PD-5010 50" High-Definition Plasma Display
Plasmas
displays have always had a look that appealed to the masses. The latest
generation of plasma displays are elegant with bright, high contrast pictures,
making them ideal for today's design conscious consumer. Mitsubishi's
PD-5010 is one such beast with a 16:9 widescreen picture measuring 50-inches
diagonol and capable of producing a beautiful image. The PD-5010 measures
a mere 4.7 inches deep and weighs approximately 100 pounds. The native
resolution is 1365x768, making it a true high definition product. A variety
of video inputs are available on the PD-5010 along with several two-channel
audio connections. There's even a built-in audio amplifier that can drive
a pair of external speakers with a minimum impedance of 6 ohms. There
are no tuners built into the PD-5010, so this must be addressed as part
of the installation. Fixed pixel displays such as this require internal
scaling of all incoming video sources and the PD-5010 includes both a
high-performance video scaler and an excellent 3:2 deinterlacer. This
display is designed to be wall or table mounted. For this review we mounted
the display on the optional Mitsubishi Plasma Display Stand (MB-5010)
that came with the review system. This heavy-duty stand is all-metal and
provides a stable base for the hefty display.
The front of the PD-5010 is very streamlined with a few buttons hidden away on the lower left of the housing. The Menu/Enter button selects from the menu system. Volume Up/Down buttons control the volume and are also used to navigate along with the Left/Right buttons. The Input/Exit button cycles through the inputs (Video1, Video2, Video3, DVD/HD, RGB/PC1, RGB/PC2 and MonitorLink). The power button and indicators are located on the lower right side of the display. When switching between different types of inputs on the PD-5010, the upper right corner of the screen shows the active video input (i.e. RGB/PC1, MonitorLink, DVD1, DVD2, etc.).
Connectivity
The left rear side of the PD-5010 contains all the connectors used to
mate to the display. The video connections are partitioned into three
groups (Video, DVD/HD and RGB/PC). The Video
inputs are for the composite and S-video signals. The composite input
can be either an RCA or a BNC connector, both of which are provided. The
DVD/HD inputs
accept component video (YPrPb) via three RCA connectors and the RGB/PC
input accepts video either through the VESA (15-pin D-sub) connector or
through five BNC connectors that can be configured for RGB/HV or YPrPb
component video. There are six RGB Select Modes to optimize the picture
depending on the source generating the video for the RGB inputs. Three
separate pairs of audio inputs are also available for any of the video
inputs being selected. These audio signals get automatically switched
to drive the speaker output terminals located on the center rear of the
display. The PD-5010 has a DVI connector that is labeled MonitorLink (an
interface designed to work with Mitsubishi's tuner/controller). Some of
the documentation also seems to indicate that this DVI interface is strictly
a proprietary Mitsubishi digital interface. However, we confirmed that
this interface does indeed work with DVI/HDCP compliant hardware. In fact,
Mitsubishi confirmed that their MonitorLink
system comprises of a DVI/HDCP connection and an RS232 serial interface
for command and control data. Fourteen pages of the User Manual define
each and every command used to control the display. This is essential
for custom installations that take advantage of sophisticated controllers.
To test the DVI/HDCP interface, we connected the display to our Samsung
SIR-T165 digital set-top box. There's also a push button switch located
near the bottom to completely disable the front panel controls, which
can actually come in handy if the display is used around young children.
Menus
The remote is a slim ergonomic design that has all the frequently used
buttons in easily accessible places. The on/off power buttons are located
at the top of the remote with the video input select buttons just below
them. Each of the video select buttons has several input functions. The
Video button selects Video1,
Video2 or Video3.
The DVD/HD buttons cycles through the DVD1/HD1
and DVD2/HD2 inputs. The RGB/PC button cycles through the
RGB/PC1,
RGB/PC2
and MonitorLink
inputs. Menu controls are also provided to navigate through the on-screen
menu system. Video Settings include Contrast, Brightness, Sharpness, Color
and Tint. Picture Mode allows the user to select from Memory,
Theater, Normal
or Reset. Color
temperature can be set to High,
Medium, Low
or Custom. The
Audio menu provides Bass,
Treble and Balance
controls. The Monitor Setting menu gives the user full control of horizontal
and vertical position and size. Also located here are adjustments for
Fine Picture (Flicker) and Picture Adj (Image resolution). The Function
menu has controls to adjust the position of the on-screen menu text to
one of nine locations. One nice feature is the ability to select the grey
level of the side bars when watching 4:3 images. Sixteen different levels
are available. Cinema Mode can be turned on to properly detect film source
material and perform reverse telecine (also known as 3:2 pulldown). The
Options menu allows the configuration of the Audio1, Audio2 and Audio3
inputs to a corresponding selected video input. The BNC connectors can
be set for RGB or component video. RGB Select chooses between Auto,
Still, Motion,
Wide1, Wide2
and DTV. HD Select
cycles through 1080A, 1080B and 1035i. Finally, the Information menu displays
the Frequency, Language (English, German, French, Spanish, Italian and
Swedish) and Color System (Auto1 for NTSC, Auto2 for PAL, 3.58 NTSC, 4.43
NTSC, SECAM, PAL-M, PAL-N, PAL-60 and PAL).
