WHC40.16pioneer_lg_plasma

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HEAD-TO-HEAD TEST>50in plasma screens
This screens fully HD Ready
The build quality is excellent for such an affordable machine.

LG 50PX4

RATINGS
##### EASE OF USE ####$ FEATURES ##### PICTURE ####$ SOUND ####$ VALUE ##### OVERALL ####$
LG 50PX4 vs Pioneer PDP-506XDE
In which the LG model turns out to be very good but still comes second to the best plasma TV weve ever seen
For many movie fans, a 50in plasma TV is the dream ticket. But, the high prices of such screens ensure that they remain a dream for most people. Today, though, weve found two new 50in models, LGs 50PX4 and Pioneers PDP-506XDE, each selling for comfortably under 4k and so, potentially, bring the joys of truly huge flatscreen viewing to a whole new market. Aesthetically, both push all the right buttons, actually looking quite similar in their plush combinations of glossy, black screen surrounds with metallic silver trim. If we had to choose, wed probably plump for the Pioneer on account of its extra svelteness.

AT A GLANCE

FEATURES 50in 16:9 plasma TV HD Ready 1366 x 768 resolution Built-in digital tuner XD Engine II processing 10,000:1 claimed contrast ratio 1000cd/m2 claimed brightness 2 x 15W built-in speakers picture in picture tools DCDi by Faroudja noise reduction 8-day EPG X-Studio multimedia card reader Various anti-screenburn measures CONNECTIONS HDMI input RS-232 control jack VGA D-Sub port PC audio in IR in Composite video in Two S-video in Three Scarts (one RGB) Component video input RF input RF output CAM slot Multimedia card slots www.lge.co.uk 0870 6075544
IN FEATURE TERMS, THE LG AGAIN SETS A HIGH STANDARD
this is backed up by a 7-day electronic programme guide (EPG). The TV is also fully HD-Ready, and boasts a picture-in-picture system; various anti-screenburn measures; a colour adjuster specifically for skin tones; normal and MPEG noise reduction routines; Faroudja DCDi de-interlacing for improved scaling and contouring; and XD Engine. This proprietary LG technology now in its second full generation applies picture processing in six key areas: image clarity, colour saturations/tone, contrast, brightness, colour gradation/grayscaling and frame rate handling when watching movies.

Crystal amazing

Impressive though the LGs feature count is, Pioneers PDP-506XDE goes a little further still. For instance, while the Pioneers digital tuner also supports a 7-day EPG, it additionally lets you set timer recordings directly

Get yourself connected

The Pioneer wins out when it comes to connections, though. The LG isnt at all bad, with key highlights including an HDMI input; component video inputs; a VGA PC jack; a CAM slot to back up a built-in digital tuner; multimedia card slots for playing JPEG digital photos and MP3s; and three Scarts. But, the Pioneer adds to all these a deeply excellent second HDMI, a subwoofer output and an optical digital audio output. In terms of features, the LG again sets a pretty high bar. For starters, as we indicated earlier, the LG comes with a built-in digital TV tuner and
from it and permits genre filtering. There are more picture tweaks on the Pioneer too, with key extra tricks including 75Hz/100Hz switching and multiple progressive scan settings. Inevitably, the Pioneer doesnt boast LGs XD Engine II picture processing, but it has plenty of proprietary Pioneer technology on board instead. PureDrive 2 HD, for instance, applies 10-bit processing to pictures to boost numerous aspects of their appearance, including colour and fine detail response. Pioneer has also added a new crystal emissive layer to each plasma cell to improve colour stability, vibrancy, and black levels. Then theres the Pioneers unique deep waffle rib panel design, which reduces the chances of colour and light bleed between separate plasma cells. Plus, the PDP-506XDE sees the return of Pioneers impressive Direct Colour Filter, which removes the customary thick glass panel from the screens front to reduce light reflection from your room and eliminates secondary edging when viewing off axis.
One of two of the LGs S-video inputs

Component video input for high-quality pictures.
Another stylish control remote

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50in plasma screens>HEAD-TO-HEAD TEST

