Pioneer Kuro PDP-5020FD

Summary: I enjoy reading David Katzmaier reviews and was anxious to read this one on the Pioneer-6020. I have to admit that I'm wondering if he didn't make a ...

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Summary: I enjoy reading David Katzmaier reviews and was anxious to read this one on the Pioneer-6020. I have to admit that I'm wondering if he didn't make a mistake by giving this TV an 8.4 rating. Last year he gave the Pioneer-5080 an 8.7 rating. He gave the new Panasonic an 8.7 rating. Then in his review of the Pioneer-6020 he gave this TV an 8.4 rating, after it beat the Pioneer- 5080, the Panasonic and the Samsung in almost all of his head to head comparison tests. In Black Levels, he wrote the Pioneer-6020 has the deepest black levels they have ever seen among TV's larger than 11 inches, the best Shadow Detail, the best antireflective screen for combatting bright lighting, and scored the best at the standard definition tests. As far as knocking it on its color accuracy and lack of adjustability....David wrote that the combination of deep blacks and accurate color decoding allowed the Pioneer 6020 to BEAT THE REST OF THE DISPLAYS AT PRODUCING RICH, SATURATED COLORS!!!!! I think I have learned a lot through David Katzmaiers reviews and I hope he reconsiders his low rating of the PDP-6020. No where in his review did the Panasonic beat the Pioneer 8.7 to 8.4......except for the price factor. I dont think that justifies killing the score of the Pioneer. CNET reviews have never been based on price, just on quality! I hope to spur others to read his review and write to David Katzmaier and voice their concern over his low rating. At the least it should be an 8.7. I hope David writes back and explains himself and raises the score of the last true Pioneer Plasma.

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Summary: First of all, you (David Katzmaier, Matthew Moskovciak, C-NET) should check your facts, before you make such outlandish statements.
Otherwise, you will lose any credibility you have left of being ?
...

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Summary: First of all, you (David Katzmaier, Matthew Moskovciak, C-NET) should check your facts, before you make such outlandish statements.
Otherwise, you will lose any credibility you have left of being ?impartial? reviewers of plasma panels or anything else for that matter.

Here are passages from the reviewers own words about black levels?.?Still, when the PDP-5020FD's black frame appeared just a couple hairs lighter than the black screen itself, we found our eyes gravitating toward its picture IN PREFERENCE TO THE OTHERS.?

And again, about color accuracy? ?These issues certainly didn't spoil our enjoyment of the film, however, and the combination of deep blacks and accurate color decoding
ALLOWED THE PIONEER TO BEAT THE REST OF THE DISPLAYS AT PRODUCING RICH, SATURATED COLORS.?

In other words, you are plainly stating that not only do you prefer the black levels of the Pioneer but also it?s color rendition, as ?imperfect? (by a hair) as it may be.

YET, the major point that you keep coming back to, both in the C-NET review and the above summary, seems to be the ?fact? that the Pioneer 5020 is $1500 more expensive than the Panasonic PZ800U, and that this difference in price may not be worth the deeper black levels and the preferred PQ of the Pioneer.
Yet, if you checked the prices of the advertisers on YOUR OWN site, you would discover? surprise, surprise? that the price difference is only around $500.

Now, if you don?t like the retailers on your own website, you can also check the website named after the big river in South America (or any number of other retailers) and guess what you will discover? That?s right, the price difference is STILL only about $500.

BTW, don?t bother telling me that the $1500 is the MSRP price difference and that is why you are using it. The majority of people don?t pay the MSRP price, and it is totally misleading using this exaggerated difference as a factor in your comparison and ratings.

And now that we know for a FACT that the price difference is NOT $1500 but a mere $500, is the Pioneer worth the extra 5 bills? You bet your derriere it will be worth it to some and not to some others.
But you owe it to your readers to get your facts straight so that they can make an informed decision based on facts and not fiction.
I hope you will correct this falsehood in your review and adjust your ratings accordingly.

Cheers

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Summary: This review is coming from somebody who has owned every top-of-the line plasma/lcd HD TV in the past 6 years, including the LED backlit $14,000 Sony Qualia 005. ...

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Summary: This review is coming from somebody who has owned every top-of-the line plasma/lcd HD TV in the past 6 years, including the LED backlit $14,000 Sony Qualia 005. I have owned the PDP-5020fd for exactly 1 week now, and I am in video heaven. I haven't done any major calibrations yet (want to wait at least 100hrs before doing that), but the out-of-the-box video quality is unbelievable. The black levels undoubtedly set a new bench mark, without sacrificing on overall picture quality in terms of contrast, brightness and color fidelity. And I thought my Qualia 005 was amazing, but this Pioneer is something else. I also compared the Pioneer against the latest Panasonic offerings, but there is just no competition. Worth every extra penny if you are a videophile - especially if you like watching movies in a pitch dark environment. You have to strain your eyes to see the black bars on the top and bottom of the screen - something that has always, always bugged my eyes all these years. The blu-ray playback via my PS3 is spectacular. I purchased my unit through beyondplasma.com for a shipped price of $3075.

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Summary: (Disclaimer: I do color for a living)

I got this plasma and I'm really disappointed. The color is just off on everything. All the whites look slightly pink and

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Summary: (Disclaimer: I do color for a living)

I got this plasma and I'm really disappointed. The color is just off on everything. All the whites look slightly pink and washed out. I figured out there's an anti reflective filter on the screen that is actually pink/magenta colored when viewed in an off state, looking at something white - like my door across the room - it looked pink. Even the sand in the Olympic Beach Volleyball event had a slight tinge of pink.

Anyway, that is the major issue - color accuracy. Nothing looks like real life to me. All the colors are just off, and the worst part is you cannot control the individual colors with this set. They only give you tint. Al Roker looked American Indian to me. Just unacceptable. I tried every setting possible and I'm not satisfied.

My other major complaint with this unit is the sharpness in high defintion. It looks standard def to me. When you increase the sharpness it gets really grainy. Just not very crisp.

The whites are really washed out and not realistic. Not life-like. Very Dim. In order to really appreciate this model you need to be in the dark. Even when I looked at content on Blu Ray it was just off with the color as well.

The Blacks are excellent however, along with the off axis viewing angle.

I will be waiting for the Samsung 950 series to come out for near-perfection.

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