Pioneer PDP4280XD Review

[kirbyfilm]

Hello

Does the  RS-232C terminal (used for factory setup) help a trained calibration engineer or will they only be able to use the tv user controls?

I have contacted an engineer who charges a flat rate fee of £200 for 3-5 hours work! setting up settings for each source. They have not worked on this tv yet!

Is this about right & does the last point matter?

many thanks

[MeMota]

Hi

I am currently tossing up between the 428XD, 508XD and LX508 full HD model. My question for the HCTV guys is, given I'm sitting at around 9 - 11 feet from the screen (2.7-3.3m) would the 508XD be too large? Should I go for the 428?

Secondly, if I went for the LX model, does this change the answer? Most of my viewing is going to be SD TV here in Aus (our cable is digital but only SD at the moment), DVD and Blu Ray, but the HD component will increase.

Many thanks

[nishan]

Hi Vincent
Found the review of pioneer PDP-4280XD very informative. A lot of the Tv & AV mags have reviewed the pioneer PDP-428XD with rave reviews. I wondered if you knew whether the PDP-428XD offers better picture compared to the PDP-4280XD you reviewed. There seems to be about £300-£400 difference between the sets if you take into account the pedestal stand. On the picture side I am aware that the PDP428xd offers ISF calibration & an automatic light sensor to compensate for room lighting. I don't plan to use ISF as I'm sure it will cost a bit ! (how much exactly for UK, Surrey?). Will the PDP428XD offer better shadow detail than PDP-4280XD , which was your main complaint ? Your advice & opinion most appriciated.
Nishan

[hgd]

Has there been any clarification on the differences in picture quality between the PDP 428Xd and PDP 4280 XD? Consensus is the picture quality is identical (assuming both tvs are set to the identical preset calibrations). If so then does this mean the Intelligent Birghtness Control (IBC) on the PDP 428XD adds very little value to the picture quality? If so, then i presume it would mean that for layman/simpletons who may not callbrate their pio tvs, the 4280xd would be the better choice (obviously assuming that one didnt not require the additional connectivity of the 428xd as well).

Has anyone seen the pdp 428xd and 4280xd side by side - or can anyone explain how useful the IBC function is and whether it is viewed as a necessity?? 

Thanks in advance

[nishan]

No I didn't get clarification about picture quality diference between the PDP4280xd & PDP428xd from anyone. Looking at the specs at pioneer website ( ie all the different picture enhancement features) there does not appear to be a difference. The only diffrenece picture wise seem to be additional control on PDP 428XD is the auto brightness feature based on room lighting and the ISF calibration. But ISF calibration will cost a bit at £250 for  engineer visit. I couldn't view the two  TVs side by side but did take some DVDs with dark scenes and compared the two Tvs at two different stores using  identical picture settings. could not see an obvious difference. Shadow detail & noise levels & colour looked the same to  my eyes. I ended up buying the PDP-4280xd as it worked out £300 cheaper when you take the stand cost into account. My TV came with 5 year warranty from TLC  broadcast. ( nice guys as they even matched a price drop of £50 after I bought the set). I have to say I'm very very happy with this set. It takes time to adjust the picture setting , but end effect is very good if you use the "user" picture settings mode. best use a calibrating DVD.
When bright light falls on TV I just partly or fully close the curtain. I think this does more to picture quality than any fancy auto brightness feature can ever do, so why spend the extra.
Having been used to watching TV on a top end 32 inch CRT Sony TV from 2003-2004 ( cost £2K brand new) for a long time I  felt LCDs or plasma could not match the picture performace of a top-end CRT set. This pioneer was the first set  that I feel comes very close to CRT TV picture quality where standard def ( freeview) pictures are concerned, so was happy to make the swap and enjoy the larger scale picture. I still think that my old CRT TV is a little bit better at shadow detail , but by not much. You soon forget that when watching TV as rest of picture is so good. I'm very impressed with its upscaling of standard def picture that makes good freeview pictures look very closed to High Def 720P pictures when sat about 8- 9 feet away.  I compared this when same programe was on BBC1 & BBC HD, and kept flicking betteen the two ( Virgin media) . The differnce between HD is only obvious when sat clsoe to TV ie 3-4 feet away!. If you buy the PDP-4280XD you will be very happy with it, I feel its the best flat pannel TV at 42 inch. ( I compared with the latest TVs from panasonic  full HD PZ range & Sonys X3500 & W3000 range & Samsungs high contrast LCDs with the new LED  back light, and on standard def, Pioneer looked best and most natural /most CRT like) Hope this helps. Happy new year !
Nish

[mfields77777]

Sorry for gate crashing this thread, I need a peace of mind advice from Vincent.

