Limited picture control (compared to Plasma
Monitors)
Pioneer has been a class leader
in plasma displays from day one and a few hours with the PDP-4270 will tell you why. It’s Pioneer’s first crack at a 42 inch
plasma – the previous model was the 43”
PDP-4360HD. Those new to this model are probably wondering where
the external input module is. Pioneer, wisely, eliminated the box and
put everything inside the plasma display itself. Everything you’d find
on the box is now on the back of the panel. This means no more boring
out sewer sized holes into your wall to run the cabling.
Out of the box, this is an impressive unit. The
finish is gloss black, shiny without being too obvious. Getting
everything connected is a breeze, thanks to a well equipped jack pack.
Unlike the
PDP-5070 and
PDP-6070, the speakers are integrated and non-removable.
Functionally, the
PDP-4270 is even better. It’s packed with useful features, like
a USB port for picture displays, 4 different tuners of 3 different
types, a easy to use user interface, and some of the best image
processing in the entire industry (like Purevision 3-3 and 3-2
Pulldown)
Included is a universal remote with a convenient
slide away panel for the smaller, seldom used buttons. Making the
remote back-lit would have been a nice touch, especially on a
universal. Button placement is largely intuitive, although it took
some time learning to hit the “Home Menu” button instead of “Menu” to
access the picture controls. If the remote had been back lit with a
better lay out, Pioneer would have made a better argument to use it
instead of an aftermarket piece.
We tested ours with 720p and 1080i HD component
input from our satellite box, and 480p and 480i from a Panasonic DVD
player. As with most HD displays, it was difficult seeing any
difference between 720p and 1080i. Even 480i from our DVD player was
hard to tell apart from the 480p output. Setting the Purecinema Mode
to ADV made a noticeable difference with film based 24fps material,
provided you know where to look – it doesn’t smooth out the picture
and help the colors. 3-3 Pulldown works by detecting the kind of
motion artifacting you see when your HD image was originally acquired
on a 24 frame per second film camera. Purevision improves the image by
processing out these unnatural looking movements, more effectively
adjusting the time base of the source material to the 72hz refresh
rate of the plasma display. That’s the geek speak version. For
everyone else, Purevision, exclusive to Pioneer, allows for more
natural looking motion when watching films.
It’s not just jargon – Pioneer includes some
impressive technology. Virtually every other plasma panel in the
world has a color filter attached to the second layer of glass, adding
a tiny space where secondary reflections can become noticeable. Here’s
how you see the difference – use high contrast video. Film credits are
best – white letters on a black back ground. Get close to the display
at a really bad angle. On virtually every other unit you’ll see this
weird little reflection of the image on the inside of the panel.
Now, this isn’t normally a problem, given that you’ll never watch your
plasma display like that, but Pioneer took it seriously enough to put
significant time and energy into making it go away.
4;3 materials weren’t forgotten about either,
although don’t expect miracles – there’s a reason good scalers cost
several thousand dollars. The PDP-4270HD has an excellent variable
spatial stretch, meaning the outside of the image is stretched more
than the inside of the picture. It’s odd for the first 30 seconds and
unnoticeable after that. Don’t fool yourself though, this baby needs
the high octane gas for peak performance – give it HD, not regular
leaded.
Colors are rich and vivid, even for a plasma
display, but not over saturated. Color transitions, additionally, are
smooth and seamless, without the blockiness normally associated with
gradients (smooth transitions from one color to another) on a truly
digital display. Pioneer’s been getting very close to the incredible
black levels traditionally available only on Panasonic displays, and
the 4270 pushes that even further. Properly set up, it was virtually
impossible to tell the blacks apart on our Pioneer PDP-4270HD and the
Panasonic 42 we have right beside it.
The PDP-4270 also features a great input panel,
with 2
HDMI, multiple component inputs, and S-Video and Composite inputs
to round it off. The 4270 also comes with an optical audio output for
HDMI sources, making connecting your HT receiver simple
We set up ours using Digital Video Essentials by
Joe Kane Productions. As a side note, the one place we felt the
PDP-4270HD was lacking was in the on screen control department. It’s
not the fault of Pioneer, this is after all a TV (see separate
article) and lacks all the advanced controls we’re used to seeing on
the commercial monitors. None the less, we were able to tweak the
settings for an incredibly strong picture.
Recommended Settings
Contrast 24
Brightness +1
Color +10
Tint 0
Sharpness -5
Pro Adjustments
Pure Cinema set to ADV (this turns on 3-3
Pulldown. STD is 3-2 Pulldown)
Color Temp Mid, but adjust to taste
CTI (Color Transient Improvement) On
DNR (Dynamic Noise Reduction) High, for a
smoother looking picture
A word on Power Adjustment settings – Pioneer
provides for 4 power savings modes, STD (off), Save 1, Save 2, and
Picture Off (self explanatory). Save 1 and Save 2 are interesting
because it drops the brightness of the plasma, providing for darker
blacks interestingly enough. The deeper hue comes at a cost of
contrast; you can lose shadow area dark detail. As a result we set
ours to STD.
