Everything about it!

None so far

I love this TV. So do all of my friends and family. I was originally going to buy a direct view RCA or Proscan 38" HDTV. I had always associated projection TV's with bad pictures, bad viewing angle limits, bad everything. I'm in the process of building my dream Home Theater system so the thought of a projection TV did not enter my mind. It was during my shopping for the direct view that I saw the Pioneer. It only took a few minutes to realize that I needed to give projections a chance. So I did research (like I do with everything anymore now that the internet is such a big part of my life). I followed news groups dealing with HDTV, I went to stores to compare all of the major brands, checked out Consumer Reports, etc...

Here is my short list of things I was looking for in a Projection TV:
- Picture - had to be good up close - I hate scan lines!
- viewing angle - I wanted to make sure that everyone in the room could see the picture clearly, not just the people in the middle.
- A good assortment of inputs and outputs
- HDTV ready

Well the Pioneer (IMO) fits the bill better than ANY projection TV on the market today. Sometimes it's hard to make a decision because the choices are of similar quality, but the Pioneer made it easy for me this time. It is way ahead of everyone. Direct View sets offer a better picture, but when you have a bunch of people over to watch the Super Bowl, you dont want them all huddled around a small set to watch the game. I've done that and it sucks.

I also bought the SH-D09 HDTV digital tuner for HDTV broadcasts. It was worth every penny. You are only getting half the picture if you don't buy the digital tuner. It upgrades your picture quality from great to out of this world.

Can you tell that I like this set? I don't know what I like better at this point, my Dynaudio Contour 1.8's or my TV. All I know is that my system kicks some major butt and it's all centered around this amazing TV. Even if it's out of your price range, go check this TV out. You'll see what I mean.

5 stars for value - I've seen more expensive TV's that dont match the picture quality
5 start overall - because its the best. Enough said.

My system - if you care...
Pioneer Elite PRO HD510 w/SH-D09 tuner (of course)
Channel Master 4248 UHF Antenna w/preamp for OTA broadcasts
Dynaudio Contour 1.8mkII front speakers (I love em)
Dynaudio Contour Center channel speaker
Dynaudio Audience 50 speakers (for rear surround)
Parasound AVC1800 preamp
Outlaw 750 5 Channel Amp (The dyns love it)
Sony ES DVD
Sony ES CD
- the sub is next, need to do research :)

NONE

Manual says "Don't put it next to a wall" Where then? In the middle of the room like an icon?

After an agonizing week of viewing this piece of junk it is being returned for a SONY.
The picture is VERY hard to adjust. 4x3 mode is useless. 4x3 movies are distorted in all modes other than 4x3 (manual says not to play 4x3 too long or tubes will burn out.
There are too many downsidse to this one and it's way overpriced.
Set would be just OK if you only watched 16x9 movies but is useless for regular TV.

The resolution of the image, fluid looking 3D quality imparted to the subject matter.

Defect which renders the television useless. Killer Fault. Pioneer "Elite" being returned.

I have owned the Elite Pro 510 HD which was purchased from Performance Audio in San Fran. The TV has been installed by a professional in combination with the very best of components and cables. No expense was spared.

The TV was properly calibrated according to Pioneer's documentation. The TV has been used maybe 10-15 times when it suddenly developed three smudged dots in the middle of the screen. Each dot resembled a primary color...or close. The picture displayed completely from all imput sources yet the three quarter sized smudges remained stationary and permanent. The TV at this point has been rendered useless. When I called the dealer they said to contact service. They put me in touch with a Pioneer technician who could arrive possibly in a number of days. They said they had no idea what could be wrong.

I have now contacted several Pioneer authorized repair centers to get the problem fixed. Each repair place cited a litany of potential problems with the Elite Pro 510HD. Each authorized Pioneer service center was unable to look at the set for "Warranty Service" as they were "busy on other calls". Obviously the paying customers with no warranty come first.

I have found that the Elite Pro 510 HD definately has a number of problems outside of this killer fault...In many instances the television oversaturates a scene when one color is predominant in that scene...Matrix Lobby scene is terrible with green skin tones everywhere. The Elite Pro 510 HD fails to quickly switch between one major color orientation to another...American Pie switching from darker scenes to scenes with white t-shirts appears to have residual color in the white environment. I will spare you the complete list of minor but problematic quality faults which I can only assume stem from the digital processing.

I will be returning this "Elite" product.

