The Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD plasma television emerged as a significant player in the home theater scene back in 2006. As part of the esteemed Pioneer Tv Elite line, this display aimed to deliver unparalleled picture quality and a suite of advanced features to discerning viewers. At a time when plasma technology was fiercely competing with LCD, the PRO-940HD represented Pioneer’s commitment to pushing the boundaries of display technology. Let’s delve into a comprehensive review of this classic television, exploring its specifications, performance, and why it remains a noteworthy piece of home theater history.
Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD: Unpacking the Specs
Before diving into the performance, it’s crucial to understand what the Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD brought to the table on paper. This Pioneer TV Elite model was packed with features designed to impress even the most demanding videophiles.
Key Specifications:
- Product Name: Elite PRO-940HD Plasma Television
- Manufacturer: Pioneer
- Review Date: December 05, 2006
- MSRP: $3499
Core Technology and Features:
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Plasma Panel Technology:
- High Definition / XGA Resolution (1,024 x 768p)
- 42” Diagonal / 16:9 Widescreen Aspect Ratio
- Deep encased cell structure
- Crystal emissive layer
- First surface PRO color filter
- New dielectric layer
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Pure Drive Video Features:
- Pure Drive II video system
- ACE IV (Advanced Continuous Emission IV)
- Active/Intelligent DRE (Dynamic Range Expansion)
- Advanced PureCinema
- Intelligent Color Enhancement
- Selectable Color Zone Mapping
- Color management system
- Color temperature adjustment
- Digital noise reduction
- MPEG noise reduction
- Block noise reduction
- Digital CTI (color transient improver)
- Natural resize
- Natural enhancer
- Digital chroma decoder
- ISFcc calibration ready
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Home Media Gallery:
- Supported audio formats: LPCM, MP3, WMA, WMA9 PRO, AC3, WAV
- Supported video formats: WMV9, MPEG1, MPEG2-PS, MPEG2-TS, MPEG-ASP
- Supported photo formats: JPG, TIFF, PNG, BMP, GIF
- Microsoft PlaysForSure compatible
- DLNA compliant/IP network compatible
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Dimensions & Weight:
- Dimensions: 41” x 26.75” x 4.5”
- Weight: 69.5 lbs.
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Convenience Features:
- Fully-integrated media receiver
- Built-in dual NTSC and ATSC TV Tuners
- CableCard interface
- Independent HDMI inputs with 1080p/24 capability
- Aspect Ratio Control: Wide, Zoom, Cinema, Full, 4:3, and “dot by dot” for PC
- TV Guide ON Screen interactive program guide
- AV selection memory (Standard, Dynamic, PURE, Movie, Games, User)
- Split screen/Picture-in-Picture
- V-chip
- Full function backlit learning remote control
- Table top stand included
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Audio Features:
- 13 watt x 2 Stereo Amplifier with built-in Stereo Speakers and TruBass
- SRS WOW/FOCUS/TruBass
- Bass boost loudness
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Networking & Connectivity:
- RS-232C
- USB 2.0
- LAN (RJ45) Ethernet for networking
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Inputs:
- Antenna x 2 (F-Type Connection, NTSC/ATSC)
- HDMI (with HDCP) x 2
- Composite x 3 with L/R audio
- S-video x 2 with L/R audio
- Component Video x 3 with L/R audio
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Outputs:
- Composite Video x 1 with composite L/R Audio
Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD front view showcasing its elegant design, a testament to Pioneer’s Elite series.
The Pioneer Elite Advantage: Technology and Build
The Pioneer TV Elite series was known for its superior build quality and cutting-edge technology, and the PRO-940HD was no exception. The review unit, despite arriving with a damaged box, showcased Pioneer’s robust construction, a testament to the brand’s reputation for durability. The aesthetic design was equally impressive, featuring a beautiful piano gloss finish and a beveled bezel that exuded sophistication. A low-profile, bottom-mounted speaker stretched across the display, covered by a metal grill with fine perforations, adding to the sleek look. The integrated stand provided stability and positioned the screen at an ideal viewing height.
The PRO-940HD’s connectivity was a standout feature. The side panel offered convenient access to composite and component inputs, along with a USB port. However, the rear panel revealed a comprehensive array of connections, indicating this Pioneer TV Elite was designed to be the heart of a sophisticated home theater system.
Front view of the Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD highlighting its sleek piano black finish and integrated speaker bar, embodying the premium design of the Pioneer Elite range.
Diving into the Features: What Made the PRO-940HD Elite?
The marketing jargon surrounding televisions can often be overwhelming, but understanding the key features of the Pioneer TV Elite PRO-940HD is essential to appreciate its capabilities.
