Video Processing of Standard Signals

Pioneer's plasma TVs have traditionally distinguished themselves with excellent video processing. The KRP-500 puts in a fine performance, especially regarding de-interlacing.

Pioneer's KRP-500 accurately handled both our test sequences, found in Chapter 5 of "Six Days, Seven Nights" (symptom: beach loungers showing stair-step effects), and in Chapter 8 of "Space Cowboys" (symptom: a flickering picket fence). If the set still shows picture errors, check that the "PureCinema" function is definitely set to 'Standard' in the picture menu's "Pro Adjust" page.

High-quality Video Electronics:
As testament to the KRP-500's high-quality video electronics, the TV derives an accurate and detailed picture from each video input. Some variation in fine-detail reproduction exists, but this depends on which transmission format is used. Regardless of your TV's signal-processing quality, you should always use the highest quality input in terms of its video technology. Otherwise, you are just throwing quality away.

It takes eagle eyes to pick it up, but there is one mini-error in 576i/p playback: The KRP-500 magnifies the input picture slightly (known as "overscan"), leaving a small section undisplayed. Almost all modern TVs do it, but this developer's affliction actually stems from the VHS-recorder era, which saw errors at the picture's edge. Ironically, modern picture sources, such as digital satellite TV or DVD players, have long been free of this problem.

The KRP-500's integrated TV tuner produces an attractive, accurate picture. It can handle analog TV signals as well as digital terrestrial (DVB-T) and digital satellite TV (DVB-S) producing a tidy, error-free picture maximizing each signal type's sharpness. The best TV picture quality comes with satellite reception - because of the channel's higher bit rates - we were delighted by detail in both standard and HDTV programs.

4:3 Picture Format:
One of the KRP-500's few shortcomings is the 4:3 picture format. Unlike Panasonic plasma TVs, for example, the sidebars are gray when they should be black. Pioneer does this to prevent the screen's light-producing phosphors from aging unevenly - otherwise, the 4:3 format would be superimposed on widescreen pictures. Still, these gray bars really got the testers backs up: Dark pictures in particular look unattractive and lose some subjective contrast.