Calibration
Using the custom setting in the Color
Temperature menu, we were able to adjust both RGB Gain and
Bias levels. We took color measurements using our Sencore
CP5000 All-Display Color Analyzer.
We then calibrated the PD-5010 using the custom menu controls. Calibration
was simple with the menu controls provided. The graph shows the results
of all the measurements including the fully calibrated results. The calibrated
settings resulted in excellent color tracking (see green plot) across
all IRE levels. The PD-5010 produced accurate colors with impressive shadow
detail. The black level on this display was similar to most high quality
plasmas we've seen. Deep blacks or the lack there of, was more noticeable
in a dark theater setting and not a significant problem in well lit rooms.
The light output of this display produced almost 50 foot-Lamberts, making
it ideal for rooms where sunlight may be difficult to control. We certainly
recommend reducing this light output to help extend the life of the display.
Display
Primaries
We measured the primary colors produced by the PD-5010 using our GretagMacbeth
Eye-One Pro Spectrophotometer along with the Milori ColorFacts software.
The CIE chart indicates where the ideal primaries are located where the
three small points make a dark triangle. The measured primary colors are
marked by the red, green and blue markers connected together with the
white triangle. Only colors inside this triangle can be produced by the
display by definition. Colors looked excellent overall with deep reds,
lush greens and rich blues. Skin tones looked natural and color fidelity
of the many high-definition pictures we saw were beautiful with this display.
The vivid colors looked similar to a good high resolution CRT display,
without the problems associated with geometry, convergence and high voltage
stability.
Setup
We connected the PD-5010 to the new Mitsubishi HD-5000 A/V Controller/Receiver,
which we will be covering in a separate review. We also connected the
Mitsubishi HS-HD2000U high definition D-VHS VCR using the FireWire (IEEE1394)
interface. The advantage of the HD-5000 is the ease-of-use the product
offers its customers. Using the MonitorLink interface (DVI and RS-232
serial link) to the display, the HD-5000 can control the PD-5010 including
powering on the unit. Instead of having to turn on the display first followed
by the rest of the equipment, the HD-5000 A/V Controller commands the
display to turn on directly through the serial link. In addition, the
MonitorLink input on the plasma is automatically selected for viewing
the video being sent by the HD-5000. Using the sophisticated NetCommand
2.0 interface built into the HD-5000, we had full control of the HS-HD2000U
D-VHS VCR. We decided to pop in our favorite reference D-VHS video, Bikini
Destinations from HDNet. All basic functions were controlled using
the remote that came with the HD-5000. We didn't even need to touch the
remote control that came with the D-VHS VCR.
Performance
Picture quality on the PD-5010 was spectacular. Once we properly calibrated
the display, flesh-tones came alive with natural hues and shadow detail
was more evident than with the uncalibrated picture. Scenes from HDNet's
Bikini Destinations
really unleashed the best high-definition attributes of the PD-5010.
We had a variety of material to test with the PD-5010 including over-the-air
and DirecTV high-definition content. It was a true joy to watch NBC's
Law & Order - Special Victims Unit with so much clarity using the
HD-5000. The resolution was incredible, giving the viewer a whole new
level of watching television that almost looked three-dimensional. The
perfect geometry and bright picture worked well in our viewing room where
daytime lighting is difficult to control.
Scenes from Toy Story produced an excellent picture with low noise and impressive color fidelity. Even with the internal scaling that takes place in the PD-5010, the picture quality was wonderful without obvious artifacts. While we tried to stay away from poor source material, I couldn't help but try some composite-based material like VHS and laserdisc. The PD-5010's 3D Y/C comb filter does a good job with this material while minimizing separation artifacts. While resolution was certainly limited in the case with VHS, the picture still looked acceptable without some of the typical artifacts one might see with fixed pixel displays. In fact, the PD-5010 looked much like a large CRT display when viewing this material with high contrast and smooth edges. Over-the-air NTSC video looked similar, but with better resolution and a higher signal-to-noise ratio than the prerecorded formats. We did notice some posterization with material that faded to black. This was fairly infrequent, yet worth mentioning for those interested.
The PD-5010 also has a very nice PIP (Picture-in-Picture) feature that allows video from two different sources to be displayed on the screen simultaneously. The two inputs being displayed can have completely different scan rates and resolutions. The PD-5010 will automatically synchronize the two inputs to be properly displayed on the screen. We found this feature to be very useful especially when the user is using a large number of the video inputs.
Conclusion
The Mitsubishi PD-5010 is an impressive display that is capable of producing
a stunning high definition image. The sleek contemporary design of the
chassis works well in any modern home. The large number of video inputs
and the built-in audio amplifier with audio switching offers greater flexibility
to its customers. The 1365x768 native resolution results in spectacular
detail when viewing high-definition material. While no plasma has perfect
black level, the PD-5010 certainly performed well and impressed all those
who watched it in our theater room. The 3:2 deinterlacer and scaler make
the PD-5010 a serious consideration for those willing to dish out the
bucks for a quality high-definition plasma display.
-
Kevin Nakano
