Pioneer Plasma Thread

[The_Knight_Huma]

Pioneer PDP-428XG - S$4299
Pioneer PDP-508XG - S$7,299 (without speakers), S$7,499
Pioneer PDP-LX508G - S$15,999
Pioneer PDP-LX608G - S$19,999

The freebies don't look very attractive...
http://www.dbs.com/edm/20070930/pioneer_html_edm.html

Dayuuum, the price of the 50 inch is really nice(non-1080p vers)...Man I wish I didn't buy my tv first. haha.

 

[WhiteShadows]

Dayuuum, the price of the 50 inch is really nice(non-1080p vers)...Man I wish I didn't buy my tv first. haha.

I thought all the above-mentioned models have 1080p24/50/60 input support?

 

[petetherock]

Bro supporting the input isn't the same as Displaying 1080p

Another marketing thing to fool us. Anyway, many have commented a plasma's 768p looks better than a LCD's 1080p

I thought all the above-mentioned models have 1080p24/50/60 input support?

 

[petetherock]

So everyone can benefit:

A panel can accept a certain input signal eg FULL HD 1080p
If its native resolution isn't 1080p then it will downscale to that such as 768p.
The quality of this scaling chip makes all the difference between a OEM supermarket panel and a premium one like Pioneer.


"I am quite confused about your reply. I notice that the 508XG has a 1,366 x 768-pixel resolution. Does that mean that it can go up to 768p? What about 1080p? Are you trying to say that it can also support 1080p but at the maximum level of 768p? Thanks! "

 

[petetherock]

Oz review and comparison with the Panny and Sony

To help those who are keen (not NATO) to decide if the money they are going to spend is worth it)

http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showtopic=52310&st=760&p=796678&#entry796678

 

[Treble]

Dayuuum, the price of the 50 inch is really nice(non-1080p vers)...Man I wish I didn't buy my tv first. haha.

50" will drop more in a few months time I think. 42" price will be less difference....

 

[wulfernesto]

Any difference between 507XG and 508XG seems that price about the same now?

 

[Treble]

where got same? you must find the right shop like hongliang to buy lah.

the contrast ratio itself is already a huge improvement......not to mentioned the full HD support in various frequencies. But then....do you really need that? 507XG for $4K will be a good buy hehe....

but the catch is, the freebies are quite attractive......for the 508XG at launch promotion period.

 

[wulfernesto]

You can get 507XG for 4K? New one or display set?

 

[Treble]

no lah, I said if $4K will be the good price to buy. Maybe will pay HongLiang a visit to see how much are they offering

 

[wulfernesto]

Wondering is it worthwhile to get a TV support 24p for watching HD movies? any significant difference in movie playback if the TV cannot support 24p?

 

[crankster]

If you are set on the cheaper, more value for money and newer Panasonics and Samsungs, DON'T buy the Pioneer then.
Leave us 'stupid' folks yes us 'dumb' folks foolish enough to spend so much more and something the same size, yet costing so much more and 'only' offerring 1080p 24 fps ( which is 'so common' that 'every' panel have this)



Let those who are truly keen buy Pioneers and save the dough friends, many people do not own this product and are happy.
There is no need to spend and pay a price premium on this panel. There is no need to convince yourself that Pioneer is 'lousy' and outdated and expensive or justify the other brands you bought.

A PV 70 is so much more VFM. What Lo Fi thinks the Samsung is better. Both cost much less. There are so many offers for them.

The new Kuros will cost even more.
For those who still want to buy, I will share my knowledge on getting the best out of your TV and enjoying yourself with this in many years to come. Join the list of happy owners who enjoy the purchase everyday when we reach home.

haha peter you are like the one man pr machine of pioneer. But that's ok happy 427 owner here

 

[petetherock]

I don't hide the fact I own one, and like it
I don't work for them, but I enjoyed using their stuff and ever since I bought one in Oz, despite the price premium and markup here, I feel it is a solid panel.
Even the one left in Oz still works well.
Imagine non-owners calling us stupid for spending that money on a panel, and dissing our choice and spending time and loads of posts a year ahead of their purchase and never really buy one of these beauties. Not really fair, and all No Action Talk Only.

The new Kuros came too late for me, but hey I am happy enjoying my panel. All those who have been to my home for a demo have all been impressed by it.
I should get a job from them eh...

haha peter you are like the one man pr machine of pioneer. But that's ok happy 427 owner here

 

[Treble]

haha, i think people needs time to adapt to it. they may call you stupid now but they may eventually admit they were stupid hehe....

one must learn how to let go too,

 

[crankster]

LOL i am a sucker for aesthetics as well. To me the 427 with its flushed piano black finish still looks more chio than panny even when it is switched off

 

[petetherock]

After the recent Pioneer Kuro show, I think those who saw the panel know where their money is spent on. Its not cheap, but when you compare it to the rest, those who forked out cash on it, will feel asssured their money is well spent.

See the run in settings here and in this thread for more info:

http://www.xtremeplace.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=45450.0

http://www.xtremeplace.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=43121.0

 

[HardCORE]

After the recent Pioneer Kuro show, I think those who saw the panel know where their money is spent on. Its not cheap, but when you compare it to the rest, those who forked out cash on it, will feel asssured their money is well spent.

