Chris Iannicello, April 17, 2006
HDTV Solutions
Released in the fall of last year, the PDP-505CMX is Pioneer's current commercial display and is based on their 5th generation "glass," which can also be found in the Pioneer PDP-5050HD consumer display. Pioneer has since released a 6th generation model, but only in their consumer line.
Unlike Pioneer, Panasonic releases their latest glass in their commercial line first, and then their consumer line. Since commercial products have fewer bells and whistles like speakers, tuners, inputs, etc., they usually sell for less, allowing a pure picture quality enthusiast to afford a top tier plasma for anywhere from $500-1000 less than its consumer counterpart.
However, when I spoke with a Pioneer rep about this strategy, he told me that they prefer to release their best technology on the consumer side first, as this is where the most demand is for pure picture quality, not to mention most of their advertising budget. He further explained that on the commercial side the primary focus is reliability, so after the consumer model has been established in the marketplace for a considerable period of time, they release that glass in a commercial display.
Pioneer also has an Elite line of consumer products, which also contains the same glass as their regular consumer and commercial lines, but adds several features including gold-plated A/V connectors, increased color temperature and calibration adjustments, media card slot, additional inputs, two year warranty, and an upgraded external design. The Elite line is a substantial upgrade, but expect to pay $1500-$2000 more for it.
Some of the key features of the PDP-505CMX include: Advanced Continuous Emission III (ACE III) reduces the visible steps between the levels of color being viewed making color transitions smoother than before. 1st Surface Pure Color Filter - A non-glass front panel that reduces glare 3:3 Pull-Down displays all signals at 72 Hz instead of the industry standard 60 Hz. Point Zoom function allows users to expand any portion of a PC image in three steps 1.5x, 2x and 3x for emphasizing key points in a presentation. Very low power consumption - approximately 280 watts average consumption.
First Impressions
The PDP-505CMX was shipped to me directly from the manufacturer. The overall fit and finish of the PDP-505CMX was excellent, however this being a commercial product, there were not many parts to worry about. Besides the display itself, the PDP-505CMX comes with a table mount, remote, manual, and power cable. The display also had two heavy-duty handles on the back, making mounting a bit easier.
The design is simple and elegant, with a small black bezel surrounding the display. As you might expect with a commercial model, there are no external speakers, but at least a table mount is included. The total depth mounted is approximately 5.1 inches, which is comparable to other commercial 50" displays.
The remote has as few buttons as I've seen on any remote since the early 1980's, which again can be attributed to the commercial line display as the comparable consumer version has many more buttons. The remote does include dedicated buttons for each of the five inputs, which is a nice touch. It was actually quite refreshing not having to navigate through the normal barrage of meaningless buttons when using the remote. The design is not perfect, however, as you have to enter and exit each picture setting manually which requires several keystrokes as opposed to simply pressing the up or down button to get to the next setting like many remotes.
Under the Hood
The PDP-505CMX has a resolution of 1280x768, which is slightly less than most other 50" plasma displays, which have a resolution of 1366x768. This is a non-issue, however, as you would be hard pressed to actually detect a difference, regardless of source material. Pioneer does not post contrast ratio information on this display, although they do rate the PDP_5060HD, which is the 6th and newest generation, at 4000:1, so I would guess the PDP-505CMX rates somewhere between 3000:1 and 4000:1. Either way, actual rated contrast in real-world conditions will be much lower so not much attention should be paid to this measurement. Brightness is rated at 1100 cd/m2, but this measurement is also dubious as the comparable Panasonic Model (TH-50PHD8UK) is rated 545cd/m2. Although I could not find any official specification, I would expect the display half-life rating (the amount of time it will take for a display to dim to 50% of its original brightness) to be at or near the current industry standard of 60,000 hours. Other features include improved 10-bit video processing, called ACE III, that produces 1792 shades of gray steps for each "cell," which results in well over 1 billion colors. The previous Pioneer model produced 1024 shades of gray. The PDP-505CMX has a 1-year warranty.