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First-Surface Pure Color Filter: Addressing the issue of screen reflection in plasma displays, Pioneer implemented a First-Surface PRO Color Filter. This innovative approach eliminated a layer of glass, significantly reducing secondary reflections and enhancing contrast ratios by a claimed 20% over previous generations of Pioneer TV Elite models. This filter also contributed to a lighter overall weight, a welcome side benefit.
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Deep Encased Cell Structure: Pioneer’s unique Deep Encased Cell Structure physically separated each pixel with four walls, creating deeper pockets for phosphors. This design minimized light leakage between cells, resulting in a sharper image and improved color control. This technology was a key differentiator for the Pioneer TV Elite in terms of picture clarity.
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ISFccc Calibration Configuration: Recognizing the needs of videophiles, the PRO-940HD offered ISF Custom Calibration Configuration Mode (ISFccc). Licensed by the Imaging Science Foundation, this feature allowed certified calibrators to fine-tune contrast, tint, sharpness, and color levels for both day and night viewing modes. This professional-grade calibration capability emphasized the Pioneer TV Elite’s commitment to image accuracy.
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Advanced PureCinema II: Judder, a common artifact in film playback, was tackled head-on with Pioneer’s Advanced PureCinema II. This technology reproduced film content at 72Hz using 3:3 film-to-video conversion, effectively eliminating the 2:3 pull-down that caused judder in typical displays. The result was exceptionally smooth motion, setting a new standard for film purists seeking a true cinematic experience on their Pioneer TV Elite.
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Home Media Gallery: In a forward-thinking move for 2006, the PRO-940HD incorporated a Home Media Gallery. This feature allowed users to connect the Pioneer TV Elite to a home network via Ethernet, enabling access to digital media content stored on PCs. Supporting a variety of audio, video, and photo formats, and compatible with Windows Media Connect, the Home Media Gallery transformed the TV into a basic media center, a feature ahead of its time.
Connectivity and User Experience
The Pioneer PRO-940HD was designed with user-friendliness in mind. Input configuration was highly flexible, with each input capable of retaining independent calibration settings. This was crucial for users connecting multiple devices with varying output characteristics, ensuring optimal picture quality for each source. Direct input selection via the remote further simplified operation and integration with universal remote systems.
Using the Pioneer TV Elite was intuitive, with three primary modes: Television, Display (for external A/V sources), and Media Gallery. The on-screen menus were logically organized, making navigation and adjustments straightforward.
Rear input panel of the Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD, showcasing a wide array of connectivity options, designed for comprehensive home theater integration.
Bottom input panel of the Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD, highlighting additional ports including HDMI and Ethernet, demonstrating the extensive connectivity of this Pioneer Elite television.
PRO-940HD as a Television: Tuner and TV Guide
As a standalone television, the Pioneer TV Elite PRO-940HD excelled. Its integrated tuner was described as exceptional, delivering pristine image quality even from standard cable signals. The inclusion of a TV Guide ON Screen Program Guide system was another significant advantage. Seamlessly integrated with cable networks, it provided automatic updates for up to two weeks of programming information. The user interface was visually appealing and easy to navigate, enhancing the overall television viewing experience. Channel setup and configuration were also user-friendly, with intuitive menus for scanning channels and managing parental controls.
On-screen TV Guide interface of the Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD, illustrating its user-friendly program navigation and comprehensive channel information.
Channel setup menu of the Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD, demonstrating the straightforward process for configuring cable TV channels and accessing tuner settings.
PRO-940HD as a Display: Picture Quality and Calibration
When used as a display with external sources, the Pioneer TV Elite PRO-940HD truly shined. Connected to a high-quality DVD player, it delivered exceptional picture quality, leveraging its advanced video processing features like PureCinema and noise reduction.
Basic picture adjustments, including brightness, contrast, color, tint, and sharpness, were readily accessible. However, the “Pro Adjust Menu” unlocked the full potential of the display. This menu housed advanced controls like Color Detail, offering color temperature presets and custom RGB gain/cut adjustments for precise calibration. Color Transient Improvement (CTI) enhanced color edges, and comprehensive Noise Reduction features (NR, MPEG NR, BNR) allowed for fine-tuning image clarity. The display also offered Dynamic Contrast and Black Level settings for further picture customization. Gamma modes provided different luminance curves, catering to various viewing preferences.
Calibration was described as a pleasure, with the Pioneer TV Elite holding its settings accurately across the luminance range, a mark of high-quality displays.
Main menu interface of the Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD, showing access to key settings and features, designed for easy navigation and user control.
Pro Adjust menu of the Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD, revealing advanced picture settings for detailed image customization and professional calibration.
RGB adjustment menu of the Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD, allowing for precise color temperature calibration and fine-tuning of red, green, and blue levels.
