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I'm looking closely at a Pioneer Elite 530HDI on a close-out. I was only able to see the picture on the "house" HD channel. Color, contrast, etc. looked great. I noted no picture issues or the infamous x30 lines BUT there was a distinct lack of edge sharpness or focus; quite noticably less sharp than LCD RPs and plasmas nearby. Nice picture, but it didn't look like HD. Adjusting the sharpness control affected overall picture "graininess" but had no effect on the soft edge problem. It was in 1080i mode, if that makes any difference.Can any x30HD owners say if excess "softness" in the picture is a simple adjustment that can be readily adjusted out by a tech. Or is sharpness equal to LCD RP just not to to be expected on the 530HD?
Follow Ups:
I would only like to comment that I work at a store that sells Elite among other brands, and I was luke warm to the new 530 when it first arrived. The focus seemed softer than the 520 and the color was a bit blue on most images. Several other sets looked much better to me, but two of the guys I worked with preferred the Elite. To shut me up they convinced the manager to get our ISF certified tech to come over and adjust the set. Out tech made that TV look so good I was afraid customers who bought it were going to feel as though they weren't buying the same TV. It was very sharp and the colors were simply stunning, I couldn't believe it was the same TV. I was careful to tell customers it had been calibrated and that they should consider the same after a few months. At $1699, buy it and pay a tech $400 to $1000, whatever it costs in your area, and I think you are going to be quite impressed and feel that whatever your final price is, it's worth it.
These guys agree with you
Their opinion does seem to coincide with mine. I'm going back to see if the store will give me their normal 30-day no-questions return privilege. Two problems: they don't have the remote for this unit so its difficult to change settings, and the in-store viewing material and inputs are severely limited. At $1699, its tough to walk away from this baby and once its away from a side-by-side comparison it may look wonderful. Any alternative will certainly be double the price.Any advice on how to see if this one has the line problem?
I got my set two Augusts ago, but didn't see the first lines until Nov. or Dec. of that year. That seemed to be average for most owners. First with HD material, then DVD playback. Usually the set had to be on for 15-30 minutes, before a red or green line would streak across the screen just for a few seconds. In the early stages this may occur only once or twice a week. If you weren't looking for it, you would dismiss it as some type of broadcast interference or DVD defect. It never got so bad on my set to interfere with viewing.I bought my set when Pioneer did the rebate thing, as the old HD models had to be cleared out for the new HDI model. But some of the guys who had bought the same set when it first came out almost a year earlier, had already had the problem show up and "repaired" several times by then. It is a shame Pioneer took so long to figure out the problem, they lost a few customers because of it. I wasn't aware of the streaking problem until I found the Home Theater Spot forum (after the sale), looking for some tweak ideas. First streak and I knew exactly what had happened.
It is my understanding that Pioneer has followed up (with emails) to the customers owning all sets that have shown this problem, with previous repairs, recommending that the new drive boards be replaced, whether the streaks have returned or not. If you can get the serial number of the set, call Pioneer and inquire whether this set has been or needs to be "upgraded". If they do have to repair it later, all the repairs should be done in your home, the set may only have to be pulled out to simply get the S/N. Make sure the tech takes the proper voltage reading before and after the repairs. Actually it is no big deal to you, maybe 3-4 hours at most for your time.
As for the remote, get a Home Theater Master or equivalent universal (I have the MX-500). There will be several Pioneer preprogrammed codes; one will work with the set, and you will have a better remote than Pioneer supplies.
on my 730HD and it definitely looks HD, like being at the game. Granted different HD material can look better or worst, video based material looks more "HD" than the film-based stuff. And it depends on the amount of "bits" the broadcasters/providers are using.I don't have a 64" LCD sitting next to it, so can't help you there. When I bought my set 1 1/2 years ago, the rage was the samsung DLPs. I felt even though the samsungs were brighter, they were more 2 dimensional with less blacks. But that was 1 1/2 years ago. I do know that it is very hard to go by what they are showing you in the stores, your sources at home may be totally different. Buy what looks best to you; hopefully with a couple other choices available if you want to return the first try. Remember that the Pioneer you are looking at is basically identical to the X-30HD models, introduced in the fall of 2002.
There is a possibility that the set you are looking at was repaired for the green lines already, but done improperly. The Pioneer service bulletin states that certain voltage reading are to be taken before and after the repair, or the grayscale will be throw off ( there are a few horror stories over at "the HT spot"). If you can get an ISF tech as a third party to check out the set, he may be able to help you. But a calibration is another $300-500 on top of what you already paid. Pioneers RPTV are known to be the best calibrated units "out of the box", which is one of the reasons I bought mine.
Maybe it just wasn't meant to be. My only other suggestion is to find another X-30 Pioneer and compare. In shopping for a cheap 27" TV for my son recently, I saw different performances of the same set at different CC locations.
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