I'm having problems deciding which tv to buy. Panasonic TH42PZ700PED or Pioneer PDP4280XD. I have read and read and read your reviews, but one thing still bugs me. 1080p( Pan) or 720p (pion).
I'am viewing NTL broadcast  (SD) and for gaming/movies, PS3.

Again apologies for the intrusion.
Best Regards mfields
 

[nishan]

Hi Mfields7777
I had similar dilema at one point. if you mainly watch SD TV then 720p pioneer looks better than panasonic , i did this comparison side by side for both TVs. Pioneer  looks more natural and has more bite & depth to picture. I think its all down to how close you sit to TV , if you are just over an arms lenght away ie 3-4 feet then on 1080i/p source like PS3 gaming you will see the difference and then 1080p display has edge on sharpness ( but this does not always  mean best picture). If you sit further away like  7-8 feet or more( typical UK room) then on 42inch it will be hard to see differnce between 720p & 1080i. I tried this with SKY HD switching between 720p and 1080i on a full HD programe and struggled to tell diffrence at 7-8 feet away. it may be different on larger screens ie 50inch. If resolution is very important then you can't go much wrong with pansonic. Its a very good TV. I personaly place more priority on movies and SD TV programes and in this case 720p pioneer to my eyes looks a fair bit better than pansoinic (ie colour, blacks,depth, 3D look etc after good picture adjustment).
Hope this help...N

[mfields77777]

Nishan,
Thanks, very usefull comments, especially that you have compared SD against HD viewing, which you can't do in a shop.  I guess long term pan 1080p would be better for me, only because there is a tendency to move closer to TV when gaming.
If you have time to reply, please let me know whether you compared non hd football on sky (I view skysport and setanta a lot). I'am concerned about smudged picture when fast motion is viewed, are both TV as good as the best CRT TV.
Regards,
Mark

[nishan]

Hi Mark
Smudge never seems a problem with plasma unlike LCD. To be honest I have never seen this effect on plasma. I have watched some very fast action ie martial arts fighting, super fast rapid camera pans in action TV/movies, never seems a problem on my Pioneer. I expect the same with panasonic, i remember it looking fine in a shop when the Rugby was on.(I'm not much of a football fan) If you have sky, get Sky HD....more than improvement in sharpness it seem the high bitrate on HD channels virtualy  removes all digital artifacts (ie Blocking) on complex fast moving picture that you would see in low bitrate SD channels. (how ever even though DVD is SD, you never really see digital artifacts because of much higher bit rate) Beaware that there is only limited HD content on SKY, and even  sky-oneHD , several programes are not genuine HD, just upscaled.  Aleast SKY  lets you know which ones are true HD , by putting a HD symbol when you press programe infor button or use the TV guide listing. despite this I still think its worth the extra £10 pm.
just for your information  SD is 480i/576i.  HD is 720p, 1080i, 1080P
Nishan

[nishan]

Nishan,
Thanks, very usefull comments, especially that you have compared SD against HD viewing, which you can't do in a shop.  I guess long term pan 1080p would be better for me, only because there is a tendency to move closer to TV when gaming.
If you have time to reply, please let me know whether you compared non hd football on sky (I view skysport and setanta a lot). I'am concerned about smudged picture when fast motion is viewed, are both TV as good as the best CRT TV.
Regards,
Mark

Hi Mike
Just  to add a bit more to my last reply. Sorry to confuse matters,but strangely on SD programes the 720p pioneer picture looked more sharper  & crisp than the full HD 1080P Panasonic. This was more marked when you watch from a distance. This was why I bought the pioneer over panasonic.  On Full HD like Blueray , panasonic was only slightly  sharper than pioneer  up close, but not at distance.I got my brother to for a second opinion and he felt the same. This Pioneer TV is a classic case where good paper specs (aka Panasonic) dont always mean better picture. I guess pioneers hype about KURU really works. I also think the noise reduction on pioneer is better than on panasonic. It seems to do a good job of removing digital artifacts (Blocking etc) from freeview SD picture without making it soft. On panasonic even on low setting the picture gets much more soft. But I'm quite fussy about picture, and to most the Panasoinc will look just fine. I can see why every magazine & review has put all the latest Pioneer KURU as best in class, even ahead of panasonic best offerings.
Bottom-line... Pioneer does SD picture best, Panasonic do Full HD better but only very very slightly.
Price and style may be a deciding factor and on this account pansoinc may be better
Nishan

[mfields77777]

Nishan,
Thanks for your last two posts, you seemed to be the only one who is currently  actively participating in the forum. I'm leaning more towards the Pioneer, Dixons have a good deal on at the moment £1388 -£40 for the discount code.

