Using the Television Continued and Remote Control

PureCinema Mode - A Lesson in Judder

I was extremely excited to test Pioneer's almost legendary PureCinema mode whereby the panel goes into 72Hz refresh mode and bypasses 2:3 pull-down issues by translating 24fps film into 72fps video (3:3). What I found was rather curious, and told me that this function will need to be set to taste. To get a better idea of how PureVision was affecting DVD video in real time I set the output of my Denon DVD-3910 to 480i and fed component video to the Pioneer. I queued up several video clips, but let's take Gladiator, Chapter XIV (14) "I Shall Cheer for You" where Maximus enters the marketplace and there is a beautiful, slow tilt down the side of the Coliseum. With Pure Cinema engaged in ADV (72Hz, 3:3) mode, the picture appeared to have artifacts which blurred the image somewhat and caused subtle jumpy lines during the tilt motion. In Standard mode, jaggies were completely eliminated and the image looked about as pristine as you can get (though judder was still present). I repeated this effect with several other scenes, many of which involved CG effects. I wasn't going to be satisfied, however, until I figured out exactly what might be happening.

Let's take a look at what PureCinema Mode is doing in ADV (3:3) as compared to Standard (2:3). In ADV mode, the system is cranking out 72 frames per second:

AAA BBB CCC DDD EEE FFF GGG HHH III JJJ KKK LLL MMM NNN OOO PPP QQQ RRR SSS TTT UUU VVV WWW XXX

The above represents 72 full frames of video occurring each second. No judder and no pull-down required. Each of the 24 frames per second (labeled A-X) stored on the DVD are recreated 3 times each. When we look at the Standard Mode (2:3) however, we get something like this:

AA BBB CC DDD EE FFF GG HHH II JJJ KK LLL MM NNN OO PPP QQ RRR SS TTT UU VVV WW XXX

2:3 pulldown takes 24 frames and yields 60 frames. It doesn't take a math genius to figure out that the eye is getting a lot more picture information using the ADV mode. Typically (and logically) this would appear to be a good thing... and it generally is. In reality, however, there are times when the on-screen image will suffer as a result. I found that this typically occurred with CG animation and wide, sweeping pans that involved highly-detailed images. The 24 fps film lacks a lot of information for these types of shots (they simply do not exist due to the speed of the film vs. on-screen motion). As a result, when the Pioneer triples up the frames you can get a bit of strobing and artifacts even though the image isn't jaggie or being incorrectly recreated.

Why does 2:3 pulldown fare any better? It's not necessarily better , it just tends to mask the issue through the judder and lower total frames. In the theater, 24 frames goes by so quickly your eyes simply perceive motion blur - as intended. When you "fill in the blanks" you sometimes introduce some issues that weren't perceived before.

On or off? Your choice. I actually liked it for 95% of all content viewed. The few artifacts I did see were competing against judder-free motion which is truly a thing to behold.

Audio Performance
How does the PRO-940HD function in terms of audio? HDMI audio is passed through to the television in 2.0 and the onboard speakers are actually quite good. They won't fill a 3000+ square foot room or provide chest-thumping bass, but they definitely get the job done. The low profile of the speakers and ability to engage some interesting options make it a cut above the typical speakers found in many entry-level televisions. A Focus option allows the set to "elevate" the sound to the center of the set using DSP. This is an on or off function and seemed to work quite well in fact. I also tested out the SRS and TruBass functions of the set. SRS is a great feature for those who simply cannot accommodate surround sound in their rooms. The effect is immersive, though a bit "phasey". It's definitely an improvement if you're trying to get emotionally involved in a movie and not doing critical listening. TruBass elevates some of the lower frequency information into the frequency range of the television's speakers and gives listeners the perception of lower bass response. If you have a subwoofer connected to the system I'd recommend leaving this off, but if you don't, then feel free to engage it and hear a taste of what you are missing.

Screen Size Adjustments
There are five (5) modes for viewing material on the plasma display. Each has its particular uses or strengths and users can cycle through the modes using the remote control:

4:3 - This mode enables side bars to appear on the screen (which can be configured to either solid gray or as black and white zoomed representations of the on-screen content. Oddly enough the bars cannot be configured to black, largely (we're guessing) due to efforts to prevent permanent or even temporary burn-in effects.

Full - This mode will be the most common mode and plays back 16:9 anamorphic content in its proper aspect ratio. It also expands 4:3 content evenly to fill the entire screen.

Zoom - This will evenly zoom the picture such that letterbox content can be seen closer to full screen.

Cinema - This mode is for 14:9 letterboxed content (a format that is a punt for weenies who can't handle 16:9 on 4:3 screens) and basically offers a different stretch level.

