Price Paid:  $3500.00 from Soundsaround (canadi

Summary:
I first picked this tv because it had the best picture out of about 30 big screens at this sale. The only other one that was comparable was the elite pioneer, probably because it is an identical television with a different trim. At a price difference of about $3000, I decided I did not need the high gloss black finish, or the tinted screen saver of the elite. I find the picture quality of this television absolutly incredible when watching dvds. The only flaw in picture quality comes when watching channels with poor signal. In this case, the edges become a bit rough between exteme colour differences as in cartoons. At first I thought this was just the way this tv was, but when I watched a cartoon on dvd, it was crystal. In my opinion you can't find a better television at this price. I can't wait until HDTV is more widespread and I can get the full potential out of this tv on cable.

Strengths:
crystal clear picture on dvd, reasonable price, tons of fuctions on remote.

Price Paid:  $2888.00 from Statement Audio Vide

Summary:
Follow up to a review I posted earlier- still really like this TV- great image when fed a progressive DVD signal. Almost film like- would be even more film like if it were not for Scan Velocity Modulation causing unnatural edge enhancement and ringing around high contrast objects. The internal line doubler is very poor, and does not perform 2:3 pulldown, so you get a lot of artifacts and jaggies if you feed it an interlaced signal. My unit also has inconsistent scan lines that stand out over others, especially against light backdrops, in which they appear darker than the scene. It is very annoying , and I am not sure that I am adequately discribing to you what I am seeing. Perhaps a good AVS calibration would alleviate my problems. Otherwise this is a great unit. Beautiful colors, great black level- a 3d image with an external progressive source.

Strengths:
Colors, Depth of image, black levels, shadow detail, stretches 4:3 reasonably well

Weaknesses:
Severe edge enhancement, cannot disable SVM, locks ratio control when receiving a progressive signal, poor line doubler, scan line inconsistencies?? (see below)

Price Paid:  $2000.00 from Dog's House

Summary:
I have to admit, this TV may be the Cadillac of the Green Beans and I am somewhat envious. But this is not to say it is not without its drawbacks. Dog will not allow video games for any amount of time because of screen "burn in". His apartment has become a cave due to viewing requirements. Wilmont is on the warpath again, stomping all over buildings and making employees nervous. Make no mistake, big bucks is not getting a single family home with master on the main but rather a loft downtown like his friend. High five, leopard style! DVD compression is evident but this is not a shortcoming of the TV but rather DVD as a compressed digital format. It does not look like film, but then nothing digital does. Cable looks ok but must be stretched in order to fill the screen, making everyone on my favorite show, Match Game, including the brilliant Charles Nelson Riley, appear as if they had added an all you can eat buffet to the all you can drink bar backstage. I begged for the shows to be displayed in their original aspect ratio of 4:3, but was once again informed of the danger of screen burn in due to the grey (yes GREY) masking bars on the left and right sides. I have to admit overall the TV is very impressive in relation to some of the trashy products out there. But if you think you are going to just start moving it around the room, forget it. Dog said that every time you move this TV, odds are 1 in 5 that the TV will lose up to 5% of its resolution over the long haul. Those are odds I would not want to be up against in Vegas (where I saw Tom Jones)! My Proton is still amazing and has recently been refurbished by the TV repairman to operate at optimum performance as it once did in 1991 when I was at BellSouth and... In summary, Pioneer has once again outdone itself with a product that satisfies both movie buffs and people who just have nothing better to do except hang out and watch TV. While not jerk material as John from Atlanta would have you believe, it is a worthwile alternative to the Proton.

Strengths:
Color, Clarity, Cut

Weaknesses:
Need to watch it in the dark, listen to Dog's propaganda, poodles

Similar Products Used:
Proton 31" solid oak direct view from Sound Advice

Price Paid:  $2000.00 from sams club

Summary:
I purchased this at sam's club brand new in the box . This tv is amazing. I have never seen colors this real on a tv before. I am very pleased with the performance. Don't get carried away too much with the 72 point convergence after a while you start seeing double. I have a pioneer elite dv-37 this combination is aaaaaamazinnnng. oh yeah set the convergence and never move the tv again , every time you do it pushes the tv out of wack. I am partying my ass off with this tv , my friends envy it so much, and for only $ 2000.00 bucks, what a deal! also all these idiots that say the tv doesn't look good with standard cable are full of it. I don't have hd tv because I'm facing the wrong way but I'm gonna buy a house just because I want to see this tv in hd, because it is that amazing.

Strengths:
colors, blacks, detail

Weaknesses:
remote

Similar Products Used:
sony

Price Paid:  $2700.00 from OneCall.com

Summary:
I purchased this set in March, 2001. This television was the culmination of a 20 year dream. I have been building and upgrading a home theater system since the late 70's. While I can never say I am finished (I am now considering an SV Subwoofer), I do now consider my home theater system a true home theater.

When I began serious shopping, I fell in love with the Pioneer Elite Pro-510HD but just couldn't afford the price. (I understand the SD-533-HD5 is virtually the same set as the Elite.) The two things that I liked most about Pioneer RPTVs was the picture quality for standard off-the-air broadcasts (i.e., cable) and the stretch modes (in particular, Natural Wide setting). The other RPTVs' stretch modes really made everyone look very unnatural; short and fat.

The line doubler on this set is okay. It could not compare with the Pro-510's but not much else can. It was as good or better than the Mitsubishi's, Toshiba's and Panasonic's that I looked at. I purchased the DVDO iScanPro which provided me with a picture as good as the Elite's. My DVD is a non-progressive scan model (Panasonic A-110U upgraded to the Panasonic A-7). Since the iScanPro does the 3:2 pulldown of film to video and I still have a Pioneer Laser Disc player, it is a great solution.

The high-definition picture on this set is incredible. But, to be honest, I have not seen a high-definition picture on any set that I did not consider incredible.

This set has been all I had hoped for. In combination with my Hughes DTV tuner, it has provided me with truly WOW TV. The only downside is that I am watching far more TV and movies in the past 8 months than I have for a long time. I have found myself watching shows simply because they are in HD even if the show is not very good. That demonstrates the appeal of HDTV.

If you are looking for a very good to excellent RPTV, I would strongly suggest that you check out the standard Pioneer line. In fact, the new RPTVs do not have the "lock in Full mode" feature (bug) that last year's models had. The "lock in Full mode" caused the set to switch a progressive signal input to the full mode. Therefore, even if a DVD was in "Full screen" instead of "wide screen", the Pioneer's would stretch the picture to fill the screen.

Very highly recommended.

Strengths:
Picture quality. Pioneer RPTVs provide the best picture from 4:3 (NTSC) sources like cable or off-the-air broadcasts. Provides two component video inputs.

Weaknesses:
Remote is fairly bulky, only so-so as a learning remote and not backlit. (But I did not buy a big screen TV for its remote!)

Similar Products Used:
First RPTV that I have owned. Did substantial checking around before purchase. Currently own 27" direct view Mitsubishi.