According to Pioneer, the PDP-505CMX contains their First Surface Pure Color Filter, which uses one less piece of glass than in previous models, improving picture quality by reducing reflection and increasing black levels. I found this claim accurate as when I first viewed the display, I did notice there was not as much glare as with most plasmas.
The PDP-505CMX comes with built-in DVI-D and Analog RGB inputs, as well as a RS-232C and combination connector, both of which are suggested in the owner's manual only to be used for setup adjustments according to a Pioneer technician. The input panel is located on the bottom of the display pointing downwards, which can be difficult to see, but there are diagrams on the back of the display which help you line up the cables with their inputs. Similar to Panasonic's commercial line, Pioneer offers multiple expansion slots named the ES Card Slot Interface. However, unlike Pioneer, the Panasonic commercial models do not include a built-in DVI or HDMI input, so you have to purchase a $150 expansion slot to optimize picture quality. There are two types of expansion slots in the PDP-505CMX: One is for video and one for communication.
There are two available Video Slots, both of which include an S-video and composite video input. One slot has a component video input and the other a five port, RGB/component input. There are several third-party Communication Slots certified by Pioneer for network connections, video broadcasts and distribution.
The PDP-505CMX has an easy to navigate settings menu, with some granularity not normally seen in consumer displays. While the brightness and contrast controls are conventional, there are individual adjustments for red, green, and blue as opposed to a conventional Tint and Color controls, as well as individual horizontal and vertical enhance settings that replace the normal Sharpness control. There are five color temperature settings: Low, Medium-Low, Medium (default), Medium-High, and High. The Low setting will adjust whites and light colors most towards red/warm and the High setting will adjust towards blue/cool. The PDP-505CMX also had a Digital MPEG Reduction setting, which did a surprisingly good job of smoothing out facial features while retaining most other image resolution, but the High setting is a bit too much and gives people a cartoonish look. I would suggest the Low setting, but only if you prefer to sit less than 8 feet from the screen and want to reduce some picture noise.
To try and prevent screen burn-in, there is an Orbiter feature, which changes the entire display position by one pixel every 8 minutes. There is also a Mask Control feature, which changes the position of the black bars on the sides of the screen (used in any 4:3 content) every time the displayed is turned on. These types of preventative features are common in most newer plasma displays.
Test Drive
I connected the PDP-505CMX to the Scientific Atlanta 8300HD Cable box via the DVI input. I sampled several types of high definition content including movies, sports, and regular television programming, all of which looked excellent. There was some signal noise, but once I backed up to about 10 feet viewing distance it all but disappeared.
Here are a few sample images of the PDP-505CMX, set at factory defaults, compared to the BenQ PE7700 DLP Projector (The PDP-505CMX is the bottom image). It should be noted that PE7700 is a front projector, and in a different price range (less than $2000) than the PDP-505CMX, so it is not surprising that the PDP-505CMX produces a better, higher contrast image.
2006 Winter Olympics (NBC HD, 1080i)
This comparison is an excellent illustration of why plasma is superior to DLP. Better contrast, color saturation, and especially image detail. Both images handle reds very well, with the PDP-505CMX leaning a bit towards orange.
2006 Winter Olympics
TOP: BenQ PE7700 BOTTOM: PDP-505CMX
2006 Grammy Awards (CBS HD - 1080i)
Excellent contrast and color saturation (despite the slight orange cast) in the PDP-505CMX. Notice how the highlights punch out in Bono's jacket.
2006 Grammy Awards
TOP: BenQ PE7700 BOTTOM: PDP-505CMX
I, Robot (HBO HD - 1080i)
The Shadow detail in the PDP-505CMX is evident in Will Smith's hat, which retains excellent contrast without sacrificing detail. Colors are rich, even with out of focus background content.
I, Robot
TOP: BenQ PE7700 BOTTOM: PDP-505CMX
Sin City (HBO HD - 1080i)
In this black and white scene, there is a slight green-cast in the PDP-505CMX. Resolution is excellent.