Anamorphic dvd reproduction

Failure to accept progressive signal except in full screen mode, cable tv picture is to soft, the gray bars in 4:3 mode are to bright and thus to distracting.

The 510 is great for dvd and hdtv. I don't like what cable looks like but that's probably not the fault of the 510. The picture looks soft and cannot be adjusted away. Cable is better on a tube but I didn't buy this set to watch cable anyway.

The gray bars in 4:3 mode may help protect the screen but they are very bright and much more distracting than black bars. I bought two pieces of wood, 50"x8", and cover the gray bars when I watch 4:3. It is a big improvement in my dark room as your eye isn't distracted by the bright gray. I find the strech mode of 4:3 interesting but ultimately not my cup of tea.

My set had the glitch where at random the picture would distort across the middle of the screen horizontally for a split second. My dealer has an ISF certified tech who knew all about this problem. He came out and replaced a component and problem gone. While he was here he played around with my set and found that the black and white color temp was nearly a correct 6500k. The film temp was 7200k. He told me that film should be 6500k and b&w something less than that. Until I have a complete ISF the B&W color temp looks the best. He set the contrast at -19 and the black level at +1. This made a nice improvement overall but on some sources I like a little more contrast, say -13. I turned off all the bells and whistles like SVM.

With my Toshiba 9100 DVD player the picture quality in progressive is only limited by the software. The dvd of Lost In Space must be seen to be believed. You can be driven to drink by how much variation there is in the software and how this set exposes it all. With a good anamorphic dvd the picture is first class, I've never seen such smooth red and black except on very expensive front projectures with a line doubler etc. By the way, I'm using Carnare Component Cables and they work very well.

In spite of what you may have heard a progressive signal never looks any worse than a conventional one and most of the time it looks a little better. The internal line doubler is of the very highest quality and makes buying a progressive player nearly moot, but not quite. The progressive signal has a definite edge when it comes to reproducing closely spaced lines or rows. There is less flicker in long shots of large numbers of steps, etc. Artifacts are reduced in the progressive mode and thus I would spend the extra money. Of course if the dvd isn't anamorphic you lose the benefit.

This set is so good with a high quality dvd it makes all other ntsc signals look lame. If you want to make your dvd's look their best this is the set for you. But, you'll be spoiled and won't like the other non hdtv sources anymore.

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba, Mitsubishi

I keep trying to post this review and for some reason this forum has deleted my posts every time, about a dozen, without any explanation as to why. Stop the sensorship and let my post be or give me an explanation via my e-mail address. The 510 is the same tv as the 610 and 710 which received all 5.0 scores. It is too bad that a couple people feel the desire to rate this tv a 1.0 due to 1) a problem one had (if you read the forums, I hardly ever find anyone complaining about the Elite while the Mits and especially the Toshibas receive complaints) and that 2) 4x3 viewing isn't the best (sorry but who the heck would spend this kind of cash to watch mainly 4x3 tv when it is designed for widescreen viewing. It is still the best 16x9 tv I've seen to watch pan and scan anyway. Now on with the review but I'm sure it will be deleted once again.


Review:
PRO-510HD HD-Ready RPTV
December 20, 1999, Excerpted from Etown
byKevin Miller



Pioneer has been a top dog in rear-projection TVs (RPTV) for many years. The company's original Elite Pro Series of analog RPTVs (you know, the ones with the funky 16:10.7 aspect ratio) have garnered much praise from the press and videophiles alike. Turning its back on analog RPTVs, Pioneer has introduced the new Elite Series PRO-510HD second-generation high-definition (HD) RPTV.

At a list price of $6300, this 53-inch HD-ready (it does not come with a digital tuner) RPTV is a bit pricey. Then again, it doesn't cost much more than the company's last generation of analog Pro Series sets, which hit the market less than two years ago and ranged in price from $4500 to $5500. In any case, you definitely get what you pay for with this baby. I consider the PRO-510HD to be the best 7-inch CRT (cathode ray tube)-based consumer HD-ready rear projector on the market today and, consequently, an incredible value.

My rationale for such high praise is two-fold: Not only does the picture produced by the PRO-510HD look fabulous with high-definition material, but its NTSC picture quality is unequaled by any RPTV I've seen to date.

