Pioneer 506 XDE Reviews

Sooren

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I have had the 506 XDE for a week now and here are my views which I hope will help all those deciding weather to buy one or not and also to quell some of the points that have been raised in previous threads. Bear in mind that these are my views and as always you should do your own research.

Well it started out well, the company supplied 2 sets of speakers, 2 wall mounts and 2 table stands and 2 media boxes, as I have only 1 years warranty these may come in use later but will probaly sell them on ebay. Unfortunately they only sent one panel!!!!!!!!

The screen is wall mounted and the viewing distance is about 9 feet.
The settings out of the box dont do justice to the panel and I spent a couple of hours going in all the menus and tweeking the settings while using freeview, followed by sky and then by DVD. Spend plenty of time on this because the factory settings out of the box will leave you why you bought this beast.

Let me say that before I spent my 3k I did plenty of research and on switching it on I felt a bit sick at the picture quality. After setting it up I can now say that this is the best panel out there in my opinion at the moment.

Blacks - A major step up on the previous model, ignore what other people have said, plenty od detail and when set up properly they are black and not dark grey.

Colour - Very rich out of the box and needs to be turned down drasticaly, fully saturated and rich.

Jitter - I have read elsewhere that these sets are prone to jitter, I speak as I find and can report a rock solid picture, lots of my friends have been round and there have been no comments on this.

General observations - Freeview and Sky picture are breathtaking on the prime channels, ie BBC chanels and ITV but average on the likes of UK Gold, understandable I guess. DVD performance will blow your mind with a progresive scan model. Heven knows what this set will do with HD pictures.
Must also say that this set is fantastic looking and beets all comers by a mile.

Any negatives - not really, I am so glad I bought this and not the Panasonic.
Like all plasmas dont sit to close to them or you will be disapointed with the pictue quality. From 9 feet the pioneer looks even better than my old 36' CRT Panasonic. Viewing by the freeview tuner it takes a couple of seconds to switch channels. When adjusting settings via the menus the menu screen blots out the middle of the picture so its harder to get the settigs spot on as I normally use the face of the presenter to get the skin tones right. Dont crank up the noise reduction to much as it softens the picture to much. I keep mine on the low setting.

Let me finish by saying that this is a fine set and I think this is as good as it gets at the MOMENT. This is my opinon and hope it helps anyone out there who is considering the 506.
 
I think I will order this TV at the weekend.
 
Does anyone know whether the PQ on the 506 is the same as that of the 436, but just a bigger screen? In other words, can we 436 owners read reviews of the 506 and view them as applicable to either model?
 
whizzwheels said:
Does anyone know whether the PQ on the 506 is the same as that of the 436, but just a bigger screen? In other words, can we 436 owners read reviews of the 506 and view them as applicable to either model?

Yup. It's just the screen size that is different (obviously you'll be comparing like for like with family type as well e.g. XDE with XDE). :)

Moosh
 
I would think the contrast is better on the 506. 4000:1 against 3000:1 is a difference...
Also, when it comes to 720p material the 506 will show all the 1280 horisontal pixels, while the 436 will have to downscale it to 1024. Other than that PQ will be same I think.
 
Sooren said:
Blacks - A major step up on the previous model, ignore what other people have said, plenty od detail and when set up properly they are black and not dark grey.

Can you tell me what you recommend as a proper setup. My blacks are indeed dark grey. I'm glad you think it's all in the setup!!
 
totally agree, the blacks can't get much blacker than the screen bezel. By the way Sooren, what settings did you end up using? Are you using the HDMI interface for DVD?
 
kev777 said:
totally agree, the blacks can't get much blacker than the screen bezel. By the way Sooren, what settings did you end up using? Are you using the HDMI interface for DVD?

Are you saying you can get them as black as that?! How the hell did you do that?!
 
standard setting, contrast -20 while running in... it seems there are a lot of varying reports on black levels, though the majority seem to agree that the 506 is much improved, though given we all sense light in different ways then bound to be some discrepancies (or differences in Pio quality control!)
 
What supplier did you use?
 
whizzwheels said:
Does anyone know whether the PQ on the 506 is the same as that of the 436, but just a bigger screen? In other words, can we 436 owners read reviews of the 506 and view them as applicable to either model?