Elemental truths

We started the test part of this head to head with a run-through of The Fifth Element on the LG. For starters, the LGs contrast is immensely impressive, dishing up clean, bright whites and exceptionally profound black levels that greatly benefit dark scenes like those where the Federation ship ill-advisedly nukes the evil planet. Even better, the black levels arent just empty holes; theyre given genuine depth and subtlety thanks to good greyscaling and fine shadow detailing. Talking of detailing, the LG also scores points for its sharpness, rendering ultra-textured shots, like those of the hieroglyphics at The Fifth Elements start, with excellent accuracy and precision. Whats more, this sharpness does not come at the expense of any grain or dot crawl. The LG 50PX4 handles those common plasma hiccups of fizzing over motion, colour striping, and greyish dot crawl over dark areas well, too. In fact, theyre all but completely absent. The LG 50PX4s colour response, meanwhile, does Fifth Elements sets proud, while maintaining a mostly pleasingly natural tonewhile watching in high definition. Step down to SD and the colour tone loses some of its naturalism, lustre and dynamism. We should also mention that the LG 50PX4 can suffer traces of MPEG blocking noise with HDMI feeds and digital tuner programmes. None of these points stop the LG 50PX4 impressing us greatly for such an affordable 50in TV, though.

Pioneer PDP-506XDE

This Pioneer is equipped with Direct Colour Filter A second HDMI input is also featured An excellent remote control
STYLE FEATURES PICTURE SOUND VALUE OVERALL EASE OF USE ####$
##### ##### ##### ##### ##### #####
But, theyre also rather emphasised by the all-round splendour of what the Pioneer has to offer.

And more besides

Lets not beat around the bush here: the Pioneer PDP-506XDE produces the finest pictures weve ever seen on a flat panel TV. The colours are absolutely superb: wonderfully punchy saturations (youll need sunglasses for the OTT Fifth Element scenes aboard the space Pleasure Cruiser) combine with an authenticity of skin tones that surpasses any other plasma TV. Then theres the sets talent with black levels. The PDP-506XDE easily matches the also-excellent LG in terms of the depth of black it can hit without succumbing to any greying over. And it surpasses the LGs black levels by filling them with more shadow detail and colour subtleties and by suffering less from ambient light reflections on the screen.

A SIMPLY IMPERIOUS OFFERING FROM PIONEER THAT RAISES THE BAR AGAIN

All that glitters

Fine detail levels are scintillating too, showing, for instance, seemingly every individual speck of orange glitter on the walls of the bizarre room where Leeloo is first regenerated.
While this fine detail talent is particularly noticeable with high definition viewing, this Pioneer also proves unusually flexible, in that its pictures still look sharp and clean and immaculately coloured, come to that with any source you feed it. With so much show-boating splendour on display in the PDP506XDEs pictures, it almost goes without saying that it doesnt succumb to old-school plasma problems with motion noise or colour banding. Plus, you feel like youre getting completely immersed in what youre watching, thanks to the exceptional depth and scale of the image; and you can watch it from off-axis without any ghost images appearing. Although we tried to find some weaknesses in the Pioneers pictures, we drew a blank. Sadly for the LG, although its sonics are pretty good, the Pioneer performs better, delivering a wider soundstage, greater power and a more dynamic and expansive frequency range. We really do feel sorry for the LG 50PX4. Its a appealing TV that, under normal circumstances, would very likely have romped home to victory in a head-to-head. But today it had the misfortune to come up against a simply imperious offering from Pioneer that lifts the plasma performance bar to a completely new level of excellence I

TEST SCENE

> >The Fifth Element
The cityscape and the flying police vehicles look great, but the Pioneers colour tone and black levels give the scene a definite edge.
FEATURES 50in 16:9 plasma TV HD Ready 1280 x 768 resolution Built-in digital tuner 4000:1 contrast ratio 1100cd/m2 brightness 75/100Hz switchable digital photoviewing 7-day EPG support, with timer setting and genre filters PureBlack screen system PureDrive II processing suite Direct Colour Filter design picture in picture facilities CONNECTIONS Two HDMI inputs Component video input S-video input Three Scarts (two RGB) VGA PC input Composite video input Subwoofer output Optical digital audio output Digital CAM slot PC digital photo card slot Headphone jack Stereo audio input RF loopthrough system Stereo audio ouput Two control ports One service port www.pioneer.co.uk 01753 789500

> >

The screen uses all kinds of new construction features
The Pioneers speakers look small, but sound big

