Pioneer PDP-5040HD 50" Plasma High-Definition Television

Average customer rating:

Broke in 18 months

Excellent product

Crisp, Solid and To The Point

The Best Plasma around

reach for the stars

Pioneer PDP-5040HD 50" Plasma High-Definition Television

Manufacturer: Pioneer
ProductGroup: CE
Binding: Electronics

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Product Features:

50-inch widescreen flat-panel plasma TV with ATSC DTV receiver and 2-tuner PIP; 50 x 29 x 3.9 inches (W x H x D)

1,280 x 768 wide XGA pixel resolution; 18 digital and analog video inputs including HDMI, IEEE 1394, and RGB PC

Advanced PureCinema converts all signals to 768p using 3:2 pulldown correction; first plasma TV capable of rendering a 72 Hz display

13 watts per channel sound with detachable speakers and rear-panel speaker-level output for use with your existing speakers

Capable of displaying over 1 billion colors, and more accurately than any CRT set

ASIN: B000148KH0

Product Description

Sports. Movies. Sitcoms. Yes, even reality shows. They all look phenomenally great on this 50" widescreen high-definition plasma TV. Pioneer's exclusive Pure Drive keeps video signals entirely in a lossless digital domain, for greater signal control and far higher video quality. With Pioneer's new Advanced PureCinema with 3-3 pulldown, film-based material on DVD, videotape, and even regular TV will match the smooth, natural reproduction you'd see in a theater.ACE II (Advanced Continuous Emission II) uses 10-bit processing to produce 1, 024 gradation steps for each cell - creating a palette of over 1.07 billion colors and delivering reproduction accuracy up to 16 times greater than competitors' panels.Each individual lamp is encased in its own "cell", with walls on all sides so that light doesn't bleed into neighboring cells. This energy-efficient design allows each lamp to deliver a more concentrated beam of light, for truer colors and brighter images. Pioneer places a patented black coating between each row of plasma cells, absorbing the light hitting the panel. This significantly reduces reflections coming back to your viewing position and nearly doubles the effective contrast. The PDP-5040HD comes fully loaded: its outboard media receiver is equipped with an ATSC terrestrial HDTV tuner and a full set of interfaces, including a next-generation High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI). This all-digital, high-bandwidth consumer interface can transfer huge amounts of pure, digital data at very high rates of speed.

Amazon.com Product Description

Pioneer's PDP-5040HD PureVision 50-inch plasma TV represents state-of-the-art in just about any area you can imagine. Its perfectly flat, high-contrast, high-brightness (1,000 cd/m2) display benefits from high-quality engineering and innovative Pioneer enhancement technologies.

The PDP-5040HD is packaged with a standalone media receiver equipped with an ATSC terrestrial HDTV tuner and a full set of interfaces, including a next-generation High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI). This all-digital, high-bandwidth interface can transfer huge amounts of pure, digital data at very fast rates.

The media receiver is compatible with high-definition terrestrial broadcast transmissions as well as NTSC (standard definition) broadcasts, both of which factor into the set's 2-tuner PIP (picture-in-picture) performance. The media receiver also manages an array of inputs, including satellite, cable, DVD, DVR/VCR, and computer signals up to wide XGA (1,280 x 768).

In the PDP-5040HD, each individual lamp is encased in its own deep "cell," with walls on all sides so light can't bleed into neighboring cells. This energy-efficient design allows each lamp to deliver a more concentrated beam of light, rendering truer colors and brighter images. Pioneer also places patented Black Stripe light-absorbing coating between each row of plasma cells. This nearly doubles the effective contrast, which is rated at a high 900:1.

Pioneer PureDrive ensures a pure digital signal path from source to image. With PureDrive, an analog broadcast is converted once to digital and remains in the digital domain until viewing. All incoming digital signals go through no analog-to-digital conversion. By minimizing or eliminating the A/D or D/A conversions, Pioneer reduces various kinds of digital "noise."

Advanced PureCinema maintains faithful and accurate reproduction of film-based content. Pioneer was the first to introduce advanced film detection using 3:3 film-to-video conversion at 72 Hz in a plasma display. This renders film content smoothly and naturally, closer to what you'd see in a movie theater. Previously, televisions offered only 3:2 film-to-video conversion at 60 Hz, which--while still a great improvement over unprocessed video--nevertheless resulted in visible onscreen artifacts, such as slightly uneven motion.