Don't do what someone else I know did - They saw a 436 in a mates house and then bought a 506 as he wanted the same picture quality but a bigger screen. They both had identical apartments/lounge size and then he complained that the 506 wasn't as clear picture but didn't compensate for the size of the screen and his viewing distance!! I know quite a few storys of people who have fallen in that trap, but hopefully people on here won't be so stupid!
 
hi guys,

what is the difference between the pioneer 506 xde and the 506hdg (model marketed in australia)?

thanks,

julie
 
I've had my 436XDE for a week and half now and tweaked the settings with the help of a DVE disc at the weekend. Needless to say the more use the panel gets the better the picture appears to be getting.

At the weekend I was watching CSI on Channel 5 via Sky and was blown away with the detail and PQ. England Game on Saturday, not a problem, silky smooth and responsive picture.

I've also just coupled the set to an Oppo Digitial DVD player and have been enjoying an upscalled 1080i DVD fest as a result. Needless to say the picture is simply stunning.
 
Serkie,

I too noticed CSI on C5 was spectacular on my 436XDE, if only all $ky channels had that sort of bandwidth. Not a single hint of noise or MPEG artifact throughout the whole show.
 
Agreed - the Prime time channels are superb on Sky. Shame most of the others are so heavily compressed.

Another good example is Lost on C4 or E4.
 
Serkie said:
Agreed - the Prime time channels are superb on Sky. Shame most of the others are so heavily compressed.

Another good example is Lost on C4 or E4.

You should watch it on E4+1. e4 is 3/4 resolution IIRC.
 
Thanks for the info.
I about to buy either the 505XDE or the Fuji P50XHA40US. I'm edging at the moment towards the Pio due to looks, digi-tuner and better connectivity.
What other models did you look at?
What are your revised settings?


Sooren said:
I have had the 506 XDE for a week now and here are my views which I hope will help all those deciding weather to buy one or not and also to quell some of the points that have been raised in previous threads. Bear in mind that these are my views and as always you should do your own research.

Well it started out well, the company supplied 2 sets of speakers, 2 wall mounts and 2 table stands and 2 media boxes, as I have only 1 years warranty these may come in use later but will probaly sell them on ebay. Unfortunately they only sent one panel!!!!!!!!

The screen is wall mounted and the viewing distance is about 9 feet.
The settings out of the box dont do justice to the panel and I spent a couple of hours going in all the menus and tweeking the settings while using freeview, followed by sky and then by DVD. Spend plenty of time on this because the factory settings out of the box will leave you why you bought this beast.

Let me say that before I spent my 3k I did plenty of research and on switching it on I felt a bit sick at the picture quality. After setting it up I can now say that this is the best panel out there in my opinion at the moment.

Blacks - A major step up on the previous model, ignore what other people have said, plenty od detail and when set up properly they are black and not dark grey.

Colour - Very rich out of the box and needs to be turned down drasticaly, fully saturated and rich.

Jitter - I have read elsewhere that these sets are prone to jitter, I speak as I find and can report a rock solid picture, lots of my friends have been round and there have been no comments on this.

General observations - Freeview and Sky picture are breathtaking on the prime channels, ie BBC chanels and ITV but average on the likes of UK Gold, understandable I guess. DVD performance will blow your mind with a progresive scan model. Heven knows what this set will do with HD pictures.
Must also say that this set is fantastic looking and beets all comers by a mile.

Any negatives - not really, I am so glad I bought this and not the Panasonic.
Like all plasmas dont sit to close to them or you will be disapointed with the pictue quality. From 9 feet the pioneer looks even better than my old 36' CRT Panasonic. Viewing by the freeview tuner it takes a couple of seconds to switch channels. When adjusting settings via the menus the menu screen blots out the middle of the picture so its harder to get the settigs spot on as I normally use the face of the presenter to get the skin tones right. Dont crank up the noise reduction to much as it softens the picture to much. I keep mine on the low setting.

Let me finish by saying that this is a fine set and I think this is as good as it gets at the MOMENT. This is my opinon and hope it helps anyone out there who is considering the 506.
 

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