WHC JANUARY 2006 47

f o c u s
PLASMA It actually measured in at 780 mm high, 1461 mm wide, and 101 mm deep. The second thing I noticed, was that the fitted table top stand could be rotated by around 20 to 30 degrees left or right a rotating base certainly adds some flexibility to the LG but I felt that the junction between base and plasma felt a little flimsy. Plasma set-up proved to be simple, this despite the fact that it was delivered without a manual, and once connected to a DVD player via component video and HDMI connector I could power it up and start my review. Moving through the various menu functions was easy, and for much of my review, I set the LG into its magic eye mode, which automatically changed some settings as ambient light changed. The changes were subtle and barely detectable. What was detectable, and encouragingly so, was that the LG displayed good contrast, and good grey scale. This meant that there was a depth and naturalness to images that lesser plasma monitors couldnt display. The high definition of the LG, no doubt coupled to the XD engine and DCDi, also meant that images were smoothly rendered and lacked the graininess and noticeable pixel structure that lower resolution monitors tend to show. Overall colour accuracy, when set according to ANSI standards from the Avia set-up DVD, also proved to be good. I did not get to test the built-in tuner or listen to the sound delivered by the built-in speakers, and must therefore assume that performance here would be up to that of the rest of the monitor. To close, the 50PX4 Hurricane II lived up to the expectations set by its specifications and must therefore be one of the best 50-inch plasma TVs around.

Joel Kopping

LG 50PX4 HURRICANE II

Size counts

eing a reviewer and getting to play with a wide array of equipment means that you soon get to learn which specifications are useful and which ones are pretty meaningless. Chief contender for one of the most useless specifications around, are PMPO power ratings. These supposed power figures are so removed from reality that it really makes no difference if your amplifier is rated at 3000 watts PMPO and mine at watts PMPO. Chances are both amplifiers are only good for 20 real watts anyway. Another specification that gets bandied about and printed on any piece of marketing material companies can think of, and one that is closer to the feature review on this page, is contrast ratio. As there are numerous methods of measuring contrast, and manufacturers are generally loathe to tell us exactly which method they use, its almost futile to compare this specification across different manufacturers or brands. There is however one thing that I am pretty certain of, and this is that manufacturers tend to be pretty consistent in how they measure their own equipment. This means that when a company in this case LG states that their new plasma monitor has a contrast ratio twice as high as the monitor it is replacing, you can be pretty certain that this is true. By the way, the claimed contrast ratio for the LG Hurricane II 50PX4 is a not inconsiderable 10 000:1, and the 50 in the model name means that this model has a screen diagonal measurement of 50-inches. Specifications that are of more interest to me include a screen resolution of 1366x768 pixels, a brightness rating of 1000cd/m2, a 160-degree viewing angle, true high definition compatibility, the capability to display 720p and 1080i source material, and the capability to display million colours. On the feature front the LG isnt shy either, and sports LGs Film Filter, which the company says enhances the colour purity and brightness significantly. It does this by being optically adhered to the plasma glass, eliminating any air-gap between the glasses. By removing the air gap, light refraction is minimised, increasing focus and eliminating double image.The Film Filter also helps to considerably reduce the weight of the panel, which at 44.8 kg couldnt be called featherweight. One wonders how much the LG would have weighed if it didnt use the Film Filter. Other features include a revised version of LGs XD Engine, which incorporates CrystalVue, PurePalette and ContrastPRO. A U D I O

p e a k s

VERDICT LGs latest 50-inch plasma backs up its size with high resolution, high contrast and good overall image quality. Features are good too. PRICE..RSUPPLIED BY LG Electronics SA 011-571-6700 http://za.lge.com

WEBSITE

Another image enhancing feature is the inclusion of Faroudjas DCDi processing. On the input front, the LG is no slouch either and as long as your source components have component video, composite video, S-Video, RS232, RF, or HDMI outputs, you should be okay. Other inputs include an IR jack and PC audio in. Probably the only input the LG wasnt equipped with was a DVI input, but if your DVD player had DVI out, you could always use a DVI to HDMI adaptor anyway. After unwrapping the LG it was delivered to our offices wrapped in about 20 metres of bubble wrap and two of us had hoisted it up onto the top of the cabinet in our review room, the first aspect of the monitor that I took in, was that it was big.

V I D E O

F E B R U A R Y