Picture quality out of the box

remote not lighted (really no big deal)

Bottomline - Pioneer Elite is King but couldn't justify price difference. To many problems reported with Mits by other users. Didn't care for Panasonic cabinet given my built-in cabinet 720P would have been nice but won't be able to use for a couple of yrs. Toshiba was second choice but out of the box the Pioneer was better.

I worried about my choice but after working with the TV I absoultely love it's quailty.

Speakers - Def Technology 2002tl system
Receiver - Dennon 3801
DVD - Dennon
etc...

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer Elite, Toshiba, Mitsubishi and Panasonic

Killer Cabinet, attractive looks, detailed convergence control, viewing modes, brilliant picture, great array of inputs, easy to move (wheels on the bottom, does excellent job of stretching 4x3 TV programs into widescreen, great value for the price, and more options than you can shake a stick at.

Remote is kinda of lame but I really don't care, a remote is a remote, very reflective screen, s-video input looks muddled

Ever since I bought by Pioneer DV-414 DVD player I could not wait to get a widesreen TV. Being that widescreen TV's where still very expensive back in 1998 I had to wait ahwile. Now I am not saying that spending $4000 on a TV is cheap, but I remember when you couldn't touch a widescreen TV for under $10k. I finally got the money to make the widesreen plunge and started to do some careful research.

I have been a big fan of Pioneer products for years. After careful research I decided to go with this model. I would have loved to get the Elite model but I had my price limits. I took a day off from work for the delievery, calibrated the TV and popped in Fight Club. Wow, it was like watching the movie for the first time all over again. The detail in the picture was incredible, I was seeing things I had never seen before, just amazing. This TV was designed for DVD and I can't wait to get myself a real good progressive Scan DVD player with true 3x2 pull down. Now if I could only get HDTV in my area then I would be in heaven.

The other aspect of this TV that I really like is the way it stretches normal 4x3 TV to fit the entire screen. I was a little concerned that it was going to look really bad but this TV does a very good job of this using the natural wide screen mode. I live on a hill so I plugged some regular old anetanna into the TV and the picture for local programming was really good.

My satellite picture is decent and really various between channels but looks muddled compared to my normal TV recpetion, the s-video input in general looks muddled.

Bottom line this TV was designed for DVD and HDTV, but it also does an excellent job with regular TV and satellite. My wife and I love this TV so much that when we have to go out of town we actually miss our TV. After watching movies on this I have a hard time going over to friends house's to watch movies on their 27" TV's, you get spoiled real quick with this TV.

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none

5 modes of widescreen adjustment, Natural Wide my FAV,
Progressive DVD looks PHENOMENAL, RGB inputs (yes)

No 720P capability, needs front component video input

Just went to my local Fry's Electronics looking to buy a 16x9 widescreen to view DVD movies on. Everyone recommended the Mitsubishi 55 incher on this site, So I checked it out and the picture is incredible. Then the salesperson said come and check out the new Pioneer TV's they just got in. I was immediately impressed with the picture quality. I asked the salesperson if the Mitsu and Pioneer were both calibrated, yes he replied with Video Essentials. He then hooked up a HDTV RCA tuner and then a Toshiba Progressive Scan DVD player on both sets. The pioneer had much more depth and realism than the mitsu. The great thing both sold for $4000 each so this was a no brainer. The pioneer is a 53 inch TV and the mitsu 55 inches, but I don't mind spending the same money for a better picture. The set is less than 25 inches deep which fits perfectly into my living room. You can calibrate and change everything on this set which makes it the standard by which all companies should strive for someday, Hint (Mitsubishi, Toshiba, Panasonic, etc.

The thing that made me jump for joy and not care how much I spent was the viewing modes on this puppy. It has Natural Wide my fav which extends a 4:3 picture to fill the whole 16:9 widescreen in a word awesome. It also has normal 4:3, cinema wide, full, and zoom. All are quite useful.

TRUST ME FOLKS CHECK IT OUT IF YOU CAN FIND A DEALER,
YOU'LL BE SUPRISED NOT ONLY BY THE PICTURE, BUT THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF FEATURES IT HAS OVER THE MITSUBISHI SET, AND I THOUGHT MITSU CLAIMED THEY MADE THE TOP OF THE LINE PROJECTION TV'S.

I never saw a pioneer television before, but I definitely will want to see their new lineup for the fall.

Similar Products Used:

Mitsubishi WS-55805

Picture quality

minor, relatively narrow optimum viewing angle

My first big screen TV, this Panasonic widescreen impressed me because the picture seems much more like a direct view than a RPTV. Adjustments are easy to accomplish, including the 72 point convergence. Checked the video settings with the Video Essentials DVD and the midpoint '0' settings almost perfectly matched the ideal per the DVD with the exception of the sharpness value. Sharpness set all the way to minimum still shows a very small 'ghosting' effect. I use this TV with a 'BUD' satellite system with 4DTV. The 4DTV HDTV slave unit isn't available yet, so I haven't used this TV in 1080i yet, but the 480p provides an excellent picture. Since these widescreens aren't cheap yet, I can't give it a high value rating, but I'm very pleased with it otherwise.

