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Pioneer PDP-5040HD
Price when reviewed: $9000; Current prices (if available)
The 5040HD was the top-scoring plasma for color and brightness and contrast. And the wide range of its sharpening control let us remove virtually all noise and ghosting from our HDTV recordings and DVD clips.
That control, plus the MPEG noise-reduction feature, did an exceptional job of removing video artifacts from Chapter 2 of the Pirates of the Caribbean DVD played over analog component input. The scene's booming musical track sounded rich on the TV's two 15-watt speakers.
But the Pioneer costs a lot of green. It also gives back a lot of green--the color, that is. Grass in a scene set in a meadow looked a bit like Astroturf; flesh tones often had a greenish or yellowish cast. Professional calibration might have fixed this, though.
The 5040HD's ATSC digital and two standard TV tuners are housed in a box that attaches to the TV via a two-cable umbilical cord that carries video, audio, and control signals. This setup lets you add or detach inputs without crawling behind the TV or removing it from the wall.