Pioneer's Advanced Continuous-Emission display technology II (ACE II) is another first; it eliminates false contours that can appear in closeups of faces. This improved 10-bit processing allows the television to display smooth transitions from dark to light areas without losing detail or compromising the image contrast. ACE II works with PureDrive to permit the set to display more than a billion colors.

You can position the set on a table or mount it to the wall, and it's designed to accent almost any home decor. The black frame and silver, side-mounted speakers are sure to elicit admiration from friends and family, but the true high-definition picture is likely to make the lasting impact.

Connections abound: choose from 18 digital and analog terminals, including dual HDMI and IEEE 1394 (i.Link) connections, a front-panel RGB jack for easy connection to a PC or Macintosh output, and a range of composite-, component-, and S-video inputs. S-video/composite-video outputs foster hookup with ancillary devices such as DVRs or VCRs. The set also includes side-mounted speakers, and a tabletop stand that swivels.

What's in the Box
Plasma panel, media receiver, 2 speakers, a swivel stand, a smart remote control, remote batteries, a remote stand (with 4 mounting screws), 4 screw-hole caps, a 3-meter digital connection cable, a 1.8-meter VCR controller, 2 AC power cords, 3 speaker cushions, 3 bead bands, 3 speed clamps, a cleaning cloth, 1 RF coaxial AV cable, a user's manual, and warranty information.

Customer Reviews:

Broke in 18 months.......2006-06-29

I bought this TV and the 43" model when they first came out and paid about 17k. Both scanner boards went out on this model after owning it for less than 18 months, and the TV is only used about once a week. When I called Pioneer (warranty is only 1 year)they would not let me speak to a supervisor and said, sorry, the warranty period has expired. Cost me $750 to fix. Pretty sad for an $8,500 TV.

Excellent product.......2005-02-25

Bought this HDTV at BestBuy.com in January 05 ("Super Bowl" sale). The internet deal was: you buy this tv for $5500 (regular price was 7K). Plus they give you a $500 mail-in-rebate, on top of that you get $500 worth of digital coupons (used it to get Cannon A95 5MP digital camera and Epson PictureMate printer: $319 + $199 at the time), plus free dvd home theater system ($100 worth), 15% off tv stand, and free delivery. Bestbuy was sold out of this TV in just a couple of days after the deal started. The quality of the product is excellent. No complains.
Warning:
For those who buys it just to watch cable tv: the quality of the regular digital cable channels is only so so (I have Comcast digital cable).
There is only a dozen or so of true HDTV channels (at least in my area). They look great, but some programs have bars on the sides (not tv's fault, it is just a little bit ahead of its time). With time more and more tv programs will be true HD and more and more HD chanels will exist. But if you are into DVD movies that is a perfect tv - size and quality. Sign up for netflix and enjoy the movies (from 8-10 ft).

Crisp, Solid and To The Point.......2005-02-17

I work in the technology industry and did much research before purchasing this plasma. Overall, Pioneer did a great job in features, and performance.

Price: I got it for around $5200 (yes, it's the 50 inch) with free shipping from a major retailer, so that worked out well.

Quality: The depth and great color reproductions make this plasma overwhelming to watch sometimes. After 2 months, its still hard to walk away for a snack sometimes. The "brains box" concept works out well of cables and it well made. The solid stand it comes with, along with the entire enclosure is solid, sturdy and strong. The swivel is smooth, the mounts are perfect. I have 2 dead pixels, which sometimes I notice when the screen is a solid color, but that's a risk we all take I guess.

Speakers: The standard ones it came with a great, better than people kept reviewing them. For real sound, we all know a good receiver and surround speakers make all the difference.

Connection: Had more than most others I have seen - 2 HDMI, rear and front components, RGB, svideo, etc. Wish you could name the inputs on the display though. :(

Tuner/Basic Parts: This is a true HDTV, with dual tuners for both standard and hd. A must.

Standard TV: Eh, doesn't look that great. But it doesn't on most plasmas. The side gray bars it has for the 4:3 viewing are annoying, but I can live with it. Streching it just feels weird on certain shows. The people look to fat or cut off.

