Photo gallery: Pioneer PDP-436HDWith the famed EISA European plasma TV of the year 2005-2006 award under its belt (awarded for the European version of the PDP-506HDG), we awaited the delivery of our review unit with much anticipation accompanied by a high level of expectation. In its week-long stay in our Lab, the Pioneer never failed to impress with its first-class performance, raising the bar in the hotly contested flat-panel market. The superbly implemented PDP-436HDG is a testimony that plasma technology is far from obsolescence and still a force to reckon with.
Design
The design of the PDP-436HDG is simplistic yet classy with the screen surrounded by the signature high-gloss black finish and the supplied swivel stand in silver. Situated on the bottom-left corner of the panel are a pair of LEDs and a power button, leaving the rest of the chassis void of controls. You have a choice of different speaker installations, ranging from the usual side or bottom mount to a unique "floating" alternative via a pair of supporting arms.
No more backaches with a front-ported PC input. |
To maintain the panel's petite 1,076 x 632 x 92mm physic, Pioneer elected for a two-box design with a dedicated media receiver housing the TV tuner and A/V-switching electronics. Measuring similar to an average DVR, the black-silver unit sports a stylish flip-down front panel which opens to reveal a set of controls plus the handy front connectivity. Kudos to Pioneer for shifting the PC input to the front making it more user-friendly for laptop owners.
The remote is well-designed and laid out. It is long yet comfortable in the hand and comes with a set of direct input keys eliminating the hassle of switching in between its five A/V inputs. The omission of backlighting for the buttons is a bad call from the Japanese company considering the AU$5,999 asking price and does limit the remote's effectiveness in a dimly lit environment.
Pioneer has everything covered in its comprehensive and intuitive user menu. From making sure you get the optimised picture quality and personalised sound effects right down to going green with its power management settings. There is also a set of advanced picture adjustments which put full control of the panel at your finger tips, while the 52-page thick manual does a great job of explaining the significance of the various options.
Features
The PDP-436HDG has a native resolution of 1,024 x 768 pixels. Since the vertical resolution falls short of the minimum 1,280 pixels required by 720p, the 43-inch widescreen panel is not strictly high definition-ready but rather compatible relying on downscaling to fit all HD materials. Now into its 6th iteration, the new Pure Black panel does offer a competent feature set such as an above-average 3,000:1 contrast ratio, 1,100 cd/m2 brightness and improved burn-in resistance.
Do not expect to find bucket loads of value-added features such as onboard JPEG playback on the set--the unit offers only basic picture-in-picture and screen-freeze functions. This is partially offset by numerous video enhancement technologies introduced to complement the Pure Black panel. Among which, there is Pioneer's Pure Drive Two picture-processing technology which automatically optimises picture quality and suppresses undesirable video noise by analysing the video source.
Reflections from the panel and ambient lighting are also kept in check with a direct colour filter. Though this feature does not completely eliminate external reflections, a close-up on the panel does reveals its effectiveness in suppressing internal light reflections. This feature is extremely useful for maintaining sharpness of onscreen images for users sitting to the sides of the unit.
Be sure to check out your electrical bill with the PDP-436HDG as it boasts an environmentally-friendly 311W of power consumption for the panel and media receiver combination. This rating compares well with other similar-sized plasma TV such as the Hitachi 42PD8800TA (370W) but lags behind its LCD counterpart such as Philips' new 42PF9830 (154W).
No cutting corners with an S-Video socket for each input. |
On the back of the media receiver are a pair of HD-ready component-video inputs, two sets of composite A/V with S-video and an important all-digital HDMI terminal. The front, on the other hand, comes with a set of composite A/V with S-video and a PC input. Interfacing the unit to the panel is a 3.5m-long proprietary cable terminated with a DVI and FireWire-lookalike connectors.
Performance
This is the area where the PDP-436HDG truly shines. Running at 720p off our reference Pioneer DV-S969Avi universal player via HDMI, the set floored our Avia's test patterns achieving perfect results in geometry, convergence, colour uniformity and decoding. Greyscale tracking was near-perfect with visible but subtle graduations for the deepest shade of blacks.
The lack of vertical pixels did not prevent the 43-incher from putting up a convincing showing with DVDs and TV programs. Pictures turned out natural and sharp with no sight of scaling artifacts or distortion. If there is a particular strength that needs to be singled out, our vote would definitely go for the excellent colour reproduction. This was best demonstrated in Finding Nemo. The coral reef with its colorful marine occupants was vividly rendered with dazzling shades of colours bringing the animation to life.
Pioneer's collections of black enhancement technologies were effective in producing excellent shadow details. Dark scenes in our demo DVDs turned out favourably with good subtlety and details. Matching the deep blacks were pristine whites which was put to good use in the snow-capped mountain tops in Vertical Limits.
Razor-sharp text from a 1,280 x 768 pixel-enabled laptop. |
Performing equal well was the PDP-436HDG's razor-sharp PC video output. The Pioneer took it one step further by delivering this consistent performance all the way to the maximum widescreen resolution of 1,280 x 768 pixels. At this resolution, surfing the Internet and running photo slidshows was sheer joy beyond words and has to be experienced personally to appreciate.
Though the sound quality was less full-bodied than what we would have expected from a premium product of this calibre, audio was generally clear and crisp. The built-in SRS Focus together with its 3D stereo enhancement were effective in recreating an expansive sound stage, adding depth to the speakers' output.
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