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"Excellent black levels" on by chad.scott
Pros: Wonderful color. Excellent black levels. Slick design. HDMI connections. External tuner.
Cons: Price. Plasma speakers will not work if already using HDMI for video and audio from cable box.
Summary: I reviewed this plasma for over four months before making the purchase. Originally I was set to buy the Pioneer PDP-5050HD but found several reviews about poor black levels on the PDP-5050HD. I went to my local electronics store and compared the PDP-5050HD to a Panasonic TH-50PX500U side by side. The Panasonic had better black levels but comes with a built in tuner (more wires to hide if mounting to a wall). I waited for the PDP-5060HD to come out because I heard the black levels would be corrected. I saw the PDP-5061HD(this is the same as PDP-5060HD they put a 1 on the end of this model # so that Best Buy does not have to match competitor $ing) in Best Buy and sure enough the black levels were corrected and look wonderful.
I purchased my Pioneer PDP-5060HD online from 6th Avenue Electronics. If you are considering buying your plasma online I recommend you visit the Pioneer Electronics website for authorized online dealers. See this website...
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/article/two/0,,2076_83644739_277297187,00.html
If you buy from an unauthorized online dealer Pioneer will not extend the 1 year warranty.
After breaking in my plasma I am very pleased with its brilliant colors and wonderful black levels. The menu is very easy to navigate and the remote has a nice backlit feature. If your cable provider supports HDMI for video and audio I recommend purchasing a high end HDMI cable.
If you are planning on using an existing home entertainment system which has 5.1 or 6.1, the speakers that come with this plasma will be useless. You have the choice of only using HDMI for audio or using the component connection...NO COMPINATION. This may not be an issue with some but since my audio digital signal has an occasional 1 to 2 second signal lose I can not fall back on my plasma speakers to make up for the 1 to 2 second lose of audio...annoying when watching movies.
I highly recommend this product and hope you enjoy it as much as I do. -
"Amazing TV. By FAR the best TV out there. Lives up to all of the hype." on by hokiemba
Pros: Picture, audio, media receiver/center, overall design
Cons: Had to ding 'em for something, but Pioneer is far from alone. These TVs are all expensive, but what the hey.
Summary: After having spent months and months thoroughly researching virtually every plasma and LCD HDTV on the market, I decided to go with the PDP 5060. I was CLOSE to going with CNET's highest rated plasma from this fall (Panasonic), but that didn't some with any speakers ($500), or stand ($300), or a built-in HDTV tuner. When you add it all up, it was the same price and just stood out in my opinion.
Be careful when you buy online that IF you buy a Pioneer, you buy it from one of their authorized online dealers (only 20, so see Pioneer's website for the list), otherwise you get NO warranty, not even the factory warranty or tech support for the first year.
I hope this was helpful. -
"Worth the extra price" on by grunnels
Pros: Great picture quality in HD and SD (Cable user). The separate media receiver allows a less cluttered look to the TV. The black frame is awesome.
Cons: This is minor, but the TV Guide is not very useful.
Summary: After researching the 50" plasma, I narrowed my selection to Futji, Panasonic and Pioneer. Each had very good picture qualities but I choose the Pioneer based on the overall solid black look, a separate Media Receiver, deep black levels especially in HD, and feedback from other users via forums. The price was between the Futji and the Panasonic. I would suggest anyone to include the Pioneer while researching for a high quality HDTV.
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"Better than it looks in the store" on by rmacd930
Pros: Extremely sharp picture; beautiful just sitting there; VERY good black level
Cons: no digital audio out function when using HDMI inputs; greens are a little bright, but not unrealistically
Summary: I love Pioneer and have always loved Pioneer, but I will make this as unbiased as I can.
This set is EVERYTHING I had hoped it would be. At first I was looking to save some cash and go with a DLP, but I figured that this will be my main TV in the house for the next 5 to 10 years, so I might as well spend some serious money to get the best product possible....without question, this is the best.
Straight out of the box the picture is beautiful. I have a Monster power 3600 Mk II for a power filter, and I seriously believe that if you are going to invest in a TV like this, you NEED a power filter. HD is immaculate. I never knew that Jennifer Garner had facial pores, now I know...Electra in HD was spectacular. All the darkness in the movie really set it off, and the action scenes were crisp and viverant. The contrast was amazing. In the final fight scene when she is fighting the lightning fast asian guy and the bed sheets are flying around them, the detail is astonishing. Finding Nemo on an upscaling DVD player was also extremely bright and detailed. Digital cable looks almost like HD, and analog cable looked extremely crisp (I credit this mostly to the power filter, because on my CRT TV, it doesn't look as good.) Even the Beverly Hillbillies looked good considering it was filmed a millenium ago on reel to reel.
I did not permanently setup the plasma to use the speakers because I have a home theater system, but I did do a quick check with them attached and they definitely sound sufficient. I was a little upset, however, that if you are using input 1 and/or 3 (the only inputs that have a HDMI input) via HDMI, you CANNOT us the optical digital out to route the digital sound to your home theater system. Since the optical digital out is the ONLY digital output, this is a little inconvenient. The work around for this though is to take a coaxial or optical cable directly from your cable box and/or DVD player to your home theater receiver. This, however, is one more step in the process of switching from one input to another on multiple pieces of equipment. This was the only REAL complaint that I had, and with the work around, it's really not much of an issue.
The remote control is pretty good, and the learning feature is nice, but some folks that can't setup a VCR need not try. With todays high tech equipment, there are many functions on other systems that this remote doesn't cover, but it is definately more than enough for anybody who has a basic home theater setup.
Overall, I seriously don't think that there is a better choice on the market if you are willing to pay the price, but remember the old saying...You Get What You Pay For.... -
"Breath taking picture, it looks like 3D" on by teasleyj
Pros: Picture can not be improved, it is almost distracting to see every blemish on an actors face.
Cons: Sound does not have an auto leveling to tone down the commercials.
Summary: The picture is astounding. CSI Miami always starts with a helicopter skyline shot it is so clear you think you are in the copter with the windows open.
Two small complaints...
The some channels increase the volume for commercials and some sets automatically adjust for this. The Pioneer 5060 does not. I've tried all the combinations of 'focus' SRS and Dolby but none relieve the problem.
Second complaint...
The set in stand buy mode makes a lot of noise, like the cooling fan is running. You can not turn the power off to the set without incurring the wrath of a cold start.
OK one more complaint...
TV Guide was great on the analog cable input but when converted to digital cable and HD the feature was lost. Called Pioneer support and was told it is not supported on Digital Cable.
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