TechRadar Verdict
Not the cheapest 50in plasma in town, but it's worth every penny for the performance it delivers
Pros
- +
Stunning all round performance
Cons
- -
Not particularly cheap
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The PDP-507XD is packed to the rafters with manufacturing and processing technologies designed to take picture quality to a higher level. It's also great to look at with its glossy, deep black finish and minimalist lines.
Connectivity is fair enough for a £3,300 50-inch plasma, including two HDMIs, component video jacks, a PC port, a subwoofer line out and a digital audio output for passing on any digital audio tracks that may come in via the HDMIs.
Now for one of those innovative technologies we mentioned earlier. Pixels are separated by Pioneer's Deep Waffle Rib structure to reduce colour and light leakage between pixels. Direct Colour Filter, meanwhile, reduces the TV's weight and removes the secondary image that can be seen off-axis with normal glass screens.
This seventh generation panel also boasts improved phosphors for a wider colour palette, improved colour processing, improved Pure Drive II processing for better sharpness, contrast and brightness. The reams of technology Pioneer has thrown at the 507XD pay off handsomely in its picture performance.
Colours, for instance, look both outstandingly vibrant and quintessentially natural, so that the strips of the teams during an FA Cup tie in hi-def leap out at you while the green of the pitch and the skin tones of the players all look totally believable. The 507XD's plasma foundation also means it handles motion superbly, with no blur or dithering noise, and its dark areas are deep and full of greyscale subtleties.
If it's fine detail you're into, then this panel loves that too, doing a great job, for instance, of rendering all the individual faces in an HD football match crowd. Handy for spotting those 'Third Eye' Soccer AM moments - especially as all the sharpness is achieved with scarcely a trace of video noise.
Standard-definition pictures survive the journey to this TV's 50in screen very well too for the most part, and the optional speakers, if you get them, are very good, leaving us with really nothing in the negative column.
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