Thanks again,

PS if anyone knows of a better deal please post it..

Regards
Mark

[michaelga]

could somebody please post there calibration settings for there pdp428xd so i can use it as a starting point for setting up my new set  

[Cubester]

Hello everyone,

I hope I can still get a response in this thread since it's been a while since there was something posted.

Anyway, I have a question about the PDP-4280XA.
I'm thinking about buying this or the Samsung LE40F86. However, I'm a bit frightened by the somewhat low native resolution of the 4280XA. (1024x768)
How does this low resolution perform in terms of picture quality? Am I going to be left wanting?

The main usage for the TV will be gaming and watching movies.

I hope that I've managed in making myself a bit clear.

Thanks in advance,
Cubester

[humps]

Hello everyone,

I hope I can still get a response in this thread since it's been a while since there was something posted.

Anyway, I have a question about the PDP-4280XA.
I'm thinking about buying this or the Samsung LE40F86. However, I'm a bit frightened by the somewhat low native resolution of the 4280XA. (1024x768)
How does this low resolution perform in terms of picture quality? Am I going to be left wanting?

The main usage for the TV will be gaming and watching movies.

I hope that I've managed in making myself a bit clear.

Thanks in advance,
Cubester

I just bought the 4280XD and used it for two days after 6 months of research in which one to buy. Resolution is ont an issue for me, I sit 4 meters away from the panel. I have seen 1080p blueray demo at that distance with the 4280, 5280 next to Panasonic 42PX80, 42PZ85 (1080p). I could not tell much differences in terms of resolution, may be when there is a still shot of something really fine then I can say the 1080p panel was showing higher details. I asked myself, is a 10MPixel point & shoot take better picture than an 8Mpixel DSLR? Resultion is not the major deciding factor when other strengths of the Pioneer is so good.

My friend has the samsung and I hate its SD picture and some aspect of the processing. Otherwise, it is very good on 1080 signal tho, but even at 720p (most PS3 games) the picture quality suffers. I would hate to watch Sin City on it after seeing in on my Pioneer ;-) In my opinion, unless you're a pixel chaser, the Kuro is as good as it comes. If you want full HD, I would think Panasonic TH42PZ85 is the alternative.

[Cubester]

I just bought the 4280XD and used it for two days after 6 months of research in which one to buy. Resolution is ont an issue for me, I sit 4 meters away from the panel. I have seen 1080p blueray demo at that distance with the 4280, 5280 next to Panasonic 42PX80, 42PZ85 (1080p). I could not tell much differences in terms of resolution, may be when there is a still shot of something really fine then I can say the 1080p panel was showing higher details. I asked myself, is a 10MPixel point & shoot take better picture than an 8Mpixel DSLR? Resultion is not the major deciding factor when other strengths of the Pioneer is so good.

My friend has the samsung and I hate its SD picture and some aspect of the processing. Otherwise, it is very good on 1080 signal tho, but even at 720p (most PS3 games) the picture quality suffers. I would hate to watch Sin City on it after seeing in on my Pioneer ;-) In my opinion, unless you're a pixel chaser, the Kuro is as good as it comes. If you want full HD, I would think Panasonic TH42PZ85 is the alternative.

Thanks for the reply.

I understand perfectly well that the resolution of a panel isn't it's driving factor in picture quality. And as a matter of fact, I'll mostly be using the TV for gaming anyway (720p content). So I don't really need a 1080p native panel.
What scares me however, is not so much the fact that the panel has a relatively low resolution of 1024x768, but that it's a 4:3 resolution in a 16:9 panel.
Now, I know about rectangular pixels and such, but isn't this 4:3 resolution going to induce a loss of detail when compared to a real 16:9 resolution? (e.g.: 1366x768)

Cheers,

Cubester