The top chart shows the P50XHA10US's gray scale relative to its color temperature at various levels of intensity, or brightness (20 IRE is dark gray; 100 IRE is bright white). The gray scale as set by the factory, in the 2000K color-temperature mode and the fine picture mode, measures too far off of the black body curve to get a color temperature with dark images and somewhat blue with brighter images. After making adjustments using the Photo Research PR-650, the gray scale measures less purple, within 400 Kelvin of D6500, the accurate color temperature, across the entire range. This is an improvement compared with the performance before calibration. The bottom chart shows the gray scale (or color temperature) relative to the color points of the display's red, green, and blue phosphors. Green (x=0.287, y=0.644), red (x=0.642, y=0.347), and blue (x=0.153, y=0.079) are close to those specified by SMPTE, which means that the display will be able to reproduce all of the colors available in the system. Green is somewhat more green than SMPTE specifies. The light output was approximately 19.5 foot-lamberts. All picture modes crushed whites to some extent. The display has excellent DC restoration in the fine and real2 picture modes, decent DC restoration in the static mode, and terrible DC restoration in all other modes. The P50XHA10US has an excellent color decoder and displays out to DVD's limits with NTSC sources and, using our Leader LT-446 HD generator, is capable of resolving 720p DTV signals out to 690 (per picture height) and out to the limits of the 1,366-by-768 panel with 1080i sources.—GM

The end of chapter 12 on the Gladiator DVD is a good video test in many respects. It's a flyover of ancient Rome and the Coliseum. First up is 3:2-pulldown detection. Through the component and S-video connections, the Fujitsu picked up the 3:2 sequence instantly and created an artifact-free image. Through the composite input, the Fujitsu took far longer to pick up the 3:2. It did create some cross-color artifacts in the finer detail areas, but no more than I'd expect with a composite signal. While the composite input looked good overall, there was some dot crawl and hanging dots when, and only when, the display tried to process film-based sources. This was more noticeable with the Snell & Wilcox Zone Test Plate on Video Essentials. With video-based sources, the composite signal looked fine.

Regardless of what type of signal I fed the P50XHA10US, there was nothing to suggest that its scaling was anything but great. There were no artifacts that I could trace to the processing. I even tried to throw the display for a loop by feeding it the DTS Demo Disc #3 DVD that I use to torture DVD players. On this disc is a trailer for Apollo 13 that has an incorrect 3:2 sequence. On most displays, every diagonal line has a jagged, stair-stepped look to it. On the worst displays, motion is accompanied by a combing of the edges (like someone took a comb to the edge). While the Fujitsu's processing abilities weren't quite as good as those of the best DVD players, they were better than those of almost every other display that I've put through this test.

Most interesting was that, while test patterns suggested the plasma would act a certain way, with actual video material, it acted differently—almost always better. However, there is one facet that I need to mention: video noise. The Fujitsu didn't exhibit any more or less noise than other plasmas, but it was still there. Sit too close, and you're treated to a distracting level of artifacts. At a normal viewing distance (say, five times the picture height or about 125 inches in this case), the noise is almost unnoticeable. Also unnoticeable is any phosphor lag. Many plasmas' phosphors are slow to go dark after displaying a bright image. It looks like there's a ghost of the previous image over whatever new one you're watching. It can be very annoying; thankfully, the Fujitsu showed no such problem.

Overall, I was impressed with the P50XHA10US, even if its name is more than a mouthful and takes forever to type. Sure, the first thing you'll see is that it's a plasma. However, unlike most of its brethren, you'll stick around to watch it, thanks to a detailed, vibrantly colorful image. In other words, sure it has looks, but it has brains, too.