TV Reviews

Pioneer has always been a widely respected leading brand and one of the best suppliers of HDTV technology. Their plasma screens have long been designed and constructed with an unbending attention to every detail and the highest quality that you can find on the market.

The PRO-151FD KURO model is one of Pioneer's latest and greatest 1080 pixel plasma releases. This model is built with the new deep-cell structure technology. This means that every individual pixel in the screen is entirely surrounded by its own cell, which means that light from that pixel does not get through into neighboring cells.
This type of design helps to save energy and delivers a higher quality, more concentrated light beam allowing for much more vibrant colors and images that are generally brighter all round.

The PRO-151FD's display has a clear front surface, which is made from a non-glass optical grade color filter fixed directly onto the front of the unit. This filter allows for the light spectrum emitted by the unit to be increased for an exceptional accuracy of colors and a fuller diversity between them. The filter also helps to deflect any ambient reflections on the screen that hinder the viewing of it.

With brilliant vision and superb sound, viewers can relax in front of a plasma screen that is exceptionally high quality and will take you to a different world, bringing movies and video games alike alive with wonder. To make the viewing process even better, the unit also adjusts automatically to the amount of light in the room.
The set also boasts a smooth film motion mode, which will help to eliminate any juddering in the movie and offer a much smoother viewing experience. The set will also upscale any standard definition movies to 1080 pixels allowing even your oldest and dullest videos to have a new lease of life.

The set also features a home media gallery feature so you can view photos and other things straight from the PC connection included.

The PRO-151FD is an enormous 60" plasma screen with superbly high definition and a widescreen aspect ratio. It boasts all of the latest technology and can read all of the popular formats of audio and video around today.

Also included in the PRO-151FD model is great connectivity allowing you to plug in anything from a DVD-player, satellite receiver and even a computer.
The set also boasts ASIC video processing and scaling which offers the best in standard and high definition content and performance. Side speakers are also included with the set and may be detached. These are also very good quality and have built in amplifiers though you will probably want to invest in a stand alone 5.1 or 7.1 surround system for optimal performance.

Able to sense the amount of light in the room and adjust the screen settings accordingly, the PRO-151FD truly is fully featured. With integrated Dual NTSC and ATSC channels, the set will also play virtually any standard found anywhere in the world, meaning that you do not need to fork out more money for an external tuner.

The Samsung PN-58A550 plasma screen is considerably cheaper than the PN-58A650 but has fewer features and less functionality. The PN-58A550 is ideal for those who do not want to spend the money to have all the extras and increased functionality and it is also a very large display of 58 inches, ideal if you don't want to spend all your money on a plasma TV.

The PN-58A550 has all the features that most people want and with a 1080x1980 resolution and a 58" screen, it is hard to beat for the price. The set also has a 180 degrees angle for viewing which means that you can see every image clearly from anywhere in the room in front of the TV.

The PN-58A550 comes with five presets for color temperature, three different modes for noise reduction and a mode to start the 2:3 pull-down, which reduces any juddering while watching a film. There are also a number of aspect ratio modes which include four modes for viewing HD content and a further four modes for optimizing standard definition films.

Connectivity for the PN-58A550 is perfectly adequate with three HDMI 1.3 inputs. There are also two component inputs in addition to this and a PC RGB input which has a maximum resolution of 1920x1080. There is also a PC input in the rear of the plasma panel and a single S-Video input on one side of the unit.

Also included are the standard second composite input and a headphone socket. To top it all off, the set also features a USB port in the side of the set, which will enable you to look at photos or listen to MP3s straight from the memory stick.

The set also includes the useful bonus of having a pair of fifteen watt speakers located on the bottom of the unit. These speakers support the SRS Tru-Surround XT standard allowing the set to emulate a true multi-channel surround system. However, though you will probably want to combine the set with a proper dedicated 5.1 or 7.1 speaker surround system, the quality of the built in speakers is particularly good compared to those generally found in other systems.

In addition to all of these features mentioned, the PN-58A550 also has 3D support, which enables you to take advantage of the latest 3D technology in certain movies and video game.

Considering the quality / price ratio of this unit, it is definitely worth considering. With a 58" screen, you can have one of the largest types of plasma screens available, breathing a new lease of life into your DVD and video games as well as providing full compatibility with the very latest HD and 3D technology.

If you want a TV that offers an affordable transition to the world of HDTV, the Toshiba 19AV501U is worth investigating.

The 19 in the Toshiba 19AV501U name stands for 19 inches. Not a huge screen, but good enough to sample what HDTV has to offer, and good enough to work as a bedroom set.

It comes with built-in speakers as well as a first-rate digital tuner. With a depth of only three inches, it's perfect for wall mounting.

The Toshiba 19AV501U features SoundStrip speaker technology. This gives the TV and nice booming sound to it, although many buyers will choose to connect it to their home audio system for an even richer sound.

Thanks to the unit's ATSC / NTSC / QAM digital tuner, viewers can watch either cable TV or standard HDTV broadcasts. DVD movies in the 16:9 aspect ratio also play nicely on the screen.

In almost every important way, the Toshiba 19AV501U is a great looking television. It features a ten-bit video processor. Also, outstanding backlight control monitors how bright each video frame is and adjusts the backlighting accordingly.

And as is Toshiba's hallmark, this outstanding unit is a breeze to operate. It comes with a 4-item, full-function remote. The TV itself has an unbelievably large number of outputs and inputs, giving the buyer lots of hook-up options. For a compact model, there's lots you can do with this new Toshiba.