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  9. Pioneer KURO PDP-428XD User manual

Pioneer KURO PDP-428XD User manual

046 /What Video & High-Definition TV /Issue 324
Verdict
★★★★★
Approx price £1,800
Pioneer PDP-428XD
Does its darndest to make all rival screens redundant
ON TEST
/
42IN PLASMA TV
B
The best flat TV picture ever, lovely design, great
features, fulsome 1080p/24Hz support
E
Premium price, no stand or wall bracket supplied
The rivals
/
Samsung PS42Q97HD
Under a grand and offers a far better performance
than you’d expect for price. Reviewed: Issue 322
/
Pioneer PDP-507XD
Pioneer’s previous plasmas are being discounted,
but their picture quality remains excellent.
Reviewed: Issue 320
WHV324.pion42 046WHV324.pion42 046 24/7/07 13:52:1024/7/07 13:52:10
Issue 324 /What Video & High-Definition TV /047
‘ALWAYS BET ON black’, they say. And Pioneer
seems to agree with this adage, as it’s staking
arguably its entire future on a belief that the black
level performance of its new TVs is so remarkable
that a notoriously tight-fisted UK buying public will
be compelled to shell out premium prices to get it.
To find out whether this gamble will pay off for
Pioneer, we got our hands on the PDP-428XD: a
42in model costing a considerable sum that does
not even include a desktop stand or wall bracket.
Can this plasma really be so much better than
anything else around that it justifies parting with
such a sizeable amount of money?
Features: ★★★★★
The inevitable starting point has to be with the
428XD’s supposedly revolutionary black levels. The
screen quotes a contrast ratio of 16,000:1 – the
highest yet seen on a flat TV. In fact, Pioneer is so
confident in the ground-breaking black levels of its
new TVs that it’s calling them Project KURO
(meaning black in Japanese).
Four main innovations are responsible for the
428XD’s apparent black level prowess. First, a new
Ultra Black Crystal Layer element incorporated into
the screen radically boosts the efficiency with which
the plasma cells discharge, resulting in quicker
response times and swifter white/black transitions.
Pioneer’s so-called Deep Waffle Rib pixel
structure has an important function too, as it
prevents leakages of light and colour from one
plasma cell to another.
Then there’s the company’s Direct Colour Filter,
which replaces the usual thick glass front of plasma
screens with a material which soaks up ambient
reflections, making the panel lighter in the process.
Finally, Pioneer has focused the 428XD’s image
processing on responding in very specific ways
when dealing separately with dark and light scenes.
///
The darkest corners
of the darkest scenes in
the darkest movies all
look utterly black///
WHV324.pion42 047WHV324.pion42 047 24/7/07 13:52:1524/7/07 13:52:15
048 /What Video & High-Definition TV /Issue 324
PURE DRIVE 2 HD
Pioneer’s proprietry image process
technology is a fully digital system
specifically optimised for HD pictures
and is designed to sharpen up detail,
smooth out motion and eliminate
noise. Combined with Direct Colour
Filter it minimises ambient light
reflections and boosts contrast.
Picture technology
ON TEST
/
42IN PLASMA TV
Not just the best
42in screen ever,
it’s the best flat
screen yet by
some margin.
For once, it
seems, you can
believe the hype
Black level isn’t the 428XD’s only
claim to fame, though. For starters,
it can be professionally calibrated to
suit your specific viewing conditions
by an Imaging Science Foundation
(ISF) engineer. Indeed, this could
improve black levels even more.
Also intriguing is the 428XD’s
handling of the 1080p/24fps format
used to master most HD films on
Blu-ray and HD DVD discs. Other
screens can handle this format too
from high-end Blu-ray players (see
Pioneer’s own BDP-LX70 reviewed
on page 56) that can output it. But
the 428XD unusually carries a 72Hz
playback frequency option, which
permits 24fps sources to be played
with a minimum of messy
processing fuss.
Connections, meanwhile, include
a salutory three HDMIs, a PC input,
and a USB 2 for viewing digital
photos via Pioneer’s impressive
Home Gallery, while other key
features include unusually
sophisticated MPEG, Mosquito, 3D,
and Field noise reduction routines.
Ease of use ★★★★★
