I took some time to look at a bunch of movies on the Optoma PD50 to determine how well it performed in real world use (plus it gets old looking at all those patterns and color fields). For all of these evaluations I utilized the DVI-HDCP inputs which I fed with a Denon DVD-5900 outputting 720p. The entire system was also connected through an APC H15 power conditioner and voltage regulator for those who feel those details matter when talking about picture quality.

DVD: Robots (emphasis on color reproduction)

With good color and terrific detail, Robots seemed like a great place to start in evaluating the color potential of this plasma display. I was blown away that a non-Pixar company could do such a fantastic job, but after Ice Age I shouldn't have been too surprised to see another hit come out of the Blue Sky Studios crew. In particular, the sequence where Rodney meets up with Fender and goes through a virtual Rube Goldberg device to get from point A to point B in Robot City was amazing. Later, when Fender took a trip to the fiery realm of Ratchet's mother, the blacks and richer, deeper colors were equally impressive. Even though I knew the color temperature was far too high, it never really distracted me in real world viewing. It actually looked quite good in this CG-based film. Those who are wanting a picture that can really pop out on the screen will not be disappointed.

DVD: Kingdom of Heaven (picture detail and pixel refresh rate)

This Ridley Scott film counts Orlando Bloom, Jeremy Irons, Edward Norton among its cast and was absolutely stunning to watch. There is so much natural detail in this film, from landscapes, to costumes, to facial close-ups that I'd have to put it up there with Lord of the Rings (but not in terms of plot or execution or necessarily transfer quality). The other thing that caused me to want to use this film as evaluation material was its abundance of fast-moving action which served as a natural source for showing the speed of the display. The Optoma PD50A seemed to do a good job of handling the difficulties of keeping up with the abundance of quickly-changing material, and I never felt as if the picture was soft or blurred due to inability to quickly refresh the pixels.

Color in this movie was not as vibrant as Robots, being more earthy in nature, but it was rich nevertheless and showed off an almost uncanny ability of the Optoma to reach in and pull out color even in very dark scenes. Blacks were black, not gray, and shadow detail was present, not muted as with many LCD displays I have seen of late. I felt the beginning of the movie with Orlando working as a blacksmith and then fighting with his father in the forest brought out the full contrast range of this television.

DVD: Hitch (picture detail and color reproduction)

Hitch is just a great opportunity to see the color reproduction potential of a television. Does it look good? Does it produce vibrant imagery from what is a very dynamic and colorful film? The answer to both questions is a resounding 'yes'. I think Will Smith's classy but diverse wardrobe alone would have been enough to see how well the Optoma PD50A did with a myriad of colorful topics. Add in skin tone, a very detailed picture with plenty of close-ups, and stir in a healthy dose of external sets and you've got some source material that is as challenging as it is fun to watch. I felt the Optoma 50" plasma TV rendered this movie in stunning color that was vivid and realistic.

Cable Television

Standard definition cable TV was displayed with satisfactory results, though high definition is what you'll want to feed this unit - preferably via the HDMI outputs of a cable or satellite set-top box. Scaling was done sufficiently well and I utilized the stretch mode quite a bit, though it could potentially distract during football games and other events where the side of the picture is utilized quite a bit and there is motion across the entire screen. Jaggies were reduced, but still present in some instances, reflecting our HQV test results. Color was well saturated and black and white levels came through with apparent accuracy.

Conclusion

The Optoma PD50A plasma television is, as we mentioned, quite possibly the least expensive 50-inch plasma display on the market (street price). For users with digital sources it's almost a no-brainer, unless you're a stickler for D65 color temperature and a perfect color profile. In that case, you'll need to spend quite a bit more money to get this much television. For the rest, the Optoma represents a plasma display that is large, attractive and will be quite impressive to your friends. If it were priced higher my reservations would be greater, but for a street price under $2500 you can't really go wrong.

Optoma PD50A
MSRP: $3749
715 Sycamore Drive
Milpitas, CA 95035 USA
http:/www.optomausa.com/

Tel: 408-383-3700
Fax: 408-383-3702

Optoma Technology, Inc.
Optoma Technology, Inc. is an award-winning developer of projection and digital display products for business and home. The company manufactures multimedia projectors for mobile users, fixed installations and home theaters, HDTVs, LCD flat panel monitors and plasma displays. Optoma products combine superior image processing technologies with exceptional engineering and innovation to deliver images that are bright, crystal clear, and finely tuned for tone and color. Optoma products are sold through the company's global network of pro AV dealers, major consumer electronics retailers and Internet resellers. Optoma's worldwide headquarters is located in Milpitas , California . For more information, please call 888-942-2929 or visit optomausa.com.