Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

Scribner wrote:
> I cannot find any information on this set. Has anyone had any
> experience with it? Thanks.

There have been positive comments from buyers in the plasma/LCD forum
at ww.avsforum.com. Updating what I posted here in the earlier Pioneer
plasma thread: The 4312 is a repackaged version of the 4th generation
Pioneer commercial PDP-434CMX plasma. Which means it has no tuners -
neither NTSC or digital ATSC - nor a cablecard slot. It has the full set
of connectors but only one of each - 1 HDMI, 1 component, 1 S-Video and
1 VGA port. To use this as a TV, you need to have cable or satellite
set-top box or external ATSC tuner along with a A/V receiver to switch
between DVD, cable, VCR, whatever and to get 5.1 sound. If you have only
a cable box and DVD, you could run the cable set-top box into the
Pioneer via component cable and get a DVD player with a HDMI output (or
get a component to VGA adaptor cable and use the VGA port).

The Pioneer 4312 and the PDP-434CMX plasmas are from the same
generation as the consumer 4340 & 4345 models you see at Best Buy.
Pioneer is introducing new 4350 models in a few months which may be
considered 5th gen models, but I am not sure of that. In any case, the
Costco Pio 4312 should be one of the best HD plasmas available,
especially at that price, just so long as you know the black levels of
the Pioneers are considered their only weak point.

Alan F