PureCinema Mode: Mastering Motion
Pioneer’s PureCinema mode was a highlight feature, designed to address judder and enhance film playback. In its “ADV” mode, PureCinema operated at 72Hz, employing 3:3 pulldown to convert 24fps film content to 72fps video, effectively eliminating judder. While generally beneficial, the review noted that in certain scenes, particularly those with CG animation or detailed panning shots, the “ADV” mode could introduce subtle artifacts or strobing. The “Standard” mode utilized 2:3 pulldown, maintaining smooth images with minimal jaggies, albeit with some judder. Ultimately, the choice between modes was presented as a matter of personal preference, with “ADV” mode favored for most content for its judder-free motion.
Audio Performance and Screen Size Adjustments
The PRO-940HD’s integrated audio was considered surprisingly good for a television. The built-in stereo speakers, coupled with TruBass and SRS WOW/FOCUS options, provided a decent audio experience, although not a replacement for a dedicated surround sound system. A “Focus” option used DSP to elevate the sound image, and SRS offered a pseudo-surround effect.
Screen size adjustments offered five modes: 4:3, Full, Zoom, Cinema, and Wide, catering to various content aspect ratios. The 4:3 mode included configurable side bars (gray or zoomed B&W), while the Full mode displayed 16:9 anamorphic content correctly and stretched 4:3 content to fill the screen. Zoom and Cinema modes addressed letterboxed content, and the Wide mode provided a logarithmic stretch. For PC use, a Dot by Dot mode offered pixel-perfect resolution matching.
Aspect ratio modes displayed on the Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD, showcasing options for viewing different content formats correctly, including side bars for 4:3 content.
PRO-940HD as a Media Center: Home Media Gallery in Action
The inclusion of a Home Media Gallery transformed the Pioneer TV Elite PRO-940HD into a basic media center. By connecting to a home network running Windows Media Connect, users could access and play digital media files (music, movies, and photos) directly on the television. Setup was straightforward, and the interface was relatively intuitive for browsing and playing media. While playlist management was somewhat rudimentary, basic playback functions worked as expected. Photo playback was particularly impressive, with the PRO-940HD scaling high-resolution images effectively.
Home Media Gallery interface of the Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD, illustrating its media browsing capabilities and network connectivity features for accessing digital content.
Music browsing interface within the Home Media Gallery of the Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD, showcasing its ability to access and play digital music files from networked devices.
Playlist management screen in the Home Media Gallery of the Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD, demonstrating its basic playlist functionality for organizing and playing music selections.
Photo browsing interface of the Home Media Gallery on the Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD, displaying thumbnails of digital photos and folders for easy navigation and slideshow viewing.
Remote Control: Functionality and Design
The included remote control was functional and well-designed, though perhaps not exceptionally luxurious for a Pioneer TV Elite product. Menu navigation was easy, with a dedicated “Return” button. Less frequently used buttons were located under a flip-up cover, contributing to a cleaner look and simplifying everyday operation. Direct input selection was a notable feature, and the remote was fully backlit (except for the hidden buttons), although the backlight duration was somewhat short. Despite minor ergonomic quirks related to the hidden buttons, the remote served its purpose effectively and could also control other devices.
Remote control of the Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD, highlighting its backlit buttons and functional layout, designed for user-friendly operation and system control.
Calibration and Benchmarking: Objective Performance
Calibration of the Pioneer TV Elite PRO-940HD was performed using Datacolor’s Colorfacts Professional 6.0 software. The display excelled in calibration, maintaining accuracy across the grayscale range. Black levels were a standout, contributing to impressive real-world contrast ratios (661:1 ANSI pre-calibration).
CIE Chart and Color Reproduction:
The CIE chart analysis revealed that while color reproduction was generally excellent, green saturation was slightly diminished in initial measurements. However, in practical viewing, colors appeared vibrant and rich.
CIE color chart for the Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD, illustrating its color gamut coverage and accuracy in reproducing the HDTV color standard.
Grayscale and Gamma Performance:
Pre-calibration, the grayscale showed excessive blues and reds, but post-calibration, it became exceptionally flat. The gamma luminance curve was initially slightly brighter than ideal, but calibration improved black levels and shadow detail, resulting in a pleasing s-curve gamma response.
| Before Calibration | After Calibration |
|---|---|
Brightness uniformity was measured at an impressive 98%, highlighting the panel’s consistent performance.
