NEC is a world leader in Plasma
displays, Although the average home user might not know their name,
they have made plasma screens for Pioneer, Toshiba, JVC, Sony,
Runco, Marantz and many other higher end manufacturers. Pioneer
purchased NEC last year and scrapped Pioneers own platform for the
superior NEC 50 inch plasma panel. NEC has been the staple for
industrial users such as most airports and the US government and
now introduced the XR line for high end home theater.
Out of the box, picture quality is impressive.
The first thing to leap out at you is the vividness of the colors.
Whites are crisp and bright, blacks are silky smooth, but it’s what is
in-between that really shines. Reds are bright and flicker free, blues
are deep and clean, and the greens are so vivid they seem to smack you
in the face. Gradients, like in sunsets, are beautifully rendered –
smooth, noise free, and free of patchy digital color processing. With
so many available colors, the 50XR has tons of room between even
similar hues, providing for incredible separation between colors. The
clarity and quality of the color rendering make this a very good unit
for sports, video games, or any video that make use of color.
The NEC PX-50XR5A is a plasma
monitor intended completely for high end home theater use. As a result, all of the
dross, like integrated NTSC tuners, and anemic TV speakers have been
left out. You should have a good surround sound system to supplement
the incredible picture for the full effect.
The user interface is functional and easy to use.
All the control you’ve come to expect from NEC is included, as well
as Cinema Mode and Picture Mode, for fast adjustments on the fly.
Using Digital Video Essentials by Joe Kane
Productions, we established the following settings
Contrast 59
Brightness 30
Sharpness 32
Color 32
Tint 32
Gamma 2.3
Low Tone AUTO
Set Up Level 7.5% (for good black levels)
Inputs options (and there are a lot of them) PIP
modes and positioning, and a really neat Zoom function are all clearly
laid out on the remote. We would have preferred a remote that lights
up, but you can’t have everything.
Summary: RECOMMENDED BUY Caveat:Must have surround sound
receiver and separate HDTV tuner
