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Pro1000HD: A Contrarian Viewpoint

732 Views 5 Replies 5 Participants Last post by jlm, Nov 20, 2001

tmitchmd

Discussion Starter · Oct 28, 2001

I was able to take in an extended viewing of the Pioneer Elite today side by side with the 505 and Sony 42 B1 (1024) in Highland Park,IL.

At the risk of offending our friends on this forum...

Powerbuyers (especially those who bought sight unseen):

What were you thinking?!

The frame is absolutely hideous (I realize that this is not news). Reflects light all over the place. The grey frames on the others are subtle and nonreflective.

HD Net picture quality very "plasma-like" and certainly suffers the comparison with its older sibling and the Sony.

The store also had the 34 XBR-2 which shares a similar too hot, overamped look.

I did fiddle with the picture controls some but to little avail. And no, it was not in the WAY BRIGHT mode.

Did not get to adequately evaluate its internal scaler, but what little DVD I saw was not very happy.

Even spoonfed from the Faroujda NRS (not sure which model) the picture was less than stunning.

The poster who compared the 505 favorably with the Elite was right on the money, I am sorry to say.

No doubt DVI inputting should make a difference, at least for DVDs.

I have no axe to grind here. I am not in the industry and do not yet own a plasma.

I have been waiting to purchase until finding a display that could approach a gold standard HD CRT monitor like the Panasonic DT-M3050W.

To my discriminating eye only the Fujitsu 50, by virtue of its incredible AVM processing and scaling chip (and wise choice of Matsushita high contrast glass), has achieved the holy grail of broadcast quality.

I remain extremely unhappy with Fujitsu's omission of audio inputs/outputs and amplifier. This is a major inconvenience and extremely anti-WAF.

But it is the first plasma display I could live with happily...

Oh yes, I almost forgot: DVI input card included at no extra cost.

I feel bad for all you folks who paid that huge premium over and above the Pioneer 503, especially at the Dell price.

At least that horrid frame is easily removed...

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MAB

· #2 · Oct 28, 2001

The PRO1000HD owners here are extremely satisfied with this unit including myself (I have some bad pixels) in terms of color fidelity, brightness, and even with the black levels. On top of that, we got a series of optional cards to play with in the future.

MAB

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doody

· #3 · Oct 28, 2001

tmitchmd:

you make some fair points.

* the frame is completely removable. what's underneath should be acceptable to just about everyone. the frame is excessive. it happens to work for me (three big gloss-black speakers),but it's a personal preference and it's removable, so it's not an issue.

* my understanding is that the fujitsu does not have a simple expansion card setup. there have been rumors that it will be field upgradeable, but it wasn't engineered from the get-go for card swaps as best i can figure. the first HDCP devices will be announced at CES in january. those of us investing in the pioneers consider the expansion card a huge potential win in this era of quickly-changing standards and video formats.

* i generally agree with you that standard DVD input into the PRO1000HD is nothing to jump up and down about. i tested a high-end 525i player and for that kind of money, it should certainly wow. it didn't wow me. a respected board member has posited that the video procesing in the PRO1000HD might in fact be a step down in quality from the 505.

* i tend to agree that pioneer is unreasonably gouging on the consumer model over the commercial model. the differences are extremely minimal.

* the fujitsu is a great unit. i don't see any owners complaining about it. if it looks better to you than the pioneer, then by all means go for it!

* you can't make a reasonable read of a tube tv (especially a sony) in a store (34 XBR). those things are so hot out of the box it's crazy. without proper setup, they're suitable only for looping the opening fire sequence of T2 - which does sell tv's, so maybe that's the goal

good luck with your choice!

doody.

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markrubin

· #4 · Oct 28, 2001

I have no regrets with selecting the Pro1000HD: there are several competing plasmas out there that are also stellar- we are fortunate to have such an array to choose from and a forum like this to help with the selection process

I used to buy TV's based on how they looked in the showroom- they never looked as good in my home

The issue of the 503 and the Elite version is annoying- I had to pay extra for the DVI board and they dont even give you the correct remote control to select that input! The price difference was not that much more thanks to the power buy.

The Pro meets my expectations:

Better PQ than 505 (which was excellent)

DVI input

Quiet fans

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tmitchmd

Discussion Starter · #5 · Nov 20, 2001

Thought this might be a good time to freshen up this thread...

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jlm

· #6 · Nov 20, 2001

it all comes down to who you believe. there have been posters seeing plasma for the first time, posters who only install certain brands, posters who have never seen one, much less several different units, etc.

as far as opinions, I decided to believe the reports of gary merson because of his vast experience, record, his writing and his credibility.

i have the pio1000; by relatively small adjustments, i can make the pq go from excellent to crappy; i have demoed several major plama brands, and guess what: the pq was anywhere from excellent to crappy, but i didn't have the ability to adjust them.

from personal experience, the pq is better than the 505; i've had both for many months. i have not had any others for several months, so no comment on Panny, fuji, nec, etc.

any comments based soley on in store comparisons are suspect; it is the very rare demo that can set up each unit to its optimum.

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