Features: The split screen nice....between any one input and another. Pretty cool. They should have an option for all 4.

Physical Screen: The deep encased cells really do make a difference on reflection and lighting. Nothing seems to effect the picture, day, night or angle. Love that. The glossy is just enough to make the picture feel natural.

Is It Worth It: Depends on the person. It's a good amount of cash for a TV in the grand scheme, but for second level early adopters like me, it's well spent. I spend every day, for some amount of time watching TV, so it might as well be important.

HDTV Carrier: This is not about the actual product, but what you will of course be also search for, good HDTV provider. I had DirecTV. Loved the service, quality and TiVo. However, there HDTV options were terrible....very very expensive HD-DVR, monthly fees and an extra antenna made the deal sour. I chose cable to my own surprise, Comcast. The service is ok, not great. The HDTV programs are great, but too few. The DVR is many steps down from TiVo, there software is a true annoyance even though it essentially does the same job.

Final Thoughts: Top of the line quality, good 800 # support, great HDTV for those who can afford it and have the sense for a quality product.

The Best Plasma around.......2004-09-24

I've had the Pioneer 5040HD for about 2 months now. It is unbelievable. The quality is great, and I wnet back on forth between this and the Sony 50inch XBR, finally settling on the Pioneer beaucse I thought the image was clearer and sharper.
I would recommend getting the DVD Essentials home theatre dvd for correctly setting the color and contrast settings. I did, and the picture is awesome. I run Dish Network (non-HD) and the image is really good. Progressive scan DVD is even better.
I highly recommend this plasma. Because this is a 50 inch plasma..for best results, you do have to view the screen from atleast 8 feet away or more when watching non-HD content. that is pretty much true for any large screen TV.
The sound quality of the speakers is great..suprising loud and clear.

reach for the stars.......2004-07-28

I've only had it for a short while, but I've known for some time that this was going to be the one. At the store, when a colorful nature scene appears on all the plasmas, you'll see the amazing depth that this thing produces (billions of colors) compared to all the rest. A media receiver comes with it, so it is genuinely HD-ready. A clean-power surge protector is actually not a bad idea. They're pricey, 150+, but it's true that dirty ac power degrades (a plasma's) image quality. And absolutely necessary, is a Progressive-scan DVD player, the difference is totally noticeable. The Sony 50inch is a great screen, I watch one occasionally and you can't go wrong with it. The other nice thing about the Sony vs Pioneer is that the Sony very wisely decided to give 4:3 screen-mode BLACK bars on the sides instead of the annoying gray bars that Pioneer always opts for (imagine watching a movie with gray bars on the top and bottom - ridiculous). The Pioneer, I believe is slightly superior in image quality though. The billions of colors, the resolution, is just hypnotic. You will have to tweak it, setting it to movie-mode but enhancing the color and contrast a bit, or standard and turn the sharpness down a notch, and so on (vivid mode is just horrible, and must be for watching the occasional and unavoidable video tape or something). It is gorgeous too, the speakers go on the top or the sides, or not at all. PC input, monitor-out, lots of others.

The only bad thing that I can see so far, is the "PureVision" or whatever it's called, that Pioneer claims to enhance the picture and smooth edges? I'm not really sure what exactly it's supposed to do, but its a noticeable difference in the way a Sony will process the image, you may or may not like it. BestBy doesn't typically have the Sony 50inch on display, they do always have the Pioneer though. Go see them all. My runner-up flat-panel is definitely the Toshiba, that is one gorgeous tv. too bad there is no 50incher. The 42inch is a nice alternative. And Sony's 42 model from last year is going on sale now (07-27-04) from 6k to 4.3k at BestBy.

Amazon.com Product Description

Ready to get serious about high-definition? HP's gas-plasma PL4245N is a seriously cool television. The 42-inch widescreen (16:9 aspect ratio) set offers stunning 1,024 x 768 resolution and compatibility with the latest high-definition formats, including 720p and 1080i sources via both high-definition component-video jacks and a cutting-edge DVI (Digital Visual Interface), which maintains digital signal integrity from your compatible DTV set-top box right up to the PL4245N's internal digital-to-analog converters.