Sin City
TOP: BenQ PE7700 BOTTOM: PDP-505CMX
The Fifth Element (Oppo OPDV971H DVD Player - 720p via DVI)
The PDP-505CMX has much smoother transitions from light to dark, with good shadow detail.
The Fifth Element
TOP: BenQ PE7700 BOTTOM: PDP-505CMX
Color
As you can see from the sample photographs, there are some small issues with color accuracy out of the box with some slight pushing of orange and green hues, but these were fixed easily after some small adjustments. To fix the green push most evident in the Sin City photo, I changed the color temperature from Medium to Medium-high, which seemed to do the trick. For the slight exaggeration of orange hues, I increased the Blue Level control a couple of clicks. Aside from these minor issues, the color saturation is fantastic, with lifelike flesh tones and rich colors throughout the display.
Contrast/Black Level
Contrast and Black Level are the primary differentiators for plasma compared to LCD or any rear-projection television technology, and the PDP-505CMX does not disappoint. Overall contrast is very good, with plenty of punch to bring out light and dark details within the same image. Black levels and shadow detail are also improved, and while the PDP-505CMCX does not quite match the current industry leading Panasonic displays, most viewers will probably not miss the difference unless seeing the displays side-by-side.
Brightness
Brightness has historically been one of the most significant weaknesses of Plasmas, but the top tier brands have not had any issues with brightness the past few years, and I would say Pioneer falls in this category. While certainly not in the league of many LCD displays, the PDP-505CMX has plenty of brightness for low to medium-lit room environments and performed admirably even when blasted with direct light sources. Of course, there is still a decent reflection from the display's surface, even though it's made of a new non-glass material. For movies, I found the best results with a small amount of ambient light.
Video Processing
Historically, this has been the strong suit of the Pioneer plasmas, consistently outperforming all other brands at displaying multiple resolutions and source material with inordinate amounts of smoothness and overall quality. The PDP-505CMX is certainly no exception as non-HDTV content, particularly DVD and digital cable, looked spectacular. Scaling was first rate and the Full mode, which takes the vertical edges of 4:3 material and stretches it to fit the 16:9 display, did an admirable job.
One unique feature of the Pioneer plasmas is their Advanced Pure Cinema, which they claim improves upon the industry standard of 3:2 pulldown, which is the conversion of 24 full frame per second film (all movies are filmed at this rate) to be played on televisions that display content at 60 interlaced frames per second. To split up 24 frames into 60, one film frame is scanned three times, the next frame is scanned twice, the next frame is scanned three times, etc. Because the distribution of frames is uneven, the result is various types of motion artifacts and other distortion, particularly in fast moving scenes or panning across an image that has a lot of straight lines. The Advanced Pure Cinema feature takes 24 frame per second film and scans each frame three times and displays content at 72 interlaced frames per second, a first in the television industry. Theoretically, because the distribution of frames is even, the result should be a smoother overall image and less motion artifacts.
In one particular scene from the movie Assassins, the camera shows a shingled building and does a slow pan upward, which produced a good amount of motion artifacts or jaggies. The PDP-505CMX still gives you the choice of traditional 3:2 pulldown, which is named Standard in their Pure Cinema setting. I found this setting to perform very well relative to other displays. When I flipped the switch on the Advanced Pure Cinema setting, I did notice a slight difference over the Standard setting, but I had to look really hard and play the scene back several times to see the difference. After close inspection, it did appear that the Advanced setting was slightly smoother, but perhaps it is a testament to how good Pioneer's existing 3:2 pulldown technology already is that the Advanced 3:3 pulldown did not provide an earth-shattering improvement. I have also heard some reports that the 3:3 pulldown feature actually added picture noise compared the Standard 3:2 pulldown, but I did not see any such issue during my testing.