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I have to sell a pioneer pro-610. I am looking for about $4000 but I will take best offer. I am in staten island, New York. It is about 3 months old. Call me at 212-278-7634 or email me at joecus@si.rr.com

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.

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!)

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.

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

Color, Clarity, Cut

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

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.

Similar Products Used:

Proton 31" solid oak direct view from Sound Advice

Incredible value! Lots of inputs, each individually customizable. Moves easily on great casters, nice cabinet.

Green tint appeared after one month.

I instantly loved this unit, and especially appreciated the Sam's Club price. I have never had a rear projection television before, and was thoroughly stunned by the picture, and impressed by this unit's reviews and value. Even though it has a line-doubler, a progressive scan DVD player gave a better picture than a regular DVD player. (also, Panasonic progressive scan gave a better picture than the JVC progressive scan DVD player, when compared through Monster component video cables). Picture was outstanding....at first.

After one month, a greenish tint started appearing on most everything on the screen when the unit was first powered-on. After a while, it disappeared. However, after about ten days of this phenomenon, it started to be a constant problem. Dark, black areas of the screen appear to have a greenish tint/cast to them. This is usually shadows, black suit coats, etc. Sometimes it is any light colored area as well. I turned the black level up, and this eliminated most of the problem, however it really made dark areas of the picture almost too dark to make out details that you normally should/could before.

Pioneer gave me the number of a local warranty repairman, who came today. He tapped on the green crt with a screwdriver, producing a tiny amount of "noise" on the screen (tapping the red and blue crts did not produce any "noise"). He was "stumped", and put the front back on the set and said he would call me next week with his "diagnosis". He even suggested taking the unit back to Sam's, since replacing the green crt would require an outrageus amount of "grey level adjustments, etc."

Is this guy just incompetent? He said he was factory trained by Pioneer! I'm trying someone else next week, but if anyone out there has any suggestions, or has had the same problem, please email me at: BillFritsch@Qrio.com

I'm afraid to try another unit, because what if it is worse??!!! Should I stick with what I've got, or try another one? On top of that, Sam's Club doesn't deliver, so I have to haul this 300 pound gorilla back to the store myself!

So, my first foray into the world of home theatre has been disappointing. However, my new Yamaha HTR-5460 DTS receiver, combined with my old Technics front speakers and old JVC book shelf rears, with new JBL Studio series center and new Sony WM 40 subwoofer really sounds great, and has a lot of inputs and listening adjustments.

I know I'm not alone in my struggle for a quality, reasonably priced system, but is this green-tint thing common to rear projection sets? I've heard things like "Mitsubishis push too much red, etc.", so do Pioneers push too much green???

Thanks for reading, and if you have any comments, suggestions, advice, I'd really appreciate the email ASAP before I make a decision on this matter. Take care, all!

Perfect size for my living room, sharp amazing picture, plenty of inputs.

remote kind of weird. Wall unit for it will cost you a TON!! but not a real weakness for the Tv per se.

First, this forum helped me a lot, I went to a friend's house to see his 55 mitsubishi big screen and I like it very much, he paid 1750.00 for it which I though it was a good deal, so I start shopping for one. Went to circuit city, Best buys and other stores checking out and asking questions and decided to stop by Sam's Club, They have this Beauty connected with a HD reciever in some kind of travel/nature channel and my wife which by the way was against anything bigger of what we allready have went Ahhhh!! that looks like a beautifull fish tank, sooo real! and the price was soooo good. I went home and type the model # on Google and start the reading, everything that I read about this unit was Praise, great picture, nice unit unsuprass detail. So I went and buy it. Got home, connected and watch 4 DVD's in a row!! no kidding, is so great I am thinking of taking a day off to build a shrine for it. My Paradigm/Sony system with this TV are the awesome Home Theater system. It may take you a little to calibrate it but once you find the sweet spot, pop! you're done. The screen is a little refflective but not enough to diminish the rating. Nice viewing angle, better that regular Big screen TV's, Play with the modes and get use to it, experiment a little with different light conditions, If you can control the amount of light in the room, is much better. Even with the Local broadcast antenna this set looks good.

Similar Products Used:

Mitsubishi 35 other tube tv's

IMAGE QUALITY IMAGE QUALITY

With component video cabling and DVD player output set for 16:9, cannot change size. Frankly, do not know why you would want (need) to alter the image. No real weakness.

Cannot say enough about how the image of this unit simply knocks the socks off ANY comparable unit. Some of the top name units have horrible aliasing, even with Toy Story. NONE found on this unit. If you are looking for a great unit, this could be your answer. Do your homework. Don't let the nonsense you hear at the mass market video outlets lead you to a potential bad decision.

I thought the unit was great out of the box and could not anticipate how much better it got with the correct setup on the HK DTS50 DVD player and a set of component cables.

I had been sitting on a new HK receiver, HK surround system and HK DVD player - awaiting for a price drop to hit my budget threshold. My hearing isn't the best so the HK fits my needs but my eyes could not be more pleased with the Pioneer image.

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