Audio Video News

Tired of stumbling around in pitch-blackness? Want to watch movies in a well-lit room? Runco's "CX" series of plasma screens lets you do just that. The 42", 50", and 61" models of the company's PlasmaWall displays offer incredible brightness and extraordinary contrast.

The PL-50cx, the "mama bear" in the series, sports a 50"-diagonal screen with 1500:1 contrast ratio and light output of 500 cd/m2. This combination allows Runco's plasma screens to attain black levels comparable to CRT projectors, without the necessity of eliminating all ambient light in the room.

Runco leverages the PL-50cx's brightness, contrast and native resolution of 1366 x 768 with its award-winning PFP™ ("Pixel-for-Pixel") Controller that scales NTSC or PAL video to the native resolution of the plasma display. The PFP Controller is claimed to "minimize solarization and contouring effects commonly found on other plasma displays."

Video inputs on the PL-50cx include one RGB/component, one RGB, one component, one S-Video, and one composite. The RGB input has a rated bandwith of 180MHz. Coupled to an external DTV decoder, the display is compatible with 480p, 720p, and 1080i digital video formats. Static graphics can be displayed at resolutions ranging from 640 x 480 pixels to 1600 x 1200. CX series plasma screens are rated to operate in temperatures ranging from 32° to 95° (0° to 35° C), and non-condensing humidity from 20% to 80%---in other words, don't expect it to work in the rain. The PL-50cx weighs 100 lbs. (45.36kg) without the dedicated stand, and is warranted for one year from the date of delivery to the end user.

The companion PFP Controller can be operated either via IR remote control or an RS-232 computer interface, and features one each of the following video inputs: component, composite, S-Video, and HDTV/Computer. The PFP Controller accepts inputs in many formats, including NTSC, PAL, 480p, 576p, 720p, 1080i, SVGA, XGA, and SXGA. Its native resolution of 1366 x 768 matches that of the PL-50cx. The PFP Controller comes with a two-year warranty.