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

by Pioneer

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 30.6 x 44.4 x 54.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 208 pounds
• Shipping: This item can only be shipped to the 48 contiguous states. We regret it cannot be shipped to APO/FPO, Hawaii, Alaska, or Puerto Rico.
• ASIN: B000148KH0
• Item model number: PDP5040HD
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #417,288 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: December 1, 2003

Product Description

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.

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 PDP-5040HD is a mere 3.9 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.

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.

Product Description

This plasma screen makes future TV a reality today by offering best-of-breed technology that, for the first time, can display more than one billion colors for the ultimate on-screen display. This new Pioneer high-definition plasma offers complete televisi

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars reach for the stars, July 27, 2004

By 

doppelganger "dvd-archive" (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pioneer PDP-5040HD 50" Plasma High-Definition Television (Electronics)

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.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Crisp, Solid and To The Point, February 17, 2005

By 

MasterTech4523 "CambridgeTech" (Cambridge, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pioneer PDP-5040HD 50" Plasma High-Definition Television (Electronics)

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.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Plasma around, September 24, 2004

By 

Asem R. Akhtar "asem111" (NoVA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pioneer PDP-5040HD 50" Plasma High-Definition Television (Electronics)

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.