Pioneer PDP-5080XD

The PDP-5080XD is part of Pioneer’s groundbreaking Kuro range and has been designed with one thing in mind - your viewing pleasure. Kuro means black in Japanese and the quoted 10 years of development that have gone into building these sets has resulted in screens capable of the deepest black levels, stonking contrast and vibrant colours.

HDTVTest have reviewed the Pioneer PDP-5080XD. They write

The pioneer PDP-5080XD is the best flat-panel that I have seen to date, and the only other display on the market right now that I would expect to surpass it is its bigger brother, the 1080p native PDP-LX508D. It calibrates very well, and produces the most natural and film-like image I have seen from any HDTV so far. Aside from some relatively minor issues, the only real down-side is price. While it is much better than other HDTVs out there, it is also quite a bit more expensive. If you are striving for perfection, then the extra money is easily justified, but if that is the case, I would recommend going for the PDP-LX508D if you can afford it and will be sitting within 12ft of the screen. Past 12ft you’re probably not going to see the benefits of a 1080p panel though so the PDP-5080XD would be my display of choice there.

Read more about the Pioneer PDP-5080XD.

Pioneer BDP-LX70 Bluray player

Now the thing about bluray players is this: they are so damned expensive, even the launch of Sony’s troubled PS3 has done little to alleviate this situation. The PS3 weighs in at around £400 and as such is the cheapest way at the time of writing to dip your toes into the blu-ray market, but even that is more than twice as much as the cheapest HD-DVD player out there. So the £1000 price tag on this new player from Pioneer is eye-watering, but not entirely surprising. Out of the box, the machine looks sleek and exhibits a solid build quality as you’d expect from a premium player. Connectivity is good, and includes HDMI 1.2 output, component video, S-video and Composite video output, as well as 5.1 channel audio out for delivering TrueHD audio to appropriate external kit. In addition Pioneer have included a LAN connection, which is supposed to make it easier to stream audio and video from a networked PC. Siginificantly the HDMI output is only version 1.2, unlike the PS3 and a number of HD-DVD players which include HDMI1.3 output. However this deck does make up for this initial disappointment by allowing video to be carried in the much vaunted 1080p/24fps format that is native to the majority of movies when transfered to disc. Obviously Pioneer have done this to complement their recent range of TVs designed to to allow uncompromised playback of 24fps sources.

However, there is more disappointment to come. It emerges that the LX70 is not compatible with the recent BD 1.1 profile, which will be mandatory on all Blu-ray players from October 2007. Which means you may find it wont play some of the Java driven ‘Extra’ features set to be included on future discs. If this sort of thing doesn’t bother you however and all you’re interested in the the movie experience then happily the LX70 delivers big time. Picture quality is reported as crisp, clean and smooth and colors are strong and vivid, while still being natural and beautifully edged.

Buy the Pioneer BDP-LX70 from Comet Today

Pioneer’s new Flat Screens

Pioneer have announced a line-up of new flat screen televisions that boldly claim to offer a picture and audio experience like none before them, with the deepest levels of black and high-grade audio. The new screens incorporate technology that sets new standards in flat-screen televisions, boasting rich black levels (80% deeper than before), which ultimately lead to brighter colours and sharper details, the new screens are unrivalled in video and audio performance. 42, 50 and 60-inch screen sizes, in XGA will be available from June and Full HD versions in 50 and 60-inch available from September.