Pioneer Plasma TVs compliant with EICTA’s "HD ready" label

Pioneer is proud to announce that its European plasma TVs are already compliant with EICTA’s newly published Conditions for HD Labelling of Display Devices and the associated “HD ready” label (1).

High Definition video – from HDTV broadcasting or HD package media – is bringing the European consumer the single most important advancement in image quality since the introduction of colour TV. Pioneer has a proven track record in delivering “future ready”(2) plasma TVs to the market, making the brand the first choice for consumers looking for state-of-the-art flat TV technology, stylish design, and best-in-class viewing pleasure, based on a long-term rewarding investment.

Highly recognized by the industry press, the 43 inch PDP-435HDE model received the prestigious 'European Plasma Television of the Year 2004-2005' EISA award following the recent launch of Pioneer's fifth generation Plasma TV line-up.

According to Pioneer, the successful deployment of High Definition Television (HDTV) in Europe will largely depend on a solid installed base of “HD ready” displays. Pioneer believes that the introduction of HDTV in Europe should not be hindered by possible device-to-device compatibility issues, which is why clear guidelines supported by an authoritative industry body are required. At the same time unnecessary complexity in minimum specifications should be avoided as it would lead to undesirably high consumer equipment costs. The EICTA conditions reflect such considerations.

Next to that, a straightforward communication to both consumers and trade on “HD ready” display products will further boost the increasing demand for HD source products and services, thus giving a positive signal to the European broadcast content & service providers. This in turn will create opportunities for Europe ’s related economy in the near future.

Following the pioneering launch of the HD1 broadcast channel on January 1st 2004 , at last also consumers in most parts of Europe are able to experience high-quality entertainment from High Definition broadcast. Acting as a catalyst, since then multiple initiatives have been announced by national broadcasters and operators – e.g. Premiere in Germany, BSkyB in the UK, TPS and CanalSatellite in France – and many more are expected to follow.

“Pioneer strongly supports the EICTA initiative. We are also very happy to say that not only our current line-up of European plasma TVs (Pioneer PDP-435FDE, PDP-435HDE, PDP-435XDE, PDP-505HDE and PDP-505XDE), but even our previous generation models (PDP-434HDE and PDP-504HDE) are already compliant with the EICTA “HD ready” minimum requirements. This future readiness obviously offers us a competitive advantage” says Philippe Coppens, Manager Technology & Product InfoManagement, Consumer Plasma Division at Pioneer Europe, “but equally substantiates Pioneer’s ongoing commitment to deliver Added Value to its customers”.

Related Link:

Conditions for High Definition Labelling of Display Devices - EICTA

(1) EICTA is the European Industry Association for Information Systems, Communication Technologies and Consumer Electronics.

(2) Pioneer clarifies "future ready" as being ready for future developments in as far as possible and taking the lead in implementing the latest technologies.