The Pioneer PDP-4350HD's plasma TV display technology

(Reviewed 8-30-05) A nice plasma TV display is Pioneer's 43-inch PDP-4350HD. It has a 1,024x768 resolution so it is not a true HD display (it takes 1,280x720 to qualify) but HD sources do look great on this full featured panel.

No other 43 " plasma TV display has more pixels. The Pioneer converts the incoming signal to match its native resolution. To most viewers the difference is not noticable.

This is an older generation flat panel TV. Check out the latest Pioneer Plasma TV.

The Pioneer PDP-4350HD has more style and features than the Panasonic plasmas in this size but the Panny’s have a superior picture. The Pioneer has a little more in picture size and would be a good choice in this plasma size.

The PDP-4350HD is one of the few plasmas with a 72-hertz refresh rate or 3:3 pull-down designed to eliminate the jerky motion normally preserved in the 2:3 pull-down process.

Unlike Panasonic it offers a stretch mode for watching HDTV, which can be used to fill the screen when 4:3 programs are shown on high-def channels.

This plasma TV display has a high-gloss black finish surrounding the screen with a detachable pair of matching black speakers. It comes with a silver swivel stand.

The Pioneer PDP-4350HD comes with Pioneer’s hallmark outboard A/V controller (for connectivity) which connects to the TV with a 10-foot umbilical.

The backlit remote is well designed and laid out with direct access keys for all inputs. There are seven direct-input keys for fast A/V source switching plus four favorite-channel buttons. The internal menu system is also simple and intuitive to navigate.

The PDP-4350HD has a fully loaded feature package with a digital tuner that works with the CableCard slot, and an ATSC terrestrial tuner for off-air HDTV reception.

It has PIP (picture-in-picture) and is split-screen capable. Like Panasonic it has several different preset picture modes.

Other advanced picture adjustments include video noise reduction, CTI (a mode said to provide clearer color contours) and DRE (an autocontrast circuit).

There are four A/V input slots available on the AV controller:

AV1 offers a choice of HDMI, component, S-Video, or composite video

AV2 offers S-Video or composite video

AV3 offers HDMI or component video

AV4 covers the front-panel input, offers a choice of component, S-Video, or composite video a VGA-style analog RBG input with a minijack audio input for computers

There are two FireWire ports, an optical digital audio output, a monitor A/V output with composite and S-Video, a CableCard slot, and a VCR controller port on the back.

This plasma TV display ‘s image quality doesn’t stack up to the Panny’s because of its inability to produce deep blacks. There is a flaw in this plasma TV display ‘s design.

If you have an advanced DVD player and use the Advanced setting to put the DVD player in the interlaced mode the Pioneer keeps the plasma’s processing active which can cause picture artifacts.

Color, as always with Pioneer, is their strength. The color performance out of the box on this plasma TV display is excellent. Pioneer has perfect color decoding and good grayscale tracking but their blacks come off as dark grey which diminishes the picture impact.

Overall the Pioneer plasma TV display stacks up just “alright “ to the Panny’s. If you want the extra screen size and vivid color appeals to you then consider this plasma TV display. The ability to change aspect ratio with HD sources is also a plus as are the extra feature set the Pioneer offers.