The Most Stunning Plasma on the Market, Bar None, Made Right in the USA!!!
Written: Dec 29 '04 (Updated Dec 29 '04)
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Pros: Best picture, gorgeous REAL aluminum bezel, best warranty/service, processor and made in USA
Cons: None- with the price decrease, you can't even say its too expensive!
The Bottom Line: The best picture quality, finite adjustment, awesome processor, beautiful bezel, made in USA at this price??? Clearly this is the hands down BEST plasma around!
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| nick1326's Full Review: Vidikron PlasmaView VP-50 50 in. TV |
Vidikron has been one of the top names in video for quite some time, far before plasma technology had even evolved. Now in the forefront on video, plasma has quickly become one of the most sought after luxuries, and as we all know, they are not cheap! Vidikron has brought to market an absolutely incredible product, and it has done so because Runco bought the name and has brought to market what is clear destined to be a stellar success story.
Runco has always been renowned for making the best products in video. Period. Runco prices however are clearly stratospheric, and deservedly so, because the products offer such an incredibly fine degree of adjustment and calibration that no other plasmas on the market can compete -- It's just not a fair fight! With a combination of the best glass in the industry, teamed up with the best processing technology in the industry, Runco's plasma products always blew viewers away, however sadly so did the price. So Runco International has taken a new approach to marketing plasma- they've acquired the Vidikron name, and now produce the most stunning plasma displays on the market -- in fact, with their gorgeous brushed aluminum bezels and crystal picture (thanks to the internal Runco processor technology built into every unit) Vidikron plasma is perhaps even more desireable than Runco- AND at a price that is right along side of the other key market players like Pioneer and Fujitsu- however the Vidikron can do what no other plasmas can do; Provide the most accurate colors and razor sharp picture of all thanks to processing technology that is clearly light years ahead of anyone else!
The advantages of Vidikron over any other plasma can be summed up quickly as follows:
Stunning Color Saturation
Better Black Levels
MUCH Better Picture with even a Poor Video Source (more forgiving)
Gorgeous REAL Metal Bezel - not some cheap plastic bezel painted silver..
Best Warranty/Tech department on the planet (around the clock service!)
The ONLY company to offer ZERO-BAD-PIXEL warranty
Made proudly in America
All these advantages will be explored in detail below in the review:
The Runco name has always been synonymous with hot-rod stuff! Vidikron was always a competitor to Runco, however with the roll-off of front projection systems, giving way to newer (and cheaper) plasma alternatives with stunning picture quality, Vidikron ran into big financial problems... The stars aligned correctly and Runco bought the company, however they brought all aspects of production into the US - ALL Vidikron products are built right here in the US of A in Runco's California production facility.
The VP-50 is one stunning plasma with a host of features, adjustability and processing like none other. Aside from making it capable of producing a picture unlike any other plasma, there is one other key feature that makes the Vidikron far better than anything else: It's ability to compensate for bad sources... the explanation is quite simple...
... Anyone can make HD (High Definition) look pretty damned good. HD is a quality source with hi-resolution and video fidelity that is far better than traditional interlaced TV quality video. The real challenge for any good HD monitor is how it looks when you DON'T put an HD signal through it- and since the majority of this planet STILL watches cable through a cable box and STILL watches VHS tapes (because we own tons of VHS cassettes and it would cost a fortune to switch ALL of them to DVD) it's very easy to be dissapointed by a plasma like a Fujitsu or Pioneer Elite because while they tout the PRESENCE of a processor, it doesn't actually anticipate and process EVERY pixel, pixel-BY-pixel like the Vidikron does. The result is that all other plasmas are quite unforgiving to poor signal quality.. Don't believe me? Simple- go to your nearest store and go check out the plasma displays- they are all running an HD feed distributed throughout the store because all the retailers KNOW the best way to make their stuff look good is to put the best signal they can through it... Now go ask the salesperson to hook a VCR up to the unit and see how it looks - in the case of a Fujitsu, it'll look terrible - and deservedly so - a VCR is a poor quality video source- and the Fuji is a quality display that will show the viewer exactly what the VCR is displaying... Sadly, however, this is NOT what you want to see when you just payed 8 GRAND for your plasma!!! Go check out the Vidikron though - because the processor was designed to be forgiving on any video source- especially the BAD ones, the unit will show you a much better picture than you'll see on anything else if you run a VCR or a cable box through it. Nicely done Vidikron!