Viewing Angle
Pioneer claims a viewing angle of 160 degrees (horizontal and vertical) on their spec sheet, which is the current industry standard. I found the PDP-505CMX to maintain plenty of image integrity at all but the most severe angles, vertical or horizontal.
Viewing Distance
I found the closest comfortable viewing distance is about ten feet, which equates to 2.6x screen width. Any closer and you start to see small noise artifacts. This viewing distance is comparable to other 50" plasmas I've viewed.
DVD Performance
When connected to the Oppo OPDV971H upconverting DVD Player, the PDP-505CMX produces fantastically clear, vibrant images that almost made me forget I was watching a non-HDTV source, which is uncommon to say the least.
When using the DVI Input, the PDP-505CMX offers a 1:1 dot-to-dot mode, which displays the source image resolution regardless of size and a Full mode, which stretches any source to the full 16:9, 1366x768 resolution. The Oppo DVD Player does not convert to 768p, so when dot-to-dot mode is selected, the supported 1280x720 image is displayed. Since the PDP-505CMX has a 1280x768 resolution, the result is 24 blank horizontal lines on the top and bottom of the display (see below). I'm unsure why gray and not black was chosen to be used for these empty lines, as black surely would have been a better choice. However distracting this may be, the image quality is fantastic, and blows away the 768p Full mode image. Besides being stretched vertically and having significant horizontal overscan, the Full mode image is dark with poor color accuracy and I was unable to improve the picture no matter what settings I adjusted. You can clearly see the quality of the top image, with excellent shadow detail, geometry, and color saturation.
The Fifth Element
TOP: PDP-505CMX ('Dot-to-Dot', 1280x720) BOTTOM: PDP-505CMX ('Full', 1280x768)
PC Monitor
In addition to the VGA PC input, the PDP-505CMX's DVI input can accept PC signals at 1280x768 with 1:1 pixel mapping. This resulted in a detailed "desktop," but there was a significant problem with brightness as the more white placed on the desktop, the darker the overall image became. I was unable to fix this issue with any of the brightness or energy saving settings. The issue was also present when using the RGB input. Because of this, the PC image was good with colors or darker images, but a very subpar grayish image for most webpages, emails, etc.
Ratings
Performance: 4.5 out of 5
If not for the existence of Panasonic, I might have given out a full 5 stars, but because Panasonic has recently improved their video processing and are still the industry leaders in contrast and black levels, the PDP-505CMX gets an enthusiastic 4.5. Video Processing is still first-rate, and after some slight adjustments, the color saturation and accuracy was excellent. I also found the overall contrast and black levels to be very good if not spectacular. DVD/digital cable performance was the best I've ever seen on any HDTV. Features: 3.5 out of 5
This relatively low rating is mostly a result of the PDP-505CMX being a commercial display, which means fewer inputs, no tuner, no built-in speakers, etc. This is also true of other brands' commercial displays. However, the lack of such features can save you money if you have your own audio system and satellite or cable receiver.
Ease of Use: 4 out of 5
Overall, I found the PDP-505CMX settings and documentation easy to use and configure. I did have to check the manual on what some of the settings meant however, as common terminology such as Tint and Sharpness are not used within the settings menu. Value: 4 out of 5
While its MSRP is a hefty $4999, the PDP-505CMX currently can be found for under $4000, which is competitive with many leading 50" plasmas. The only models that are significantly cheaper are relatively flawed from a performance standpoint. The price of the PDP-505CMX has been dropping since the release of the 6th generation PDP-5060HD, making the PDP-505CMX even more attractive from a price point. Since the PDP-505CMX is markedly better than most other similarly priced displays, I would say it is an extremely good value. Conclusion
The PDP-505CMX is a great display, with very few flaws and some industry leading performance attributes. The gap in black levels between Panasonic and Pioneer has shrunk considerably from a few years ago, and I would recommend this display whole-heartedly, especially at its current price point.
[Correction: This article has been modified from its original posting to clarify packaging, deliverables, and pricing.]
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