Mitsubishi's New HD Upgradeable Plasma Screen/Receiver By HT Staff April 17, 2002 — Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America (MDEA) has announced a new large-format high definition plasma screen and matching receiver. The combination is claimed to be the industry's first complete high-definition television system.

The PD-5010 is a 50" widescreen plasma display with a 16:9 aspect ratio. The addition of the HD-5000 digital receiver enables the system to be upgraded to full high-def performance via Mitsubishi's secure MonitorLink connection. "Until now, a consumer could purchase an expensive plasma display and then be forced to connect it via analog connections, with the risk that these analog connections would become obsolete or limited in content access due to copy protection requirements. Our HD-5000 digital receiver and MonitorLink provide secure connections to the plasma for protected content," said Max Wasinger, senior v.p. of sales and marketing at MDEA.

Traditional analog connections can degrade the picture, Wasinger pointed out. The MonitorLink system protects copyrighted material from unauthorized replication.

The HD-5000 digital receiver is " in essence a complete digital television, without the display," stated Robert Perry, v.p. of marketing. With the receiver connected to the PD-5010 HD plasma display, "the consumer has all the features of an MDEA integrated HDTV, including multiple analog tuners, IEEE 1394 interfaces, Home Audio Video interoperability (HAVi) software, and MDEA's revolutionary NetCommand on-screen, icon-based home theater control system," he explained.

The PD-5010 HD-Upgradeable Plasma will ship to dealers in early Fall 2002 with a suggested value price of $18,000.