Pioneer PRO-940HD 42" Plasma HDTV

Pioneer Elite 42" PRO-940HD Plasma HDTV Review
Dick De Jong
October 29, 2006
HDTV Solutions

Breath taking. Watching the Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD 42" plasma HDTV often elicited that transcendent state of wonderment. At that moment of witnessing an image so startling in its clarity or fidelity, your breath isn't really snatched from your lungs; you simply forget to exhale. So forgive me if I seem a little breathless in this review. To my eyes and respiratory system, this Pioneer plasma inspires plenty of panting.

And once you recover from marveling at the quality of HD images this 42" TV produces, the real kick in the pants is that the PRO-940HD's resolution is 1024 x 768. For those more-is-better videophiles out there who won't even consider anything less than 1080p, this Pioneer Elite proves that size isn't everything.

In addition to components like integrated NTSC/ATSC tuners (with CableCARD Interface), dual

HDMI supports standard, enhanced, or high-definition video, plus multi-channel digital audio, and interactive controls on a single cable. It transmits all ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committe) HDTV standards and supports 8-channel digital audio. First product releases using HDMI occurred in 2003." class=gloss>HDMI inputs (capable of accepting 1080p/24Hz signal), and USB and Ethernet connectors; the unit contains video processing and panel technologies exclusive to the Elite brand. Interestingly, Pioneer does not list contrast ratios or brightness ratings; but from my viewing, I have rarely seen better contrast handling. Of course, with all these high-end features and performance comes a corresponding price tag of $3500. Did I mention what a joy it is to watch this TV?.

Out of the Box
The term "box" is inadequate to represent the mobile McMansion in which this plasma rolled up to our door. Give this red and silver case a windshield and headlights and it could be confused for a MINI Cooper. Pop open the outside sheath and you discover the monitor is ensconced in its personal padded and velvet lined case. You have a feeling that you are unwrapping a Fabergé egg. (Of course, such a regal container is not the common method of packing and shipping this unit.)

Once extracted from its cocoon you realize that this butterfly is flying free from its stand. Attaching the stand is a little like the baffling job of putting together the kids swing set on Christmas Eve - some assembly required. Though with only four bolts to screw in, the task proved easier than it first appeared. The unit with stand weighs about 70 pounds. With the handgrips molded into the back of the chassis, two people can maneuver the TV around fairly easily.

Pioneer PRO-940HD 42" Plasma HDTV

The jet black bezel and matching stand present an elegant package. Since the control panel buttons are indented on the right side behind the screen, the facade is almost completely unadorned except for the silver Elite logo in the center and Power indicator lights on the bottom left.

I like the look of the glass on plasmas though some people feel that it is too shiny when the TV is turned off. Pioneer has implemented a Surface PRO Color Filter on their Elites that enhances color and contrast while reducing the light reflection on screen, which results in a more muted appearance to the switched off monitor.

Of course, if you or your significant other are adverse to the sight of a 41" wide (4.5" deep without the 11" wide stand) black, unblinking, right-angled Cyclops hulking in your room, Pioneer does include a Home Media Gallery feature that can turn your TV into a canvas for your favorite photos. (For more suggestions on how to integrate your HDTV into your home, see our HD Design column.)

If I hadn't made it clear already, this Elite, at almost every step along the way, offers what you would expect in an HDTV - then adds its own flair. For example, if you look at the back of the unit, the standard AV connectors are included, in duplicate: HDMI, Component, Composite, and S-Video. Then for good measure (and easier access), extra sets of Component and Composite inputs are mounted on the left side of the monitor.

Pioneer PRO-940HD AV Connectors

The HDMI inputs along with a CableCARD slot, an Ethernet port, an RS-232C input, a 15-pin D-Sub PC input, and antenna terminals, are all positioned facing up in a hard-to-reach and even harder-to-see location. Thankfully, the abundance of AV connections face outward, making them much more accessible. I also applaud Pioneer for the added touch of including speed clamps and plastic ties to assist in controlling cable clutter.

