Pioneer European Kuro lineup sign of things to come?
By Steven Kim 
posted Apr 7th 2008 2:18PM
posted Apr 7th 2008 2:18PM
There's one model year to go before Pioneer switches over to Panasonic-sourced plasma panels, but the European Kuro lineup announced for 2008 gives some indication of where things are headed. We like the verbiage and strategy: LCDs for displays less than 50-inches, plasmas for the ultimate quality in the 50 - 60-inch category, and 3-chip D-ILA projectors for wall-sized entertainment. Blanketing the size spectrum is good, and notice that the delineation between LCD and plasma is in both size and picture quality; lots of eyes will be on whether the Kuro hallmarks carried over to the LCDs supplied by Sharp. Everything is treated to the all-important (for marketing, at least) 1920x1080 resolution. More significantly, the plasmas claim to have five times better black level performance than the previous generation's. Finally, the listed availability dates are telling: the KRF-9000FD projector shows up in April (any day now); plasma models PDP-LX5090 and PDP-LX6090 in June; KRL-32V and KRL-37V LCDs wait until August; and no word on the KRL-46V LCD which size-wise is in striking distance of a 50-inch plasma. Follow the link for the full press release. [Via HDTVOrigin]
Considering the new deal with Panasonic, I would assume that the projector is the Panasonic PT-x2000 whatever; the 1080p panasonic projector. It's good, but the Epsons are a bit better, and can fetch a little more cash.
It'll be interesting to see what projector that is.
andy -- it'll be very interesting to see if there's any difference between the Kuro pj and the Panasonic (if that is what it's based on). One of the biggest questions facing the Panny-sourced panels will be if Pioneer electronics will give an edge in picture quality.
I don't know about you, but my AE2000 uses LCD panels, the Kuro projector described here uses D-ILA. Unfortunately, I doubt it'll come under the JVCs' pricepoints...
I'd say Kuro is just marketing now. But it always was.
This just makes it more clear. It's like XBR (or even Bravia was for short bit as Sony made RPTV Bravias).
How was the Kuro "just marketing"? The reviews show what a superior set it was/is..
"How was the Kuro "just marketing"? The reviews show what a superior set it was/is.."
longhairbilly, "why not the LS2/LS7?" just shows the mindset of the general consumer. sony could sell a box of sh!t in a box and sell it based on its dynamic contrast ratio, maybe by adding a couple of backlights to the box that the sh!t was in.
I own a Sharp.
The Kuro is advertised with black levels that are not reproduceable in a room with a light on, nor possible if even a single pixel is turned on on the display. Furthermore, the range of contrast is higher than that which is even possible to express with an NTSC or HDTV signal.
My Sharp has a stated (dynamic) contrast ratio of 18,000:1. This number is COMPLETE BS, just like the figures given by Plasmas like the Kuro.
In the end, why don't I have a plasma? Because they are ridiculously expensive, ridiculously heavy (my 52" is lighter than a 40" plasma) and use ridiculous amounts of power. On top of that, since I don't have A/C, the extra heat they throw off just makes me more uncomfortable in the summer. Finally, since plasma (like DLP) cannot display any shades of color at all (or grey), it must rapidly switch on and off individual pixels to simulate gradients, and this is what turns me off.
With the Kuro, you are being sold a bill of goods. Is it a good set? Yeah. But it's all about the marketing. If Kuros (meaning plasma Kuros) were so goddamn great, Pioneer wouldn't have exited the market.
And now they're going to take the name they built up and just slap it on anything they can. LCD? Yep. Cell phone? Sure. I can't wait to get my Kuro wristwatch. In the end, it won't be people like me with my allegedly groundless attacks who bring the Kuro name down into the gutter, it'll be Pioneer's own marketing. It's too bad too. Pioneer sure showed me the way when I bought my LaserDisc player from them and they were first into the market (in the US at least) with their (50"?) plasma years ago.
"In the end, why don't I have a plasma? Because they are ridiculously expensive, ridiculously heavy (my 52" is lighter than a 40" plasma) and use ridiculous amounts of power."
I don't own a Pioneer, but my 42" Panasonic Plasma HDTV is NOT ridiculously expensive. And it produces the best blacks available from 2006. My Panny also doesn't use ridiculous amounts of power (more than an LCD but it is about as much as -- and possibly less than -- a CRT uses).
"If Kuros (meaning plasma Kuros) were so goddamn great, Pioneer wouldn't have exited the market."
No, it is supply-and-demand. There isn't enough demand for a top-notch quality plasma set (at least not enough to make the panels in a cost-effective manner. Pioneer is losing money, so they are outsourcing their manufacturing. Unfortunately, the general public associates plasma televisions with burn-in {which was a real problem with the earlier models but is not much of problem if you don't watch your television in Vivid Mode (which looks like crap anyways, IMHO) and give it a 100-hour break-in period}.
Your "not ridiculously expensive" 42" Plasma is only 42". Take a look at 52" or bigger plasmas. I came from a 55" RPTV, and the only flat panel to replace it with even near the same size without breaking the bank was a 52" LCD. a 50"+ plasma was absurdly expensive. Like about twice what I paid.
Again, if these things were so great, they wouldn't be discontinuing them. You basically blame the problem on lack of taste by customers, but what I'm saying is if the difference were really noticeable to customers, they would sell and Pioneer could make money selling them. The reason this isn't the case is because the stated advantages of plasma are greatly overstated and for many people don't amount to anything.
You cannot prevent burn-in by breaking in your TV. Burn in is due to the exponential decay of the brightness of the lit elements (I'll call them phosphors even though they are not actually phosphors). They decay over their lifetime. If some are on more than others, they will get dimmer, and show what we call "burn-in". What I do today (i.e. break-in) cannot prevent differential use of the phosphors in the future and thus cannot prevent burn-in.
ahh buying tech from JVC, Pana and Sharp...europe is 50hz also?
Ah, can't wait till these come out, can finally replace my 2001/2002 panasonic with an full HD display with better contrast and HDMI. I don't think that LCD displays can cut it at the moment, they are still blurry and when hey age distorted areas appear over time, might wait till oleds mature.