Features:

HD-ready RPTV
7-inch CRTs
variable aspect ratio (Natural Wide, Cinema Wide, Zoom, Full and 4:3 Normal)
selectable color temperatures
Scan Velocity Modulation (defeatable)
3D NR (noise reduction (defeatable)
3D-YC Comb filter (adjustable)
Flesh Tone (defeatable)
Split Screen (POP)
Dynamic Picture Optimizer (DPO)
72-point convergence
Closed Caption
Channel Add/Delete
Favorite Channel
MTS stereo
two surround modes
Simulated Stereo
Super Bass
The PRO-510HD is packed with features. My favorites are the multiple aspect ratios and the selectable color temperature. The new "Film" color temperature mode replaces the "Warm" setting found in previous Pro Series models.

Scan Velocity Modulation (SVM) is supposed to improve picture definition by accelerating or decelerating the speed of the CRTs' electron beam as scenes shift from dark to bright. Unfortunately, I've never seen this implemented properly. In fact, SVM degrades picture quality by introducing unwanted noise into the picture, much like a Sharpness control that's set too high on a DVD source does. Thankfully, the PRO-510HD's SVM is defeatable. Toshiba RPTVs automatically defeat SVM when thrown into the "Theater" or "Warm" color temperature modes, but their SVM scheme is not as flexible as Pioneer's. Chalk one up for Pioneer.

The PRO-510HD's incredible picture quality is mostly attributable to its excellent line doubler, which is also available in the Elite PRO-610HD RPTV. This line doubler is solely a Pioneer effort, and the best of its kind I've seen from the mass-market TV manufacturers.

The adjustable 3D-YC comb filter and 3D-Noise Reduction (NR) are also welcome features. These allow you to optimize the picture according the video source. Finally, Pioneer has at long last incorporated a 72-point convergence system in the user interface, which helps you maintain a crisp, sharp picture.

There are a few perks on the audio side as well, including two forms of simulated surround sound. Also, a center channel input allows you to run a cable directly from your audio/video receiver or preamp/processor's center channel output to the TV so that you can use its built-in speakers as the center speaker in your home theater system. This could be quite useful to those who haven't yet sprung for a full surround rig. MTS stereo and Super Bass round out the PRO-510HD's sonic offerings.

Features Rating: 92

Connectivity:

two sets of component video inputs
four S-video inputs (one on front panel)
four composite video inputs (one on front panel)
two RF inputs
four stereo audio inputs (one on front panel)
VGA/RGB input
A/V monitor output (composite video only)
A/V TV output (composite video only)
center channel input
variable audio outputs
control in and out
The PRO-510HD gives you every conceivable connection option known to man -- with the exception of an IEEE 1394 (FireWire) input/output. The set's front-panel A/V inputs (which include S-video) will appeal to camcorder and/or video game buffs. Dual broadband component video inputs (Y, Pb, Pr) will accept a DVD player (regular or progressive scan) and a digital tuner for HDTV reception. All this, combined with multiple S-video inputs (four in all), make this RPTV flexible enough for even the most sophisticated home theater setups. All in all, the PRO-510HD scores well above par in the connectivity department.

Connectivity Rating: 88

Look & Feel: It's no surprise that the PRO-510HD is a beauty. The Elite Series' signature high-gloss piano-black finish is really classy.

The remote control deserves kudos as well. I have not been enamored with Pioneer remotes in recent years, given that they've been oddly shaped ergonomic nightmares. This is not the case here, though. While the PRO-510HD's remote is a little big, it's nicely laid out. And get this -- the backlighting function applies to every single key! I have died and gone to remote-control heaven.

Look & Feel Rating: 92

Performance:

By The Numbers:

Test Period Setting @ 100 IRE @ 30 IRE Peak Light Output
pre-calibration film 8700 K 11,200 K 28 ftL
post-calibration film 6450 K 6600 K 16 ftL
horizontal lines of resolution
480*
*progressive and interlaced, measured on a Panasonic DVD-H1000D using "Video Essentials" and "AVIA"

Here is where the fun begins. There's nothing more enjoyable for me than reporting on an excellent performer, and the PRO-510HD made my day. This set looks quite good straight out the box, which is very unusual. Initially I just put the PRO-510HD in the Film color temperature mode and disabled both Scan Velocity Modulation (SVM) and Flesh Tone. Then I fired up the excellent Panasonic DVD-H1000D DVD player and fed the RPTV a progressive-scan signal. The results: stunning images in native 480p from such flicks as, you guessed it, "The Fifth Element" and "The Haunting." A quick tweak of the convergence and electronic focus control further improved picture clarity.