See the run in settings here and in this thread for more info:

http://www.xtremeplace.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=45450.0

http://www.xtremeplace.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=43121.0

Saw the new KUROs at the road show, all looked very nice except for the price. Ridiculous asking for $14999 for the full HD 50 inch model. Was really hoping for it to be affordable.

PQ-wise, the black levels are quite good, but not completely black as some reviews have been infering (you can still see a shade of light in black backgrounds, and you can obviously tell that the TV is on if you look at a blank screen in dim light). Still, its very good and the best there is right now, I think its a bit better than the Pioneer 7th gens, perhaps noticeable only in a side by side comparison.

Panasonic is launching their full HD plasmas here soon, and they are the NEWER PY700 models with 10000:1 contrast ratio. Most people seem to think the PY700 is the same as the PZ700 in the US/UK - its not the same! The PZ700 has 5000:1 contrast ratio while the PY700 has 10000:1 contrast ratio, the same as the PZ70 and PZ750. The PY700 looks like a newer generation glass, and I think its worth checking out. The price premium of full HD plasma vs normal plasma should be about 30% judging by other countries' pricing from both Samsung and Panasonic.

I wonder if anyone has found or done a comparison of the LX508 and the PY700 / PZ70 / PZ750, and NOT the PZ700 (which seems to be the same glass as the old pro model PH9)?

 

[purpledinosaur]

ok. i took the plunge and bought the 508XG with center speaker last evening. Net price is apparently $6691, not $7299 as displayed. Plus you get to pay via 24 mths interest free credit. Worked out to be just under $300 per month.

Not sure if its cheaper than the neighborhood shop but given that i've taken up so much of their time viewing the various displays (I was there for more than 4hrs!) + asking so many questions (Kudos to Ryan the pioneer guy for being so patient!), I thought its only right that I give them the sale on the spot.

Anyhow, back to the TV. I have a question regarding the source input. I intend to build a HTPC (looking at Shuttle SG33G5M) as the sole source of input for the TV. However, I'm very concerned about quality of the output since I noticed that the panel's native resolution (1366x768) is not in the list of outputs from the PC. The PC has HDMI output and I intend to get a blu-ray drive and run Vista Home Premium using Media Center as the main user interface.

I think I will not be overly fussy about the display of the Media Center UI but am concerned whether the HD movies played via the PC will suffer any degradation?

 

[Treble]

Pioneer is probably manage to maintain their plasma line of business by securing such a premium price with small production volume. As for the price is well-spent or not, it is really subjective. Let's see if other manufacturer would come out something to beat pioneer, especially the PQ. So far Samsung seems to have the best PQ, is it due to its special post processing chip?

 

[HardCORE]

ok. i took the plunge and bought the 508XG with center speaker last evening. Net price is apparently $6691, not $7299 as displayed. Plus you get to pay via 24 mths interest free credit. Worked out to be just under $300 per month.

Not sure if its cheaper than the neighborhood shop but given that i've taken up so much of their time viewing the various displays (I was there for more than 4hrs!) + asking so many questions (Kudos to Ryan the pioneer guy for being so patient!), I thought its only right that I give them the sale on the spot.

Anyhow, back to the TV. I have a question regarding the source input. I intend to build a HTPC (looking at Shuttle SG33G5M) as the sole source of input for the TV. However, I'm very concerned about quality of the output since I noticed that the panel's native resolution (1366x768) is not in the list of outputs from the PC. The PC has HDMI output and I intend to get a blu-ray drive and run Vista Home Premium using Media Center as the main user interface.

I think I will not be overly fussy about the display of the Media Center UI but am concerned whether the HD movies played via the PC will suffer any degradation?

You should use HDMI to connect to the TV. The best video cards in my experience to use are ATI based ones. Your new TV supports 1080P 60Hz, so that would be what I would set the output of the PC to: 1920x1080 60Hz 32bit colour. Turn off overscaling on the TV.

You could try to switch your desktop to 1360x768 so that its more readable. When you switch your desktop to this resolution, your video card will actually scale it and fit it to either 720P or 1080P (you can use your TV's display to check what signal the input is sending) - hopefully it is 1080P.

Then for video playback, use a media player like Media Player Classic HT which can automatically switch the full-screen video resolution to 1920x1080 60Hz 32bit colour for video playback. This is how I've set up my HTPC - but unlike your TV mine only supports 1080i (1920x1080 30Hz), but there is actually no difference that I can tell, everything is fluid and sharp even for games.

I actually use the FFDSHOW codec to decode my HD content and to do some advanced Spline resampling to 1920x1080 (for my 720P videos), and on top of that using the video card's 3D processing to apply bicubic resampling (A=-0.60) which is controlled by Media Player Classic. I'm pretty sure the video quality is better than anything you can get out of a standard BluRay or HDDVD player. Increased detail with no dot crawl.

You will need at least a Core 2 Duo 2Ghz CPU to play back 1080P videos smoothly though. Recommend to get around the 2.4Ghz to 3Ghz.