Pioneer PDP-508XD - Expert Reviews

Award: Editor's Choice!

Review summary: With its 'Kuro', blacker-than-black styling, the Pioneer PDP-428XD does live up to its hype. It might sound like a ridiculous thing to say about a TV but we really fell in love with the styling. It would make a great centrepiece to any home cinema and ...

Pros: Black levels ; picture quality ; styling ; menu system ; build quality ; sound ; connectivity

Cons: Picture can look a little soft with certain settings engaged ; price

Verdict: A high-quality TV with the sort of black levels that we last saw on CRT TVs. It's not perfect but it does move home cinema screens up to a new level where they can offer something the LCD-based competition can't

Review summary: pioneer pdp-428xda review: Pioneer has completely re-engineered this 42-inch plasma panel to produce a high performance TV that touts a 16,000:1 contrast ratio -- a spec triple that of competitive brands -- which should yield much deeper blacks and ...

Pros: Picture quality and black levels, Styling and build quality, Menu system, Sound, Connectivity, Picture can look a little soft with certain settings engaged, Price

Cons: Picture can look a little soft with certain settings engaged, Price

Review summary: pioneer pdp-508xda review: Pioneer's engineers went back to the drawing board to come up with a new plasma range that the company believes will set it apart in premium flat panel displays.

Pros: Prodigious black levels, Eye-popping pictures, Up-to-date features, Some minor flyscreen effects, Tuner images a little soft, You have to pay for one -- they don't give them out for free

Cons: Some minor flyscreen effects, Tuner images a little soft, You have to pay for one -- they don't give them out for free

Pros: Deepest blacks with full preservation of shadow detail, Glorious colours with accurate decoding

Cons: Need to know when to apply certain settings with different source,    material to avoid introducing artifacts,

Verdict: Pioneer PDP508XD is the cream of a bunch of 8G Kuro plasmas that delivers class-leading picture quality.

Review summary: Pioneer's top-of-the-range PDP-508XD is without doubt one of the best screens we've ever reviewed. Its design and build quality are difficult to fault, it has no less than three HDMI inputs and the picture quality is truly outstanding

Pros: Awesome black levels ; blazing colours ; smooth motion ; heaps of picture tweaking options ; classy design and build quality ; great range of connections

Cons: Lack of 'Full HD' 1080p resolution ; some reflections on screen

Verdict: Televisions don't get much better than this. A winning combination of excellent picture quality, stylish design and user-friendly features, this 50-inch plasma should be at the top of any serious home cinema fan's shopping list. It's pricey, but it's ...