Pioneer Elite PRO-1130HD Plasma
By Shane Buettner   •   September, 2006

• $5,500
• 50" Plasma
• 1280x768
• Key Connections: Dual HDMI, i.LINK IEEE 1394 and component inputs, PC/RGB input, photo card slot

Features We Like: Separate media receiver with excellent connectivity featuring dual HDMI and component inputs, ISF 3c calibration modes, Over-the-Air and cableCARD HD tuners, a host of features intended to improve plasma performance

Features We Miss: Although this is certainly a feature-rich, loaded plasma, Pioneer's latest, and cheaper 50" plasma, the PDP-5070HD, is spec'd to accept native 1080p/24 signals from Blu-ray and HD DVD, while the more expensive Elite model is not.

At A Glance: Pioneer's latest plasmas are indeed the greatest the company has yet produced, making big strides in blacks, contrast ratio and color fidelity. The OTA tuner isn't very good in difficult receptions areas, and we still see the nuclear greens in certain shots, but other than that it looks like there's more than hype to all those niftily-named technologies touted as driving this plasma panel to excellence. While some of the things we saw with test patterns raised our eyebrows, what we saw with program material dropped our jaws! The image is rich, and film-like, and a movie lover's plasma all the way.