Pioneer SD-533HD5 53 in. HDTV CRT TV

I finally took the plunge into widescreen television after 2 years with a regular 4:3 aspect ratio 45" Mitsubishi non-HD model. I enjoyed the Mits, and it had a great picture for regular cable programming, but I was getting tired of watching DVD's in letterbox mode with such an effectively small screen size. Anyone who's watched a widescreen DVD on a regular 4:3 ratio TV has seen the black bars on the top and bottom of the screen. On my 45" Mits, the effective screen size when watching DVD's was more like 39". Compare that to the 53" viewing area I get with the Pioneer at 16:9 aspect ratio, and the difference is amazing, with just about the same amount of space taken up in my room.

Picture:
This is obviously the primary concern with a TV for most people, and the Pioneer doesn't disappoint. The Pioneer's line doubler for the new 2002 models is best-in-class and it delivers a truly stunning picture with HDTV or component DVD signals. The picture quality of regular cable programming is inconsistent, but that's due to the quality of the cable signal not the TV. That's one of the things you have to get used to with an HDTV is that regular analog signals don't look as good as they would on a non-HDTV set. The reason is that the HDTV's resolution is so much better that the flaws in the signal are visible where they would be indistinguishable on a set with lower resolution. As long as you're not expecting your HDTV to produce a HD image with an analog signal, you'll be fine.

Stretch mode:
This SHOULD be a very significant factor for anyone purchasing an HDTV who will be watching a lot of regular cable or sattlelite programming. Since all Standard Definition (SD) material is in the 4:3 aspect ratio, you have two choices when watching it on a 16:9 widescreen TV. Choice #1 is to watch it in letterbox mode, with black (or grey) bars on each side of the image. This is the exact opposite of the problem when watching widescreen DVD's on a regular 4:3 television. There is one BIG downside to this, which is that all rear projection televisions (RPTV's) are subject to what is known as "burn-in". That means that if you watch a program with a stationary image for a long period of time, the image can become "burned-in" to the picture and produce a ghost image on the screen when watching other programming. This happened with my Mits, as I stupidly left the set on the Fox News channel for a long period of time and ended up with the FNC logo burned into the bottom left corner of my screen. The same burn-in problem WILL happen with the bars on the sides of the screen when watching 4:3 programming on a 16:9 RPTV. As a matter of fact, the Pioneer owners manual contains a disclaimer that says if you watch programming with a stationary image more than 15% of the time, they are not liable for the damage it causes to the set. That means that you're stuck with Choice #2 for most of your viewing, which is to watch the 4:3 programming in "stretch mode" on your 16:9 screen. There are various flavors of strech modes on widescreen TV's, and Pioneer's is THE BEST, bar none. Pioneer employs a mode they call "Natural Wide", which is truly awesome for watching 4:3 programming. With some sets, they simply stretch the 4:3 image horizontally to fill the 16:9 screen. This results in an image that is visibly distorted (everyone looks fat), and quite annoying. Pioneer "Natural Wide" uses an algorithm whereby they chop off a small strip from the top and bottom of the screen, and employ a progressive stretch to the image as it nears the sides. This effectively stretches the last few inches on each side more than the objects in the middle. Since most of the objects in focus on programs are in the middle, this is a wonderful compromise. We've been watching ours in "Natural Wide" mode ever since we got the SD-533HD5, and no one who's ever seen it has suspected that the programming is being stretched at all. I've gotten comments from friends like "How come you get widescreen versions of all these shows?". The only time that you'll even notice is when watching a show with a ticker at the bottom (news or financial channels) and you'll see a portion of the ticker being cut off at the bottom. Not a big deal for me, and I'm absolutely thrilled with it. After comparing EVERY available model, the Pioneer came out hands-down the winner when it comes to stretching 4:3 programming, and this was a big part of our decision to purchase the Pioneer.

Quality:
Pioneer has a reputation for producing high quality components, and this model is no exception. I've even heard of some dealers recommending that buyers NOT purchase extended warranties for the sets.

Adjustability:
The SD-533HD5 provides robust adjustment capabilities for picture quality, including a 72-point convergence adjustment. There are several special picture enhancement features, such as the Room Light Sensor (RLS), which automatically adjusts the brightness of the picture to match the light in the room. There is Flesh Tone Enhancement, which counters the tendency for some images to display a sunburned look to human flesh. There's also Black Enhancement, which deepens the black parts of an image to improve the contrast. Personally, I think if the image settings are done correctly, none of these enhancements are necessary. I used the Avia DVD to set the picture parameters, and it made a HUGE difference in how great the picture is. I highly recommend getting Avia if you want to get your picture settings right. It's available from lots of sources (I ordered it from Amazon.com) and provides a step-by-step guide to adjusting your audio and video equipment complete with test patterns that are displayed on your screen.

Price:
The SD-533HD5 is about $500-$1000 more expensive than most other models of this size, but I felt the extra cost was justified. All of the HDTV models produce a good picture with HD material, but it was Pioneer's ability to not only do this but also show a good picture with SD material that sold em on it. Pioneer also offers their "Elite Reference" series, which offer the BEST image quality available, but they are prices about $2000 above the regular models. I didn't see enough of a difference with the Elite to justify the cost for me.

Overall:
I have virtually no complaints about the SD-533HD5. It has changed our entire experience of watching television and DVD's. Now I can't wait for HDTV to hit the mainstream so we get more HD programming!