The other property that must be mentioned id Vidikrons' excellent handling of 3:2 pulldown - Without going into a technical tyrade of why 3:2 pulldown (also known as 2:3 pulldown) makes video a real pain to project accurately, Vidikron's processing technolgoy is built upon Runco's unparrelelled "PFP" or pixel-for-pixel technology -- Essentially the processor looks at each individual pixel in each individual frame of video and anticipates what colors and what contrasts will have to go where, in order to display proper motion and the most film-like depiction of video that can be done in light of the use off pulldown. Basically, film is shot at 24FPS (frames per second) and video (NTSC format used in US) is 30 FPS divided into 60 via interlacing (each frame on regular video refreshes every OTHER line - Progressive scan is the process of taking that interlaced signal and making it such that EVERY line refreshes with every frame- however, since film is shot in 24FPS and video in 30, you technically need to superimpose a "fake" frame every THIRD frame, into to turn 24 into 30, and ergo, turn a film picture into video.. Again, without going into a technical tyrade of crap, it's easiest to say that the Vidikron processor goes FAR beyond anyone else's processing technology and makes their plasma displays absolutely the most gratifying to watch and to own.. Bar none, this is just one incredible plasma!
Warranty and Service: Warranty and service are where Vidikron REALLY kills the competition. The VP-50 warranty is 3 years on parts and labor, 1 on glass- just like most reputable plasmas are.... BUT - Vidikron has a 24/7 tech staff available around the clock to answer technical questions AND to arrange advanced replacement of a problematic unit... PLUS, they do another thing that NO manufacturer does: they offer a ZERO bad pixel guarentee! No other manufacturer on the planet (except for sister company Runco) offers this- and you can bet that almost EVERY plasma on the market comes out of the box with a few (if not more) bad pixels... Go spend 10 grand a Pioneer Elite 50" get it home and find there's 5 or 6 bad pixels strewn across the display... SORRY- not a thing you can do about it... that's a pretty bad way to treat someone that just spent enough money to buy a car! Get a Vidikron home and find A SINGLE bad pixel and the answer is simple- go call up the 24/7 tech department - ACTUALLY SPEAK TO A HUMAN BEING- NOT A RECORDING, and they will arrange to deliver a new unit ADVANCE REPLACEMENT- meaning they ship it to you and then you ship them back the bad one AFTER... again- VERY very amicable and VERY good treatment to customers.. try getting the Sony tech department on the line if you have a problem with that nice new Sony plasma - You'll probably be grey/bald or worse DEAD before a human even picks up the phone!!!
The bezel on the Vidikron is absolutely stunning. It is made of real aluminum- handsomely brushed to a gorgeous titanium finish. The easiest way to sum it up is to say this plasma looks better than any other plasma BEFORE you even turn it on!!!
Inputs and controls are excellent and offer great flexibility. Plus remote commands are discrete, so you can integrate this into a crestron system without the bugginess typically associated with non-discrete functioning devices like many other plasmas are (the famous example is when you are viewing in cable mode then switch to "DVD" on your crestron remote -- The macro runs and everything goes right, except the monitor TURNS OFF stupidly, because it does not have discrete on/off commands!). Happily, Vidikron alleviates this issue by simply building in discrete commands... nice job guys!
PlasmaView VP-50 Specifications
Native Resolution:
1365 x 768
Screen Aspect Ratio/
Screen Size (Diagonal):
16:9 / 50 in.