Pioneer PRO-940HD HDMI and other Connectors

For those connecting DVD players or set top boxes that have It can also carry an analog signal and comes as DVI-I (integrated - analog and digital), DVI-D (digital only) and DVI-A (analog only). Dual link DVI connections add additional resolution capabilities. Digital cable lengths should not exceed 15 feet. Specifications on DVI are available at www.ddwg.org. Click for more details on DVI." class=gloss>DVI Outs (and therefore have to transmit audio to the TV through the stereo Outs to the analog audio Ins on the TV), the PRO-940HD offers separate analog audio inputs for the two HDMI inputs. Often manufacturers will only provide one set of audio Ins that is either shared by the HDMIs or one of them goes without.

Even though Pioneer has beefed up their pair of integrated (non-detachable) 13W speakers with "SRS(WOW) technology, which includes SRS Surround, TruBass and Focus for superior audio quality," I assume most of you will bypass the TV and route your audio through a more stalwart sound system. If the TV is hooked up to an external antenna, you can export the audio from the TV through either a digital optical or an analog stereo output. There's even a Subwoofer output.

The NTSC/ATSC tuner is truly integrated to the extent that you hook up your antenna and the tuner scans the digital and analog signals together and builds a comprehensive list of both digital and analog channels. And following the two-is-better-than-one theme, the PRO-940HD provides dual tuners. In addition, the TV Guide On Screen interactive program guide is included.

Of course, this Pioneer has the V chip and companion parental controls. And for those multitaskers, you can split the screen or play with PIP (picture in picture).

And the list of features marches on. Perhaps the most noteworthy is the Home Media Gallery, which is a built-in program that allows you to hook into your home network either through the TV's Ethernet port or USB connector.

Displaying Photos in the Home Media Gallery

Even if you are not ready to string a Cat 5 cable across your living room floor, if you own one of those nifty USB portable flash drives, you can load it up with your favorite family photos and plug it into the USB port on the side of the TV. The Home Media Gallery software will read the drive and display your snazzy snapshots in luxurious color on your big screen Elite. You also can create a slideshow that will change images at an interval you set.

As you may imagine with a TV with this many options, the remote control can become a bit overpopulated with buttons. Pioneer designers squash pushbutton proliferation by only putting the essentials on the remote. And they are spread out over more real estate than is normal.

PRO-940HD Remote Flip Out Section

Also, many of the controls for external components like set top boxes are secluded behind a flip-out door at the bottom. The backlight casts this eerie red glow, which makes the stenciled lettering easier to read while at the same time setting a great Halloween mood.

Setup
This is the first TV I have reviewed that I felt didn't need any adjustment. I almost hesitated to play with the Picture controls because it looked so good right out of the box. And when I did pull out the Digital Video Essentials DVD and went through the normal calibration routine, I made a minor tweak to the brightness and that was that.

I was glad I stepped through the process because it made me appreciate all the fine-tuning controls that were available. Not only are there the normal basic picture adjustments for Contrast, Brightness, Color and Tint; but click on the Pro Adjust selection and you are greeted with a variety of advanced picture controls that could calm the twitchiest of tweakers.

Tools like CTI (Color Transient Improvement), Intelligent Color, and Dynamic Range Expander may frighten the meek. Indeed, if you feel you are over your head, follow your gut and stay away. For those adventurous adjusters out there, Pioneer does an adequate job of giving on-screen guides to controls and the manual is well written.

To begin, you might want to scroll through the different AV Selections of presets, Standard, Dynamic, Movie, Game and Pure. Notice the difference in the pictures and then examine how the individual settings have changed. For example, Movie desaturates the image by dropping the Color setting to -5, softens the image a bit by lowering Sharpness to -8, and adds a little warmth by pushing the Color Temp to Low.

Play around. If you find yourself floundering in the deep end, you can always hit the Reset button to return the settings back to the shallow waters of the default. The reason I suggest you futz with a perfectly good image is so you can see how responsive the PRO-940HD is to these adjustments. And you also might discover that you actually prefer a slightly cooler or warmer image or one that is not so razor sharp.

