Pioneer PDP 5070HD

Having ceased sales of every other HDTV technology, Pioneer continues to make improvements in its plasma panels. Last year's PDP-5060HD brought us dramatically improved black-level performance, something that was long overdue, and with this year's Pioneer PDP-5070HD, we get improved color decoding, which allows it to achieve some of the richest, most saturated colors we've seen from any flat-panel display. The only remaining issue is its relatively high price, especially with some 50-inch plasmas selling for $2,000. If you can stomach paying at least $1,000 more, you'll be getting the best-performing flat-panel HDTV we've tested so far this year.

Editors' Note (07-20-2007): This model has been replaced by the Pioneer PDP-5080HD, so we have removed the PDP-5070HD's Editors' Choice award, although the rating will remain the same. A signature design trait of Pioneer and Pioneer Elite televisions is the glossy black finish, which surrounds the 50-inch screen of the PDP-5070HD on all sides. The panel has a simple yet elegant appearence that most viewers will find attractive, but it doesn't boast any distinguishing industrial design features, aside from the detachable speakers. The speakers consist of a single bar located below the screen when attached, keeping the width and overall footprint of the panel to a minimum.

With speakers attached and including the stand, it measures 48.2 by 33.1 by 12.7 inches (WHD); without speakers and stand it clocks in at a relatively petite 48.2 by 28.3 by 4.5 inches--just a bit larger overall than the Panasonic TH-50PH9UK. Unlike previous Pioneer plasmas, the PDP-5070HD lacks an external media receiver; so, like almost every other plasma, all of the connections and tuners are built into the panel itself.