Video Asylum

Posted by johnvb (A) on December 18, 2004 at 20:20:20

In Reply to: HD Sharpness on Pioneer 530HDI? posted by DWPC on December 17, 2004 at 12:24:04:

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.