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Amidst an increasingly crowded field of plasma monitors and makers, Pioneer Electronics is angling to stay above the fray by making panels designed for flexibility. That can mean anything from custom I/O modules or built-in applications to the touchscreen frame option that I reviewed with the Pioneer's third generation 50in. plasma monitor, the PDP-503CMX.
From private conference room to public display, this 50in. plasma is a pretty picture in a number of ways. A native wide XGA resolution of 1280768 delivers good sharpness, I/O possibilities are theoretically unlimited, integrated expansion hardware can make the monitor an all-in-one kiosk or computer, and the touchscreen (part number PDK-50HW2) make it all very user-friendly. However, Pioneer is plenty proud of all this potential and charges a pretty penny for the plasma alone, before you even talk options.
Are We Connecting?
The I/O panel on the back bottom of the 503CMX base unit may look a bit sparsely populated at first glance. It has a single 15-pin analog RGB input and a pass-through out; five BNCs, which can be programmed through the onscreen menu to accept RGBHV or component video; stereo-mini audio in and out; speaker terminals; and control ports. But there's not much else back there.
However, an open card slot amid the jacks can be filled with any number of present and future optional I/O modules. My test unit, for example, included Pioneer's PDA-5002 video card, which adds basic composite, S-Video, and a second set of audio jacks. Other modules could include SDI, CAT-5, DVI, DV via FireWire, or even some future format.
The trick is that these intriguing other modules are, at this time, only future and theoretical, and that makes Pioneer's approach to I/O flexibility work both ways. Certainly, there are...