NTSC picture, DVD and HDTV

Getting it into my second floor theater room

Awesome set! Compare it to my previous Mits 55807 is a no brainer. Love it.

Using it specifically for HD and DVD viewing. It seemed to fix the chroma bug that I have previously with the Mits set when hook it up to my Pioneer DV-37 DVD player.

Similar Products Used:

Mitsubishi WS-55807

everything, except for picture

picture

I have not been able to get the convergence adjusted properly. I've even had it "repaired" by an approved technician. So any white lettering (especially near an edge) will have a colored ghost or shadow.

The other picture "problem" might not be its fault: I drive it with a satellite dish as the primary source. Many scene backgrounds have blotches of green or red mixed in. But this may be an MPEG artifact.

The other, other picture "problem" has to do with the line doubler: I see alot of jaggies in nearly horizontal or vertical lines. But again, this might be an MPEG thing, and thus nothing the TV could fix.

(Disclaimer: I cannot compare this product to any similar product, since this is the first projection and first HDTV I've ever owned.)

Similar Products Used:

none

everything

none

The best picture on the market. Once the convergence has been set properly the picture is wonderfull. DVD's are simply amazing to watch and with my Denon 5600 reciever and b&w speakers it is truly a home theater.

Great PICTURE, remote, inputs/outputs

none seen

I have seen the light! This TV has the best picture on the market for under $10,000! I originally bought Mitsu WS55807, brand new 2001 model. Guess what - the picture was awful! I did not see any problems with the set in the store, but then again, all they played on it was DVDs. In my home the picture I got with cable or satellite was horrible, I will post details on this in the Mitsubishi topic review. Since the manufacturer insisted that's how all 2001 models show both cable and satellite and they are not going to do anything about it, I sent it back. Too bad for them!
Back to Pioneer - I got it delivered last week, it is great! I have Dish 6000 and I actually get HD signal on couple of channels, it is so good! I am also using Pioneer 434 DVD, the picture is excellent. The TV remote is fully backlit and very versatile. I am new to the whole RPTV scene, but I did a lot of research and shopping around. You won't find a better looking TV than Elite. Not to mention the high gloss finish, that is just the icing on the cake.
If you are shopping for RPTV, do yourself a favor and check out how the cable and satellite picture looks in the store before you buy it. There is a reason they only play DVDs on the RPTVs in the stores, otherwise no one would buy them. I could not get anyone in Sears or Circut City to connect Mitsu or Toshiba to cable or satellite and now I know why. They came up with a million excuses about the wiring, so you may hear that or some other garbage. Pioneer will not dissapoint you when you bring it home.
Good luck,

Similar Products Used:

Mitsubishi WS55807

Absolutely Stunning Picture, Build Quality, Looks, Features, Line Doubler and the list goes on

Expensive(But you get what you pay for)

I think this is the best HDTV ready television on the market today. I have spent a lot of time critically viewing other sets and the buck stops here. To the previous reviewer, I think it is a bit unfair to downgrade a review on the premise that the product has a defect. lets face it, it is the nature of the beast. From time to tiome this will happen. It is a bit misleading to review a product on that basis. (I have recently gone through a similar problem with my previous TW40x81)What I can tell you is that there are scores of people that are simply taken back with the jaw dropping picture this tv posseses. DVD playback is gorgeous and I am using a nonprogressive player. You do not need a progressive player with this tv because theline doubler is that good. NTSC sources are particularly nice as well. All in all, this TV is a solid winner IMHO.

Similar Products Used:

TW40x81, Mitsu WS55805

NTSC & cable picture shows its weekness on RPTV. The screen protector will scratch easily as the installer has did.

I have been using this since about late Jan. I use it most extensively for movies only. Also for HDTV movie rental broadcast on Satellite and HBO and Showtime HDTV. The dealer gave me 10% off the price since I bought several thousand dollars worth of electronics from them. So it was a great value to me. I do not use the speakers on the TV so I don't even know how they sound. Its probably the cheapest thing on the TV. Enough said great TV and I did not want anything bigger than this size.

Similar Products Used:

I compared all RPTV's I have found that I like the elite series the best.

Screen size, line doubler, best NTSC picture quality of all the RPTV's.

Any source other than DVD's as compared to direct tube, locks in Full mode when watching progressive scan dvd's.

I spent the better part of 4 months reading reviews, visiting audio/video stores and finally decided upon the Mitsubishi 2001 65907. What a mistake! After recently returning the VERY disappointing Mitsubishi because of unacceptable NTSC broadcasts from Satellite, I decided to drop down in size (and up in price!) to the PRO510-HD and WAY up in quality and performance.