Audioholics/HQV Bench Testing:
The PRO-940HD achieved a benchmark score of 85 out of a perfect 130, a strong result for a flat panel display. It excelled in noise reduction, detail, and jaggie elimination. However, it failed the horizontal scrolling test and some cadence tests, indicating areas for potential improvement in deinterlacing and cadence error correction.
| Test | Max Points | Component 480i Score | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Color Bar | 10 | 10 | Pass |
| Jaggies #1 | 5 | 5 | Pass |
| Jaggies #2 | 5 | 5 | Pass |
| Flag | 10 | 10 | Pass |
| Detail | 10 | 10 | Pass |
| Noise | 10 | 10 | Pass* |
| Motion adaptive Noise Reduction | 10 | 10 | Pass** |
| Film Detail | 10 | 10 | Pass |
| Cadence 2:2 Video | 5 | 0 | Fail |
| Cadence 2:2:2:4 DV Cam | 5 | 0 | Fail |
| Cadence 2:3:3:2 DV Cam | 5 | 0 | Fail |
| Cadence 3:2:3:2:2 Vari-speed | 5 | 0 | Fail |
| Cadence 5:5 Animation | 5 | 0 | Fail |
| Cadence 6:4 Animation | 5 | 0 | Fail |
| Cadence 8:7 animation | 5 | 0 | Fail |
| Cadence 3:2 24fps film | 5 | 5 | Pass |
| Scrolling Horizontal | 10 | 0 | Fail*** |
| Scrolling Rolling | 10 | 10 | Pass |
| Total Points | 130 | 85 |
Viewing Evaluation: Movies and TV Content
Real-world viewing tests with movies like “Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl,” and “Serenity” showcased the Pioneer TV Elite PRO-940HD’s exceptional black levels and detail rendering in dark scenes. The display excelled at revealing shadow detail and creating a lifelike, three-dimensional picture. Color reproduction was vibrant, despite CIE chart measurements suggesting slightly diminished greens. Standard television viewing, including cable TV, also impressed, with the tuner delivering clean and crisp images, highlighting the display’s excellent scaling capabilities.
Scene from “Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” on the Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD, demonstrating its ability to render detailed armor and battle sequences with clarity and depth.
Another scene from “Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” on the Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD, showcasing its excellent detail in facial features and landscape textures.
Close-up of Gollum from “Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” on the Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD, highlighting the television’s capability to display detailed CG animation with lifelike quality.
Scene from “Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl” on the Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD, demonstrating its vivid color reproduction, particularly in bright red uniforms and detailed costumes.
Another scene from “Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl” on the Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD, showcasing its excellent black levels and shadow detail in dimly lit scenes.
Scene from “Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl” on the Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD, highlighting the rich color palette and fine detail in clothing and background elements.
Close-up scene from “Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl” on the Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD, emphasizing its ability to display intricate details in facial features and textures.
Scene from “Serenity” on the Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD, demonstrating its color accuracy and detail in space environments and sci-fi visuals.
Another scene from “Serenity” on the Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD, showcasing its ability to handle complex lighting and shadow detail within the frame.
Scene from “Serenity” on the Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD, highlighting its performance in displaying action sequences with clarity and motion handling.
Close-up from “Serenity” on the Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD, emphasizing its ability to render fine textures and facial details with precision.
Screenshot from “CSI: Miami” on the Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD, demonstrating its vibrant color reproduction and sharpness in displaying broadcast television content.
Screenshot from Discovery Channel on the Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD, highlighting its detail and clarity in displaying documentary and nature programming.
Screenshot from “Futurama” on the Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD, showcasing its ability to render animated content with smooth lines and vibrant colors.
Another screenshot from “CSI: Miami” on the Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD, further demonstrating its excellent color reproduction and image clarity for broadcast television.
Burn-in Resistance: A Plasma Concern Addressed
Temporary burn-in effects were not observed during normal use, suggesting the 9th generation plasma panel was significantly more resistant to burn-in than earlier models. While caution against prolonged display of static 4:3 content was still advised, the PRO-940HD demonstrated improved burn-in resilience compared to entry-level plasma televisions of the time.
Conclusion: A Pioneer in Plasma Excellence
The Pioneer Elite PRO-940HD plasma television stood out as a premium display, justifying its Pioneer TV Elite designation. While priced higher than entry-level models, its superior picture quality, extensive feature set, and robust build quality offered a compelling value proposition for discerning viewers. The emphasis on black levels, coupled with advanced video processing and calibration options, resulted in a truly exceptional viewing experience. The PRO-940HD not only met but exceeded expectations, setting a high bar for flat panel displays and earning a strong recommendation as a benchmark for picture quality and performance. For those seeking a high-end home theater experience in 2006, and even considering the legacy of plasma today, the Pioneer TV Elite PRO-940HD remains a testament to Pioneer’s commitment to excellence in display technology.
The Score Card
| Metric | Rating |
|---|---|
| Detail and Resolution | |
| Contrast and Black Levels | |
| Color Reproduction | |
| Calibration Options | |
| Build Quality | |
| Ease of Setup | |
| Remote Control | |
| Performance | |
| Value |
