Strengths:Rich, sumptuous colors as a result of the blacks. No-nonsense engineering. Excellent handling of Standard sources.
Weaknesses:Quibbles, not weaknesses. Dark gray sidebars on 4:3 screen shape. Could use some more manual adjustments to totally clean up Standard signals. But nobody has them.
Posted Mar 23, 2008 - I have been through this before. Tubes to transistors/chips. Vinyl records to CDs. Film cameras to digital cameras. Each time a quantum leap of technology occurred, the initial cost of convenience and superior detail was an over etched, over bright product. The new, (unquestionably) superior technology then spends some number of years working at imitating the engaging properties of the passed technology.
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It's the same with the jump from tube TVs to the HDTV flat panels. To my eye the HDTV panels, particularly the LCDs, have bland color contrast in the entry level models, and annoying pixels flying all over the place in most every model. They lack the smooth presentation of the old tube sets.
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During these transition periods, it always seems there is one product which focuses more on the quality of the experience, than a quantity of superduper marketing specs, and crap you think you want at the store, but don't really find so important when you get it home in actual use.
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Enter the Pioneer PDP-5080HD.
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Set-up: The TV with an HDMI cable to a Comcast cable box. A plain old SONY DVD player with an S-Video input. And a borrowed Blu-Ray DVD player, with an HDMI input cable.
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First I went to the AVSForum and picked up the "reference settings". These are the ones you should use during a "break in" period of about 200 hours. They put no excessive strain on the picture elements. I'm not going to go through all of the settings. There are about 5 preset settings like Standard, Movie, Game and one called "User". You use this to store the reference settings.
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Since you are used to the screaming brightness, contrast, sharpness settings of the HDTVs in the stores, you may think for about 2 minutes that the overall picture is just a tad dark and muted. Then you actually begin to watch.
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HD picture - The picture is incredibly detailed and sharp like all HDTVs. But the presentation is smooth and creamy where it should be. The colors are outright lush. Faces are not scarred with hot (overly bright) pixels. They look like real faces with subtle complexion flush and pale. There are no run away pixels from fast motion. In a movie, you see everything that the cinematographer wanted you to see, and the way he wanted you to see it. Sports, which are filled with runaway pixels and other junk on most panels, are bright, crisp and clear. It goes hot and fast when the content demands it, it suckers you in when it closes up to your current hot actor/actress.
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It is hard to explain, but the picture engages you to watch. It is something not found on spec sheets. It is the one attribute which makes an audio or video product a "classic". Even though technology may go past it, you will make up excuses to keep it around somewhere. It will continue to be the comfortable chair which fits you just right. While the new techno, heated, vibrating, fully automatic lounger is absolutely excellent, you will sneak back because the picture had some kind of "just right" to it.
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NOTE: If you insist on blowing yourself away with the screaming of brights, the sharpest of sharps etc.. there is plenty of range in the settings to burn your eyes and set your hair on fire.
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Standard source - There's still all of the standard signals and DVDs around, and an HDTV will show you every single little distortion in them. A lot of the panels out there forgot this. Standard sources are horrible, unless you include some processing to keep them presentable. This is a big plus for me with the PDP-5080HD. Pioneer does a good job of rendering SD and regular DVDs. You can see evidence of noise reduction and picture tweeking going on, but the total picture is about an equivalent quality to the SD or DVD on your old tube set.
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Blu-Ray - Whoa! It's more about the disc than the TV. The 720p is all I need and a bag of chips. I have done the side by side comparison with 1080p in a theater store. On two Pioneers. You have to have a really good eye and have your face planted a few feet from the TV to notice there is more detail. What was more important to me, the picture on the 5080HD gets a good handful of degrees closer to real. I mean scary real.
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Sound - The wife and I aren't theater sound yet. It's a small viewing area (10X15)and we like to be close and immersed in the picture. The speakers are fine. If you want a big jump, just add a subwoofer. I ran a line straight from the subwoofer outlet on the 5080HD to a powered sub-woofer. For our listening it fills out great, with the occasional punch in the chest.
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So that's about it. If you want to get the other stuff about the PDP-5080HD, hit a pro review somewhere. Everything that I would want to know about a video product is above.
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All I can add is that the PDP-5080HD is about rounding out its product cycle. So its price is down, if you consider "down" meaning reasonable. Pioneer's pricing is normally way out of my range.
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Get one. It is truly unique, in a sea of sameness.
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Rated 
Pioneer 5080-HD 50 inch TV
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