NTSC broadcasts are heads and shoulders above anything else I have seen on any RPTV, especially after going through the detailed convergence and adjustments. Please do not be fooled though. If you are new to the big-screen market, regardless of what other reviews might say, you will never get the clarity and crispness of a direct tube for NTSC broadcasts on a RPTV (specifically Satellite or digital cable). If this is your goal, unless you want to step up to the still very expensive DLP technology, you will be disappointed vs. a direct tube.

DVD's, after adjusting the video with the Avia disk, were clear and crisp. I would have to agree though with the other review that said the picture was as good or better if you do not use the progressive scan option.

Overall, I am pleased with the set. It is the best of it's kind but even though I wish that I could watch more DVD's, the reality is that I still watch a lot of satellite and it was a bit of a letdown after all the time and energy spent reviewing sets. I built the room just for home theater and I have a very decent 5.1 surround sound system(Dennon AVR-3300, Klipsh center, front and rears, Pioneer Elite Progressive Scan DVD player and Direct TV/Tivo combination Satellite receiver). I also tried both my stand alone Sony Satellite Receiver and RCA Satellite Receiver as well and the Satellite image quality was still only ok. All 32 transponders were in the 80-94 range but anything over I think the low 60's delivers the same quality.

Overall, make sure you are willing to make the trade off for RPTV. My other TV is a 35" JVC and all images are crystal clear. The other option I was seriously considering was the 38" RCA DTV Direct tube but there is still something to be said for a big screen...

Similar Products Used:

Mitsubishi 65907

Line doubler, out of box picture quality, build quality, appearance, inputs, settings saved per input

Price, very slighly noisy picture, locks into full mode w/480p (minor)

I'm the type of person who generally buys the best product available within my budget. I usually don't make price/performance tradeoffs if I'm below my price ceiling. It just doesn't make sense to me to spend $4000 on something that's clearly inferior that I won't be happy with, if I can stay within my budget for a couple thousand more and get something that I'm happy with. To me, buying the cheaper product would be like throwing away $4000.

It's for this reason that I willingly paid the premium for the Pioneer Elite. Although my wife and I have over 100 DVD movies in our collection so far, we still watch a lot of OTA and HBO/Starz movie channels, so NTSC display quality was still important. At the time of my purchase, no other RPTV produced an acceptable quality picture with NTSC. NTSC on the Pioneer Elite was head and shoulders above every other 53-55" HD-ready RPTV (I compared them at Laserland Home Theater in San Jose, CA). I haven't seen the latest version of the Panasonics, but the latest Mitsubishi Diamond Series (55907) still produces too many distracting artifacts in upconverted NTSC, and the Toshiba 56H80 still flat out sucks at displaying NTSC.

DVD and HDTV are another story. I am of the opinion that after an ISF calibration, the Toshiba and Mitsubishi can produced a fine picture with a progressive-scan DVD player and HDTV signals. However, every Toshiba I've seen had an unacceptable picture out of the box, even after significant tweaking in the user menus. The Mitsubishis were better, but the Pioneer still has a slightly better picture before ISF calibration. As expected, anamorphic DVDs are excellent on the 510-HD, and HDTV (off my Dish 6000 w/OTA tuner) is stunning. I installed the OTA tuner just before Christmas, and "The District", "C.S.I.", and "Nash Bridges" on CBS were breathtaking. The AFC playoff game last Sunday was not the best I've seen, since it was played outdoors and overcast, but still it's a completely different experience than watching NTSC. I have read a review which mentioned a very slight amount of noise in the picture, and I have seen the same thing. It's only noticeable from a couple feet away, and I don't see it with animated features, like "Toy Story 2" and "Tarzan", so I wonder if the Pioneer is just making the noise in the source more noticeable.

I still haven't bought a progressive-scan DVD player. When there is nothing else to spend money on, I'll probably pick up a DV-37, but right now I'd rather use that money to set up a second home theater, or replace one of the other televisions in the house. It's hard to justify forking out $700+ for what I consider a minor improvement in picture quality. For any other RPTV, it would be a no-brainer though. I couldn't tolerate the upconversion on any other RPTV.

If it weren't for the need to display NTSC, it would be a toss-up between the Mits 55907 and the Elite 510-HD. The need to display NTSC makes the Pioneer Elite the only choice for me though. Even after considering the latest models available from Panasonic, Mits, and Toshiba, I'd still buy a Pioneer Elite today, despite the significant price premium.

I purchased my set from a store whose primary business is doing custom installs of home theaters. I could have saved a few hundred dollars buying the set from a discount retailer, but the superior service was worth the extra money to me. I was offered an extended warranty that include five annual cleanings. The cleanings are normally $80 each, which lowers the cost of the warranty to just $100. I normally would not consider the extended warranty for any product (except an open-box unit perhaps), but I might when it comes time for the first cleaning.

