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PIONEER PDP5040HD 50-Inch Plasma HDTV Display

PIONEER PDP5040HD 50-Inch Plasma HDTV Display

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I love this Plasma TV!
Review: I got this Plasma TV a couple of weeks ago and I absolutely love it.

When I watch a DVD it's like being at the movie theatre.

And the HD channels I get (DirecTV and off air) look stunning.

Watching DiscoverHD is like looking through a window.

I now look forward to watching movies at home and am watching more than I did with my Rear Projection tv.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: buyer beware
Review: I have had my plasma for two years. Suddenly it went out. It turns out that the divice is burned out. The company refuses to replace despite that they have an internal recall on the power board. Repiar in my region is impossible. So for the cost of this monitor, beware!!!!!!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Crisp, Solid and To The Point
Review: I work in the technology industry and did much research before purchasing this plasma. Overall, Pioneer did a great job in features, and performance.

Price: I got it for around $5200 (yes, it's the 50 inch) with free shipping from a major retailer, so that worked out well.

Quality: The depth and great color reproductions make this plasma overwhelming to watch sometimes. After 2 months, its still hard to walk away for a snack sometimes. The "brains box" concept works out well of cables and it well made. The solid stand it comes with, along with the entire enclosure is solid, sturdy and strong. The swivel is smooth, the mounts are perfect. I have 2 dead pixels, which sometimes I notice when the screen is a solid color, but that's a risk we all take I guess.

Speakers: The standard ones it came with a great, better than people kept reviewing them. For real sound, we all know a good receiver and surround speakers make all the difference.

Connection: Had more than most others I have seen - 2 HDMI, rear and front components, RGB, svideo, etc. Wish you could name the inputs on the display though. :(

Tuner/Basic Parts: This is a true HDTV, with dual tuners for both standard and hd. A must.

Standard TV: Eh, doesn't look that great. But it doesn't on most plasmas. The side gray bars it has for the 4:3 viewing are annoying, but I can live with it. Streching it just feels weird on certain shows. The people look to fat or cut off.

Features: The split screen nice....between any one input and another. Pretty cool. They should have an option for all 4.

Physical Screen: The deep encased cells really do make a difference on reflection and lighting. Nothing seems to effect the picture, day, night or angle. Love that. The glossy is just enough to make the picture feel natural.

Is It Worth It: Depends on the person. It's a good amount of cash for a TV in the grand scheme, but for second level early adopters like me, it's well spent. I spend every day, for some amount of time watching TV, so it might as well be important.

HDTV Carrier: This is not about the actual product, but what you will of course be also search for, good HDTV provider. I had DirecTV. Loved the service, quality and TiVo. However, there HDTV options were terrible....very very expensive HD-DVR, monthly fees and an extra antenna made the deal sour. I chose cable to my own surprise, Comcast. The service is ok, not great. The HDTV programs are great, but too few. The DVR is many steps down from TiVo, there software is a true annoyance even though it essentially does the same job.

Final Thoughts: Top of the line quality, good 800 # support, great HDTV for those who can afford it and have the sense for a quality product.



Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Best Plasma around
Review: I've had the Pioneer 5040HD for about 2 months now. It is unbelievable. The quality is great, and I wnet back on forth between this and the Sony 50inch XBR, finally settling on the Pioneer beaucse I thought the image was clearer and sharper.
I would recommend getting the DVD Essentials home theatre dvd for correctly setting the color and contrast settings. I did, and the picture is awesome. I run Dish Network (non-HD) and the image is really good. Progressive scan DVD is even better.
I highly recommend this plasma. Because this is a 50 inch plasma..for best results, you do have to view the screen from atleast 8 feet away or more when watching non-HD content. that is pretty much true for any large screen TV.
The sound quality of the speakers is great..suprising loud and clear.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: reach for the stars
Review: I've only had it for a short while, but I've known for some time that this was going to be the one. At the store, when a colorful nature scene appears on all the plasmas, you'll see the amazing depth that this thing produces (billions of colors) compared to all the rest. A media receiver comes with it, so it is genuinely HD-ready. A clean-power surge protector is actually not a bad idea. They're pricey, 150+, but it's true that dirty ac power degrades (a plasma's) image quality. And absolutely necessary, is a Progressive-scan DVD player, the difference is totally noticeable. The Sony 50inch is a great screen, I watch one occasionally and you can't go wrong with it. The other nice thing about the Sony vs Pioneer is that the Sony very wisely decided to give 4:3 screen-mode BLACK bars on the sides instead of the annoying gray bars that Pioneer always opts for (imagine watching a movie with gray bars on the top and bottom - ridiculous). The Pioneer, I believe is slightly superior in image quality though. The billions of colors, the resolution, is just hypnotic. You will have to tweak it, setting it to movie-mode but enhancing the color and contrast a bit, or standard and turn the sharpness down a notch, and so on (vivid mode is just horrible, and must be for watching the occasional and unavoidable video tape or something). It is gorgeous too, the speakers go on the top or the sides, or not at all. PC input, monitor-out, lots of others.

The only bad thing that I can see so far, is the "PureVision" or whatever it's called, that Pioneer claims to enhance the picture and smooth edges? I'm not really sure what exactly it's supposed to do, but its a noticeable difference in the way a Sony will process the image, you may or may not like it. BestBy doesn't typically have the Sony 50inch on display, they do always have the Pioneer though. Go see them all. My runner-up flat-panel is definitely the Toshiba, that is one gorgeous tv. too bad there is no 50incher. The 42inch is a nice alternative. And Sony's 42 model from last year is going on sale now (07-27-04) from 6k to 4.3k at BestBy.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: plz do not buyin this TV
Review: Many people who watched mine commented on how "fuzzy" the picture looked. It's stylish, but falls flat in picture quality. I highly recommend against this poor product from a company with a poor reputation for poor customer support. Check out Cnet's rankings; get a samsung or sony!!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: plz do not buyin this TV
Review: Many people who watched mine commented on how "fuzzy" the picture looked. It's stylish, but falls flat in picture quality. I highly recommend against this poor product from a company with a poor reputation for poor customer support. Check out Cnet's rankings; get a samsung or sony!!


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