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"Amazing picture!! Great looking case. Best of class." on by frankmatticola
Pros: Amazing picture quality, great looking case, exceptional value
Cons: Could be a little pricey for some
Summary: After a significant amount of research into plasma, versus LCD in the 42 inch range.. felt that the outstanding review of last years model, combined with the 8.4 rating with the 50 inch (5070HD), made the 4270HD model the way to go! The glossy black TV bezel is one of the sleekest and best looking that I have seen, and the bottom speaker is integrated seamlessly into the case.. picture is absolutely the best I have seen. Cannot imagine it looking any better when you have HD on. Other non HD channels look very good too.. although the quality varies here and there based on the channel. Bought it from a CNET approved retailer.. paying $2300 all in with shipping, etc. Arrived within 3 days of order to nyc location.. very smooth process. I am very picky about elecetronics purchases.. both quality and value.. and do alot of research.. and am just AMAZED at the picture.. cannot speak enough of how nice it is.. and extremely happy with the value for the money at that price! This is as close to a '10' as you can possibly get!
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"Undependable product, HORRIBLE service" on by cconat2000
Pros: Nice picture
Cons: TV broke immediately, Pioneer refuses to fix
Summary: Buying this TV has turned out to be easily the worst customer service experience of my life.
The TV was shipped to me on 11/8/06. Only 10 days later, there was a loud boom and the picture was completely gone. Pioneer recommended a service company (Atlas Electronics in West Berlin, NJ). I called them, and the nightmare began.
My relations with the service company have been incredibly frustrating. I was originally told the repair would take 4-5 days. Two months later I still don't have a TV, and no resolution is in sight. I have continually been told that no one is available to discuss my repair but that someone will call me back in an hour (no one ever did), that they are waiting on a part, that it will arrive any day now (only to wait another month), that the repair is almost finished, that the TV will be delivered soon, etc. If I had a nickel for every unfulfilled promise they have made, I could and would use that money to buy a Samsung.
At one point, after waiting a month for Pioneer to deliver the part to the service company, the company received it, installed it, and then the TV immediately broke again. Pioneer then said the part would not be available again for two more months.
I politely asked Pioneer for a new TV. I waited another week for a response. They said no. They said the new component could be rushed to the service company in a week. One week went by. Pioneer never called to update me as they had said they would. So I called them today and was told that the part will not be available for another two months.
So Pioneer's plan is that I will be forced to wait a total of 4 months until my TV is fixed. With no assurance that the part will actually work this time. To this date, not one person from either the service company or from Pioneer has ever said to me "I'm sorry". In fact, no person that I have spoken to has ever shown the slightest degree of sympathy, understanding or concern for me or my situation.
Conclusions: Pioneer's products are undependable. Their comunication and customer service skills are non-existent. They do not maintain the parts necessary to fix the products they sell, and they are unable to tell customers with accuracy when those parts will be available. Most importantly, they simply do not care about the difficulties they put their customers through. They have no concern whatsoever for their reputation, and they believe that forcing customers to wait 4 months for repairs of their expensive products is an acceptable practice.
Do yourself a favor. Save yourself a tremendous amount of frustration and wasted dollars. Never buy a Pioneer! -
"A stunning full-featured HDTV" on by dmhank
Pros: Superb HDTV PQ and SQ with subwoofer out; ability to play and display Blu-Ray Discs in 1080P; excellent SD broadcast PQ
Cons: None so far
Summary: I actually purchased the Pioneer PDP4271HD from Best Buy (basically the same model with two remotes). I hooked up a Monitor Audio Radius 360 subwoofer to the subwoofer out on this TV. With the TV's own excellent speakers and the subwoofer the SQ is simply stunning (although I get no surround sound). The PQ on standard definition broadcasts is excellent and significantly better than the Sony XBR1 LCD that I previously owned. Perhaps most exciting, this TV is built for the future, as it will accept and display a 1080P signal from a Blu-Ray player hooked up to the TV with an HDMI cable (I have confirmed this with Pioneer customer service). It will not, however, ever be able to display a broadcast 1080P signal, but since there won't be any such signals for quite some time that's not a significant current issue and probably won't be for the next 2-3 years. Audition this HDTV. It is well worth the price.
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"Simply fantastic" on by metkhoo
Pros: Colour depth, Blackest blacks, speakers underneath so you are not wasting unit width for speakers, Picture quality at standard resolution TV, picture quality for standard DVD's, integrated freeview
Cons: No RGB on SCART#2, 1024 wide pixel screen, no support for 1080p/50Hz
Summary: Quite simply the best picture I have ever seen from a plasma showing standard definition tv. You see it's all very well going into showrooms that show off HD Ready TV's with special content but in the real world away from the showroom you need a screen that can show you standard TV picture in fantastic quality too. In the past, I have always been reticent in buying a HD screen since they can't cope correctly with standard TV signal very well. However, this screen is different and you will be amazed at the colour depth.
Pioneer have done some wizardry with the blacks so that normal colours come out even more and the black rendering is as black as can be. When I have compared a plasma screen to an LCD screen, I have always found the LCD to blur images and not have the colour depth of the plasma's.
For my standard TV input, the picture is sharp and well defined. I can't wait to get my Sky HD box so that I can view in 720p format.
Above, I have listed the "cons" and one is that it can't show 1080p/50 or above. Whilst that is a "con" I am not sure if it is that relevant because it is very difficult (and expensive) to get content in that format anyway... For practially all domestic situations, 720p is more than adequate and is fully supported by this screen as a source.
Strangely the panel only has 1024 pixels width and the 720p signal will kick out 1280 by 720 but whatever they do internally you need to see this screen to believe it!
In the shop that I was in they showed a test card scrolling left to right. Next to it was a Samsung PS42Q7HD and the Samsung looked SO BAD against this screen it was hard to believe that anyone would buy it!
Go take a look yourself and be stunned -
"Not for Gamers!" on by rpmcomm
Pros: Terrific picture
Cons: terrible burn-in!!!
Summary: Beautiful picture for movies and HD tv, but the burn-in is terrible (don't know if this is true for all plasma, but certainly for this one!). CNBC on 1/2 hour a day, burn-in. Playing games several hours on xbox, terrible burn-in.
My experience is that they just way understate the problem in stores. I would avoid pioneer plasma(any plasma?) unless you don't play games and don't watch a lot of TV with fixed pictures,tickers,etc.(i.e.,not a lot of TV!)
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