System:
Pioneer Elite 510-HD RPTV
Toshiba SD-3109 DVD
Echostar HD-6000 satellite receiver with OTA tuner
Pioneer Elite VSX-24TX Receiver
Paradigm Monitor 9 (front speakers)
Paradigm CC-350 (center speaker)
Paradigm Mini Monitor (surround speakers)
Paradigm PW-2200 subwoofer
Channel Master 4030 amplified rabbit ears (ok for DTV on the 6000, upgrading to a Winegard GS-2000 to get better reception on low-numbered VHF channels)
Acoustic Research and Monster Cable interconnects

Similar Products Used:

Mitsubishi 55905, Toshiba TW56X81

Picture on DVDs and Playstation 2 are stunning(havent tried HDTV yet). Picture for directv and cable are better than the other RPTVs I looked at in various stretched modes.

Will force you to watch even the lamest of DVDs just because they're presented in Anamorphic widescreen.

First of all, ignore the ignorant reviews here that give the TV a 1. The tv is a 5, as is its brothers the 610 and 710.

I did a lot of comparing before deciding upon the 510, and I must say it was a very easy decision once I saw them all in action. The Pioneer Elite series has the best line doubler of any of the tvs I looked at. Directv, cable tv, and straight antenna feeds look really good from a sitting distance of 12 or more feet.

Most TVs I looked at were terrible when showing tv presented in the 4:3 format in any kind of stretched mode. The Pioneer, however, looks excellent. I set Directv to Natural Wide and its awesome.

Directv and Cable tv are facts of life. People watch broadcast tv, so ignore the people that tell you these tvs are only meant for DVDs and HDTV. You can watch broadcast tv on this RPTV and really love it. DVDs do look tremendous though. You will be blown away.

Just factor the distance you'll be sitting from the tv before buying one. Originally we had our couch and chairs 9-11 feet from the tv, and it caused headaches from eye-strain. 12-15 is ideal for this set.

Yes, it costs more than some other TVs on the market, but if you value quality, you'll have no problem with the extra cost. No other tv comes close (for under 10 grand)

Similar Products Used:

Sony XBRs.

I've had the Pioneer 510 for about 4 months. This is the first piece of high-end gear that I have owned therefore my review maybe a little off so take it with a grain of salt. In fact, my new system components are the first pieces of auto/video equipment I've every owned. System: Pioneer Elite 510, Pioneer Elite VSX-27TX, Pioneer Elite DV 05, Volydine 12', B&W Nautilus 804s, B&W Nautilus - center channel, and B&W rears.

The first thing that drew me to this TV was the elegant finish. My original plan was to install the TV into the wall, but after gazing it I decided it was not a TV to hide in the wall. Instead, I built a stage with theater lighting to display this TV. My limited craftsmanship also had a little to do with the decision.

After dropping the big 5K+ I have analysis this TV like no other. Here are my observations:
On some action scenes when there is quick movement the TV has some trouble resolving the background picture without the "blocky" look. You have to look hard to see it, but it's there.

The TV also seems to have a little trouble displaying smokey scenes in a smooth manner as it tries to define the parameters of the object (smoke).

After reading the other reviews, I was glad to see that someone else was experiencing what I call screen "glitching". About every 20 minutes or so the screen glitches with a horizontal pin striped white line across the screen. It happens very fast, but it is noticeable. According to the other reviewer it is a reparable problem, at no cost.

I also notice the in the Matrix there is a greenish hue in some scenes (lobby). I realize that this movie was filmed with a green filter and the lobby has green marble etc., but the smoke in that scene is just to green. Neo's 5 o'clock shadow even has a greenish look in some scenes. My set has been calibrated and after messing with the picture settings I've been able to almost eliminate it, but I still notice it. It also happens on other movies like Lethal Weapon 4 in the towed trailer fight scene a green hue surrounds the oriental guy when he is slammed against the wall. I don't understand how the color can look so great for most the movie and then turn greenish in some scenes.

Using the split screen option while viewing the four inputs seems to be a senseless function. How often will someone be watching cable TV(input 1), playing a DVD(input 2), playing Playstation (input 3), and have a camcorder(input 4) hooked up and running at once? Though it's still neat to show it off.

I believe that my first two comments on the "blocky" background look and smoke may be inherent to digital TV's at this time. Even with these observations, I am very happy with the Pioneer. It is fantastic on DVD's and beats any other TV (that I have seen) in its price range. As of yet, I do not have a digital source for TV programming or the HD decoding card. At 2k for the card, I'll probably have to go with a set top decoder by another manufacture. Therefore, I'm unable to review the HD picture and after taken a hit from the Taxman, it might be some time until then. I chalk up most of these minor problems to the fact these are only the second generation HDTVs and I can live with that.