DVD: The Fifth Element Superbit
Ok, Ok, I know. Everyone uses The Fifth Element in display reviews. Frankly, I can give you 10 good reasons why and only the first five are Milla Jovavich in "bandages." Quirky story, epic storyline, fantastic acting, and a killer DTS track on the Superbit version - well, who wouldn't want to watch it over and over? The colors were as vibrant as I've ever seen and there was little evidence of banding in dark scenes. The sets provided plenty of opportunities to check out the detail capable by this unit. With a good progressive signal, the clarity and colors on this unit was nothing short of phenomenal. The detail on some of the costumes for the aliens (a refreshing change from some of the poorly done CGI we are subjected to) became even more apparent with the clarity of the display.

Burn-in

Plasmas have a reputation for burn-in. But in recent years, such problems have been reduced... or so I've been told. Never one to "take someone's word for it," I went ahead and tested the display's resistance to burn-in. In order to torture the 50PHD as much as possible, I watched six straight hours of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. It was a tough assignment, but someone had to do it. I started by watching one game while DVRing the other. After the first was through, I watched the second. By that time, a new round of games was on so I watched a third. Of course, there was a static bar at the top for the score and a scrolling bar at the bottom during two of the games. To add to the torture, I viewed all six hours in "normal mode" with black bars on the sides. After all that, there was no evidence of burn-in with the unit. If you turn the screensaver on for a bit to clear out the screen each night I see very little reason to worry about long term burn-in with this unit.

The problems with the deinterlacer became very apparent when viewing my analog cable signal. Sports are notoriously hard on larger displays and soccer, with its wide viewing angles and tons of movement, was no exception. The players were little moving blurs and the lines on the field disintegrated into a fuzzy mess at the hint of movement. If you are planning on using this as your primary display, you need to make sure you are going to feed it a fairly high quality signal.

Conclusions and Overall Perceptions

So, it is a monitor, let's not beat around the bush. If you are looking for a huge screen that is easy to use and will provide a stunning picture with a good signal and you don't want to drop enough money to buy a car, this may be the display for you. Out of the box it needs little calibration though it may seem a bit cool. Overall, I could see this unit in use in a smallish dedicated home theater (where a projection system would be overkill) or as a second display used primarily for movies. The price is right and when fed with a good progressive source you'll be stunned at the picture. Just make sure you spring for the optional DVI or HDMI board.