Aspect Ratios:
4:3, Letterbox,
16:9 Anamorphic,
Stadium (IntelliWide)
Image Area W x H:
43 1/3 in. (1106 mm) W
24 1/2 in. (622.30 mm) H
DTV Compatibility:
480p, 720p, 1080i
Power Requirements:
120V AC, 50/60 Hz, 480W
Inputs:
(2) Composite Video (1- BNC, 1- RCA), (2) Component Video (1- BNC, 1- RCA), (1) S-Video, (1) RBG (15-pin mini D-sub), (1) RGB via BNC, (1) DVI w/HDCP, (1) RS-232C, (3) Stereo RCA jacks
Operating Environment:
32°- 95° F, (0°-35° C), 20-80% humidity (non-condensing)
Dimensions:
Width: 48 7/16 in. (1230 mm)
Depth: 3 7/8 in. (98.00 mm)
Height: 29 1/8 in. (740.00 mm)
Weight: 98 lbs. (45 kg)
The entire Vidikron plasma line (42, 50 and 60) offer a unique and intuitive intelli-wide mode which takes normal 4:3 aspect ratio pictures and stretches to 16:9 in a such a way that only the extreme 15% (left and right) are changed- this helps insure that peoples faces and bodies aren't distorted- so suddenly Brad Pitt doesn't look 3 hundred pounds out of nowhere when you're watching the standard-aspect ratio version of "Seven" on an anamorphic (16:9) screen like the VP-50!!! The unit has all the inputs you could ask for, including DVI which is fast becoming the digital industry standard.
Adjustment and Tweak-ability: Vidikron's adjustment capability is almost limitless- you can adjust everything from individual color-band gain, offsets- every possible thing you need to adjust this set to the ISF standard D65 (6500K) neutral. I have ISF calibrated many MANY plasmas- with the exception of Runco sets, I have not been able to make ANY other plasma stay neutral D65 in as broad a range of greyscale as this one: typically, a plasma can be set to project D65 from approximately 30/50% all the way to about 70/75% greyscale. This means that extreme darks/blacks and extreme brights/whites stay neutral in between those parameters- however above or below that, and you lose accuracy in color and depth of field. I have calibrated a number of Vidikrons and I've been able to keep neutral D65 all the way from under 20% to over 85/90%!!! Suddenly you'll notice your blacks and darks have EXTREMELY more detail- this is only possible because of the ability to adjust indivual gains and offsets of each color band- many plasmas don't even come close to offering this level of adjustability- and that's what makes the Vidikron a true REFERENCE display device.
Lastly, the VP-50's price has been decreased! While it was 12,995 to begin with, Vidikron dropped the price to 9999.99 and the market is anticipating a drop in 05. Even at 10 grand, it's a better price than Pioneer Elite (AND better performance) plus actual street price is more around 8800 - 9200 or so. While this seems like alot, given the amount of viewing that can be done, along with the industry's best service and ONLY zero bad pixel guarentee, suddenly the choice seems alot more logical- spend 7500 to 8500 for a Fujitsu and get bad pixels, poor VHS and cable picture and a cheap looking plastic bezel? Nah, probably better to spend a few extra bucks- since a plasma is such a large purchase ANYWAY, and get yourself a truly INCREDIBLE and very gratifying plasma to own and watch...
Runco really did the right thing in acquring the Vidikron name- they brought it ALL back into the good ol' US of A, they completely revamped production, making Vidikron products even MORE incredible than they've been all along, PLUS they threw in Runco's superb proprietary processing technology and brought it to market at a price that you just can't argue with! This is clearly the best plasma arond- While the Runco is slightly better, I prefer the silver Vidikron bezel, and the marginal difference in performance is almost negligible -- Compare and Runco OR Vidikron versus any ANY other plasma on the market, and the difference is very substantial- especially if you compare how forgiving and excellent the Vidikron treats poor signals, versus the cold and unforgiving poor picture other plasmas show when running lesser quality signals like VHS and cable-box. The VP-50 is ABOSLUTELY recomended, and in light of the price decreases Vidikron excrecised, the VP-50, at under 10 grand is just the best thing out there!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 9400
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Epinions.com ID:
nick1326
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Location: Long Island, NY
Reviews written: 232
Trusted by: 93 members
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Music, Motorcycles, Drumming, Surfing, the finest cigars and living life to its fullest...
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