Pioneer PRO 151FD

When I first saw this TV online, I laughed about the idea of spending $4500 (at Best Buy) on a toy. I did plan to get the 50″ Elite at Best Buy, because $3000 was the most I was willing to pay for a large TV, and the only reason I considered the Elite over the wonderful 58″ Panasonic was because I compared the Elite to the Panasonic and fell in love with the Pioneer. However, long story short, my wife wasn’t satisfied with the smaller Elite, so I shelled out the money for the 60″ (domestic politics, am I right fellas?!).

Setup on this TV will take you at least a couple of hours unless you’re an expert at electronics setup; there are a lot of screws and parts, and because it takes for-freakin’-ever to find all the digital channels during set-up (if you have a cable or satellite box, you can probably bypass channel set-up, which is what I did halfway through). Thankfully, Pioneer’s manual is fairly intuitive and thought-out (plus it’s a pretty, glossy black, so it looks fancy). Oh, and – if it matches your room – be sure to get a piano black stand to match the TV.

Now, for the actual TV review. To sum it up: Oh my gosh!!!! This is the best television I have ever owned, which is saying a lot because I previously had a Marenz 65″ DLP, which is supposed to have the best picture and sound you can buy. But the Pioneer blows this baby out of the water!

Picture: First off, the picture really is the best you can get as far as HD is concerned. The blacks are the best part; they are so deep and beautiful that it really does look like you’re in a blacked-out forest. The light colors are also spectacular. Furthermore, there are multiple picture adjustments to find your sweet spot, and there’s even a color sensor included that will automatically adjust the picture to the changing light in the room. This is great if your living room is brightly lit. However, I haven’t used the color sensor or any of the adjustments much because the picture was wonderful right out of the box. One caveat: standard-def pictures don’t look that great. Mind you, it’s partially dependent on what the station is, but still, if you don’t have a HD box you’re not going to be happy with this (although why you would buy an HDTV and not have some type of HD box is beyond me).

Sound: The sound is wonderful. Although there is not a whole lot of bass (what did you expect for TV speakers?), the sound is good enough that you won’t need a home theater system running all the time. Separation is good, volume is excellent, and there’s virtually no distortion.

TV itself: Lots of hook-ups for virtually everything you need. There’s even a PC hookup to connect you laptop (although I haven’t used it yet). The HDMI hookups are easily found, and everything is clearly marked, so setup is a breeze. The only thing it’s missing is a USB hookup for firmware updates and stuff, but since Pioneer is getting out of the business, I doubt there are any firmware updates coming. I haven’t checked energy consumption, but I have my TV set to energy-saver mode (keep in mind, a big drawback to plasmas is they consume a lot of juice, so if you’re looking to save the environment or on your energy bill, look at LCD or LED TVs).

To conclude, this is the best TV you can buy. While the price is high and standard-def viewing is mediocre on most channels, there’s a reason why Pioneer TVs (and for that matter Apple computers) cost so much: you’re getting the best.

Reviewed by : Andrew H. Smith,   Jun 16, 2009