An integrated NTSC tuner give you picture-in-picture or side-by-side viewing of 1 program and 1 input source simultaneously, while a rear-panel PC input lets the set double as a computer monitor. The screen boasts a contrast ratio of 3,000:1 for deep, lifelike blacks, and a brightness rating of 1,000 cd/m2 for vivid imagery even in bright rooms.

With a plasma screen you get vivid colors like you've never seen before, extremely wide viewing angles (wider, even, than those of most LCD screens), and easy placement due to a plasma monitor's slim profile--the PL4245N is a mere 4.7 inches deep, perfect for desk or wall mounting. Brightness tends to be extremely uniform across plasma screens, which are also impervious to the picture distortion and negative color balances that afflict CRT monitors when placed near lighting or sound systems. You do, however, need to be wary of image burn-in (wherein long-held stationary images leave a permanent impression in the screen), though the PL4245N has a special feature called screen orbiting designed to combat this.

The PL4245N's image enhancements include a Cross Color Suppressor (which removes cross-color artifacts from composite-video sources for consistently true colors), low-angle interpolation (which detects low-angle lines and smoothes out staircases and jagged edges to bring greater realism to sporting events and movies), and motion-adaptive noise reduction (which enhances the quality of standard-definition and off-air programming). A 3D digital comb filter enhances the color purity of composite-video and S-video input sources, reducing cross-color artifacts like dot crawl.

FilmMode processing with 3:2 and 2:3 pulldown accurately reproduces film-originated content from video sources. Digital video mastering introduces a common distortion when adjusting 24 frames-per-second movies to 30 fps video; 3:2/2:3 pulldown digitally corrects this distortion, removing redundant information to display a film-frame-accurate picture.

Inputs include a DVI-D terminal with HDCP (High-Definition Content Protection), which permits pure digital connections to DTV set-top boxes and DVI-enabled DVD players and PCs. The set also offers 2 HD component-video inputs, a VGA computer input, an RF antenna/coaxial input, 2 composite-video, and 1 S-video connections for additional component hookups. A composite-video-based audio/video output lets you feed a TV signal to a DVR, VCR, or other device. A dedicated subwoofer output lets you use an outboard powered subwoofer to augment the TV's speakers with full low-frequency response.

A pair of selectable features enhance the set's 20-watt (10 watts per channel x 2) sound system. BBE High Definition Audio improves speech intelligibility and musical realism, while SRS WOW processing creates a perceptually larger sound field, enhancing vocals and instilling a sense of deep, rich bass even without the use of a subwoofer.

What's in the Box
TV, detachable stand, a remote control, remote batteries, a quick-start guide, a user's manual, a 75-ohm RF coaxial cable, 2 speakers, 2 speaker cables, an AC power cord, and warranty information.

Average customer rating:
Datastor Datatrans Ultra-Dma/66 Removable Frame Carrier/Fan Lock

Manufacturer: DATASTOR
ProductGroup: CE
Binding: Electronics

Host Bus Adaptors | Drives & Storage | Computer Add-Ons | Computers & Add-Ons | Categories | Electronics
ASIN: B00005129J

Product Description

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This HP printer cover paper is designed exclusively for the HP DeskJet 3425 printer. It's intended for use with HP printer cover software. The package includes 10 sheets, 8.5"x15.5". Personalize your DeskJet 3425 by putting your favorite photos on the printer cover.

Amazon.com Product Description

Designed for use with HP's DeskJet 3425 printer, this cover paper (model Q1972A) allows you to personalize your printer with your favorite prints. Each sheet dries quickly so you don't have to worry about smudging and fits perfectly under the DeskJet 3425's printer cover, giving your printer a unique appeal. 10 sheets of 8.5-by-15.5-inch paper are provided in each package.

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Exabyte Premium Cleaning Cartridge is the first choice for improving data integrity and drive performance. The certified Exabyte Premium Cleaning Cartridge is designed to provide the Exabyte 8mm drive user with trouble-free preventive maintenance. The unique, proprietary cleaning material is designed for brown stain removal, previously unattainable by any other in-the-field cleaning method. As a result, you'll see a dramatic reduction in errors, improved data security, extended drive life, and optimized drive performance. The cartridge is good for 17 cleaning cycles.

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