantage against Panasonic’s $2,495 1080p TH-42PZ700, as both will be sold through the same channels. The Elite version (PRO-950HD) will retail at $3,200, but won’t offer any more resolution than the PDP-4280HD.

Pioneer’s PDP-5080HD ($3,500) is a new 768p model for the big box stores and has an SRP about $1,000 higher than competitors. The Elite version (PRO-1150HD) of this HDTV is tagged at $4,500 and seems almost superfluous, considering that you’ll be able to buy the Pioneer-branded PDP-5010FD with 1080p resolution for just $500 more. (The 50-inch 1080p Elite mode, PRO-110FD, will set you back $6,000.) A similar situation applies at 60 inches, where the 1080p PDP-6010FD carries a $6,500 sticker, but the Elite PRO-150FD is priced at $7,500.

Pioneer’s got a new Blu-ray player in the mix this year. The BDP-94HD ($1,000) has networking capabilities, supports the Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) standard, has photo gallery playback, can download digital media files from a networked PC for playback, and offers 24p output.

There’s also a $299 Blu-ray writer/reader for PCs. The BDC-2202 can read BD-ROM, BD-R, and BD-RE discs (25 GB) at up to 5x speed, and handles dual-layer BD-R and BD-RE discs (50 GB) at 2x speed. It will also read and write conventional red-laser DVDs and CDs.

While it’s pretty clear to most observers that Pioneer’s plasma image quality and engineering know-how is top notch, it is not at all clear how Pioneer plans to re-invent itself and thrive by concentrating on what they identify as "high-end sales" in 2007. Since the LCD and plasma price wars show no signs of letting up, the company could be in for a bumpy ride this year. Only time will tell…