Test results were equally impressive. The set measured a solid 480 horizontal lines of resolution from both the DVD player's progressive and interlaced component video outputs. Color temperature in Film mode measured 8700 kelvins (K) at the top of the gray scale (100 IRE) with a blaring 28 footlamberts of peak light output (the standard for film in a movie theater is 12 footlamberts). I measured the low end of the scale at a blue11,200K.Pioneer RPTVs have always shipped with extremely blue color temperatures, but they've been easy to tame in this regard.

I was able to calibrate the set to 6450K on top with a peak light output of 16 footlamberts, which is ample for viewing in a room with some ambient light. The bottom end came it at 6600K.

Finally, the Snell & Wilcox Zone Plate test pattern on my "Video Essentials" DVD confirmed my initial impressions of the set's line doubler -- virtually no cross-color artifacts were discernible, and the bouncing ball was rock solid. These results are due to the 3/2-pulldown circuit, which employs a sophisticated algorithm to compensate for the difference in film and video frame rates (24 frames per second and 30 fps, respectively). The picture produced by the Pioneer PRO-510HD was completely free from interlace and motion artifacts. Line doublers and video processors without this circuit suffer from such artifacts, which typically appear as noise in the picture and, in worst case scenarios, as actual movement of objects and people.

An A/B comparison between the 480p and the 480i pictures via their respective component video outputs revealed extreme similarities. Fellow etowner Ron Goldberg and I took a long, hard look at chapters 8 and 9 on "The Fifth Element" DVD (the scenes wherein the doctors regenerate the "Supreme Being," aka Milla Jovovich), switching back and forth between the progressive and interlaced signals. We both agreed that there was little or no difference in picture quality. If anything, we preferred the interlaced mode, which is a real compliment to the set's line doubler.

One problem with the PRO-510HD (and several other manufacturers' sets) is that it locks into the Full (or anamorphic aspect ratio) mode when fed a progressive-scan signal. This means that only anamorphic DVDs will play back properly in progressive scan, which is a big problem considering the large number of regular widescreen and 4:3 DVDs on the market. Pioneer has assured me that they're working on a fix for this.

Pioneer's line doubler is so good that it converts a 480i picture into a 480p picture as well as the $3000 Panasonic progressive-scan DVD player I used in this evaluation does. Accordingly, anyone who owns a Pioneer Elite PRO-510HD or PRO-610HD should think twice before shelling out the extra bucks for a progressive-scan DVD player.

I was awed by high-def 1080i material sourced from my Sencore 995 hard drive. The PRO-510HD is as good or better than any other 7-inch CRT-based RPTV I've seen to date. Performance, in a word, is awesome!

Performance Rating: 95

Value: I usually find it difficult to assess the value of a product that costs as much as the Pioneer PRO-510HD. The task becomes a whole lot easier when the product in question becomes the new reference standard in its category. The PRO-510HD is an excellent value, indeed, even though it lists for $6300.

Just compare it to the $7995 list Samsung HCH551W, which sports a built-in digital tuner for HD reception and two extra inches of screen size. Mated with Panasonic's new all-format digital set-top box, the TUDST51, the PRO-510HD will produce HD images that are comparable to those of the Samsung RPTV -- but at a savings of $700. The big difference in performance quality comes with NTSC-based images; here the Pioneer absolutely crushes the competition.

Value Rating: 90

Considering that NTSC is still a big part of our lives, I must weigh an HDTV's performance heavily in this area. Let's face it -- HDTV programming is pitifully scarce right now, and so will it be for some time to come. DVD and direct broadcast satellite (DBS) will remain the primary sources of quality video for afew years yet. As such, it pays to look for a TV that can deliver both NTSC and HDTV signals equally well. The Pioneer PRO-510HD definitely fits that bill.

Overall Rating: 91


Ok, there it is. Now for another piece of advice. Leave the flesh tone control on unless you have the ISF calibration done. It will automatically adjust for picture quality and correct quality where only the ISF with the correct gray adjustments will do. This tv is simply stunning. I've seldom enjoyed a purchase more including a $33k SUV that I own.

Enjoy,
RH

Everything

None

You have never seen DVD until you play it on The Pioneer Elite. The picture is as expected razor sharp with the built in line doubler. But the ooh the colors are so vivid as never before seen on a television. HDTV in 1081 has got to be the ultimate. Raise your star rating because this set is at least a 10.