Now, if you really wish to tweak your Testarossa of a television, the Pioneer Elites can be professionally ISF calibrated to your most demanding standards for both day and night viewing.

Performance
What can I say without resorting to hyperbole? This HDTV rocks.

Whether revealing the nasty nooks and creaky crannies of Count Olaf's gothic house in Lemony Snicket or illuminating Rembrandt's mastery of light and shadow in the Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp, the PRO-940HD excelled with flying colors. The black and white rendition of the Philadelphia Story was luscious. Notwithstanding the genius of Antonio Gaudi, the 1984 Japanese documentary on the Spaniard's architecture was mesmerizing.

In fact, I found that I was spellbound quite often when watching programs on this TV. It might be a little detail like how the light reflects off the rich red metallic finish of Joe Satriani's Ibanez JS series guitar. Whatever it may be, a sense of the sublime is incited. And you think, this is the way high definition should look. But I wax poetic.

Usually, if I need a pail of cold water thrown on my HD reverie, I simply turn on an SD channel. And even with this Elite, watching standard definition - I'm ready to dub it "substandard def" - is a slap in the face. Though the PRO-940HD handles SD programs about as well as any of the HDTVs I have seen.

I did run into two situations while viewing HD content. First, on an occasional program, I would see noticeable judder in camera pans. Since this wasn't a consistent problem, I would tend to blame the source material and not the TV. Also, some programs would veer too much towards the vivid for my tastes. I seem to be especially sensitive to ruddy skin tones. I found that the default for the Picture control named Color Space is set to 1, which the manual describes as, "Optimized for vivid, vibrant color reproduction." Switching to 2, (Standard color reproduction), reined in the red to my satisfaction.

Finally, I hooked up a Dell laptop to the TV through the 15-pin D-Sub input. (There is a separate mini plug connection for the audio.) In the manual, the computer compatibility chart lists resolutions from 640 x 480 to 1360 x 768; but it does not recommend one. The Picture controls are limited to Contrast, Brightness, Red, Green, and Blue. In the Options menu, you can opt for an Automatic Setup that adjusts Horizontal and Vertical Positioning. Or you can manually adjust them as well as Clock and Phase.

The PC images are sharp and clean, but I don't think that my poor peepers would want me to do word processing on this monitor for an extended period of time. But because of this 42" beauty's color rendition, I could Photoshop all day to my eyes' content.

Conclusion
The Pioneer PRO-940HD provides top-notch HD performance and a bevy of features. This HDTV is a videophile's dream and does Pioneer's Elite brand proud. It serves as a great reference monitor. I'll be sorry to see it go.

Star Ratings
First, realize, that ratings are relative to when the review was written. The obvious example is Value, what you could purchase for $2000 two years ago or even two months ago would seem like a bad value for that price now.

Second, I have yet to give a 5 Star rating, which I am reserving for truly outstanding accomplishment. And as you can see below, the Pioneer PRO-940HD has achieved that standard of excellence.

Performance: 5
Is this Elite HDTV perfect? No. But its color fidelity and contrast handling does definitely elevate PRO-940HD above the crowd.

Features: 5
With dual HDMI inputs and twin tuners only serving as the appetizers to a smorgasbord of features, the biggest problem is overeating. But all the bells and whistles are just noise if the HDTV doesn't perform. The PRO-940HD delivers.

Ease of Use: 4.5
All the features can be daunting. But you can plug and play and have a great viewing experience without ever learning about adjustments with acronyms like MPEG NR or I-P Mode.

Value: 4
I'm a tough grader on Value, and $3500 is on the high end of the scale for 42" plasmas, especially with a resolution of 1024 x 768. But this Pioneer provides a lot of bang for its big bucks. For me, on Value, 4 is a high mark.

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Review - Pioneer PDP-505CMX 50" Plasma HD Monitor

Pioneer PDP-505CMX 50" Plasma HD Monitor Review
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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