Although the 428XD’s remote is
gorgeous and its onscreen menus
are slick, you really need to
familiarise yourself fully with the
TV’s hefty manual if you’re going to
get the very best results from its
countless, but sometimes quite
technical, settings.
Picture ★★★★★
So are the 428XD’s pictures really
as revolutionary as Pioneer
reckons? Er, yes, actually.
Leading the way, inevitably, is the
TV’s black level response. Which is,
by miles, the finest yet seen on a flat
TV. The darkest corners of the
darkest scenes in the darkest
movies all look absolutely,
completely and utterly black.
There’s no greyness, no blue tones,
no greyish dot crawl… just black.
What’s more, dark picture areas
contain more shadow detailing than
the vast majority of the TV’s rivals.
These truly revolutionary black
levels are enough in themselves to
deliver the most believable and
cinematic picture we’ve seen on a
flat TV. But they’re hardly the end
of the 428XD’s story.
Colours, too, are a revelation.
The dazzling black levels are offset
by a wider colour range that result
in colour tones both extremely
vibrant and more natural than any
seen on a plasma TV before. For
instance, reds actually look red
rather than orange and greens look
real rather than slightly radioactive.
The 428XD also excels with its
motion handling. The clarity and
smoothness with which it shows fast
moving objects leaves all LCD rivals
for dead. Plus there’s no sign of
plasma’s potential problems with
dithering noise over in-motion skin
tones, and the set’s 72Hz mode
reproduces 1080p/24Hz HD
transfers with scarcely a trace of
judder or ‘correction’.
The set’s 72Hz handling of
1080p/24Hz output from Pioneer’s
Blu-ray player also benefits from
remarkable cleanliness, as the
relatively straightforward 24Hz-into-
72Hz conversion throws up
negligible processing noise.
Next, even though the 428XD
isn’t a full HD screen (Pioneer isn’t
introducing full HD Kuro until
September), its pictures are
phenomenally sharp.
In fact, with their pristine motion
handling, black levels and colours,
the 428XD’s images arguably look
crisper and more detailed than
those of many full HD LCDs,
especially when there’s anything
moving in the picture.
Is there anything bad to say
about the pictures? Not unless
you’re obsessed with HD enough to
wait and save for the full HD Kuros.
Sound ★★★★★
As usual with Pioneer, the quality of
the 428XD’s speakers is seriously
impressive and at times approaches
the high standards for which its
dedicated audio products are so
highly regarded.
Value ★★★★★
With even Panasonic now breaking
the £1,000 barrier with its latest
42in plasmas, the 428XD
undoubtedly looks expensive at
£1,800. But then shouldn’t you
expect to pay a premium price for a
product that genuinely breaks new
performance ground? Z
Playback
Test Rating
Colour temperature 6,500K
Contrast ratio 1,700:1
Luminance 15.6fL
Colour ●●●●●
Frequency response ●●●●●
Power consumption:
1W (standby)
260W (in use)
Lab notes: Our subjective
observations are amply borne
out by these superlative results
1,040mm
679mm
Fact file
/
42in plasma TV
/
1,024 x 768 pixels
/
HD Ready
/
Pure Drive 2 HD processing
/
3 HDMI inputs
Spec check
Screen size and shape:
42in, 16:9
Tuner: Digital and analogue
Sound system: Nicam
Resolution (pixels): 1,024 x 768
HD Ready: Ye s
Quoted contrast ratio: 16,000:1
Quoted brightness: N/A
Processing: Pure Drive 2 HD
Screen dimensions: 1,040(w) x
679(h) x 115(d)mm
Weight: 29.6kg
/
Other features
HD Digital Film Direct mode
(24fps); HDMI CEC control; ISF
C3 Ready; ultra black crystal
layer; Direct Colour Filter 3;
ambient light sensor; Active DRE;
PIP/PAP; I-Clear Drive; various
noise reduction systems; optional
stands and brackets; subwoofer
output; motion handling modes
/
Sockets:
3 HDMI inputs (PC and video);
3 Scarts (2 RGB); component
video input; composite video
input; S-video input; D-Sub PC
input; stereo audio output;
headphone jack; stereo audio
inputs; CAM slot; RF input; USB
socket; subwoofer output; digital
audio output
/
Contact:
01753 789500,
www.pioneer.co.uk
115mm
/
Time in Lab: 8 days
/
Serial No: N/A
WHV324.pion42 048WHV324.pion42 048 24/7/07 13:52:2024/7/07 13:52:20

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