Wide - This is a logarithmic scaling mode whereby the edges of the screen are stretched farther than the center. Do NOT use this for 4:3 sports or you will almost certainly get a headache.

There are several other modes for PC including a Dot by Dot mode which does a pixel-perfect resolution match to the screen.

PRO-940HD as a Media Center

Media Center? Yes, the Pioneer PRO-940HD includes the ability to network files from connected PCs (yes, plural) within your home network... and it works! The requirements are simple: Have a Windows XP (Service Pack 2) PC on the network running the free Windows Media Connect 2.0 software. This software allows you to configure your PC for which files it will share with compatible network devices which may request these files (like the Pioneer). Setup took all of 5 minutes to download and install the software. It's likely that this software already exists on your PC, and it is embedded within the new Windows Media Player 11 software.

To connect to the PC, well... just go to the Home Media Gallery. That's about it. Now browse your music, movies and photos and you can get them to show up on the Pioneer plasma display. I was able to network with all of my music and images (at least all of the tracks I tried) and only ran into trouble when trying to play back unsupported AVI video files that were generated directly by my Pentax Optio digital camera. While not surprising or tragic, realize that if it's not WMV or MPEG 1 or 2 it probably won't play. My workaround was simply to use the USB jack located on the side of the TV or play the videos into the plasma using the AV cable that was supplied with the digital camera. This TV comes standard with a lot of options, so you can get just about anything done if you think hard enough.

Having a Media Center in your living room is quite a bonus for a television - especially when it comes without any extra boxes or cables to connect. The Home Media Gallery is easily accessed via the remote control - there's a big button called "Home Menu" that brings you to the place where you can select the Home Media Gallery. From there you can select the Media Navigator to browse videos, music and photos, connect to a USB drive, or view your playlists. A setup menu is available for checking version numbers, performing firmware updates or adjusting your network settings. If it were wireless it would be the perfect TV... but to be honest, it's getting pretty close as-is.

Browsing and playing back music was a very simple process, though some features I've come to love about Windows Media Center were noticeably absent. This included Album cover art and a simplified way to create and manage playlists. I found that the interface is somewhat cumbersome if you intend to do anything other than select songs or albums one at a time for playback. Simple playback worked as expected with fast forward and rewind controls functioning as well as the ability to repeat and randomize selections. Playlists were not well-integrated or easy to make and seemed to be an afterthought.

For photos, the interface worked equally well. It was an easy process to locate and play back folders of photos. Folder names were displayed along with the image name and format. Thumbnails of all photos located within a folder are displayed when navigating the contents. It may take a few seconds for the thumbnails to refresh, but the screen always updated and I was able to select either individual images or begin a slideshow of an entire folder. The resolution of the images on screen was perfect. The PRO-940HD does an excellent job of scaling. These were 5 megapixel photos (2560x1920) - way more than the resolution offered by the plasma television - and yet they displayed as if they were made to perfectly match the native resolution of the Pioneer. If you want to show off a family photo album, this is a great solution. My suggestion for photos is to create a separate set of folders specifically for playback, allowing you to configure custom slideshows to show off your favorite memories.

Remote Control

Sometimes I think people who have read my reviews for a long time might actually jump to the Remote Control section simply to see what kind of mood I'm in when I penned the evaluation. It's not that this remote control is bad or even sub-par, I think it's more that with this level of product they could have tossed in an RCA 4-in-1 and nobody would particularly care. This television is going to be utilized with a universal remote or some other control device that will render this section of the review useless. Sigh. In any case, the included remote functions well for the most part. I found the menu navigation easy to access, especially with the option of a dedicated "Return" button on the remote. Some like this method, while others prefer a simple "Left arrow" back-out feature. I'll take either, provided they are within easy reach of my thumb.

Pioneer opted to leave the more complicated and less-used features underneath a flip up cover located at the bottom of the remote. While this makes more a more clean appearance, it's an aesthetics thing and targeted towards not confusing any "significant others" who might have to use the remote to change volume or channels. One of the more comical results of this hide-away rears its head during use of any PIP or POP functions. You select PIP mode by toggling the "Split" button underneath the cover. Want to change the size of the primary screen? Jump up to the "Size" button near the top of the remote. Want to swap sources or move a PIP window to a different part of the screen? Go back down to the bottom. You get the idea.

The remote provides for direct input selection of all inputs... and this is an important and oft-missed feature that should be commended. In addition, the remote is entirely backlit, except for the buttons underneath the closed cover. The backlight stays on for a frustratingly short 5 seconds if no buttons are pressed. The good news is that pressing any button will activate the backlight. Comically, the dedicated light button is actually pretty difficult to activate compared to the other buttons, so you may want to get used to just hitting that "Enter" key in the middle of the keypad. Overall this is a great remote and it serves its purpose along with having the capabilities to control other devices in your system when needed.