Pioneer stuns with new Kuro plasmas and LCD TVs. Pioneer has confirmed its position as the UK’s premier plasma TV maker with a range of Kuro displays unveiled at a London launch today.

Pioneer’s expansion into LCD TV territory shouldn’t come as a surprise - it’s been hinting that it would make the move since CES 2008 in January. The biggest news however is that Pioneer is now touting its own LCD TVs, with panels supplied by TV maker Sharp. Pioneer also took the wraps off a new high-end D-ILA projector.

Pioneer’s strategy shift

The company also launched a range of home cinema systems today, dubbed the LX range. These have been designed to work seamlessly with the Kuro and follow on from the existing LX01. Pioneer’s hand has also been forced by continuing losses in its plasma business. This resulted in its decision in March to hand over plasma panel manufacture to Panasonic.

Pioneer’s Jim Catcheside puts it like this: “we don’t make our plasmas to work with Panasonic Blu-ray players. We make them to work with our Blu-ray players.” The integration doesn’t stop at the CEC control level either, but extends right through to the component level.The technology inside the Kuro compliments the technology in Pioneer’s Blu-ray player to give you an even better viewing experience.

Pioneer Kuro in display shoot-out

Much of Pioneer’s emphasis during its presentation was on how black levels enhanced the movie viewing experience for home cinema aficionados - i.e. the kind of people who sit in a very dark room to watch a movie - and it’s proud to be a niche player in this respect.

Pioneer, of course, no longer quotes contrast levels - Catcheside says its G9 TVs have such deep black levels that quoting a contrast level is meaningless. Even last year’s breath-taking G8 plasmas pale significantly by comparison. Catcheside then showed off the Pioneer Kuro’s superiority in display technology, comparing it to a Panasonic Viera plasma display with 30,000:1 contrast ratio, and a 52-inch Samsung LCD TV with a claimed contract of 500,000:1.

Discerning entertainment junkies

We have to say though Pioneer’s Kuro plasmas do display absolutely stunning pictures, which are matched by the sound emanating from its new home cinema receiver range. Its obsession with black levels won’t matter a jot to your average TV buyer though - especially those who’re likely to buy a LCD TV because they are significantly cheaper.

That doesn’t matter to Pioneer. Spokeswoman Heidi Johnson-Cash said Pioneer was only really interested in what it called ‘discerning entertainment junkies’ - people who can afford to pay the premium prices that Pioneer’s display products command.

Pioneer’s 2008 product line-up.

Pioneer has been able to improve the black level of these new sets by over five times when compared to 2007’s G8 sets. Pioneer announced two new G9 plasma panels today - the 50-inch PDP-LX5090 and 60-inch PDP-LX6090, both of which will be available in June.

Pioneer also announced three Kuro-branded LCD TVs - the 32-inch KRL-32V, 37-inch KRL-37V and 46-inch KRL-42V. All three come with an anti-reflective filter, three HDMI 1.3 ports and a 100Hz frame mode to offer ‘an unmatched fast moving picture performance’.

The 32-inch and 37-inch LCD TVs go on sale in August. Availability for the 46-inch version has yet to be confirmed. The Pioneer LCD TVs also feature glossy aluminium bezels to distinguish them from the all-back surrounds of the Kuro plasmas.

Pioneer D-ILA projector

The D-ILA projector also has a wide variable lens shift and twin HDMI 1.3 ports and boasts 1920 x 1080p resolution at 50Hz. It’s available now. Finally Pioneer branched into previously uncharted territory with the launch of its first D-ILA projector, the KRF-9000FD.

It’s capable of displaying images from 60-inches to 200-inches in size and includes LCOS 1080p technology, plus three 0.7-inch D-ILA processors.

By Rob Mead - www.techradar.com

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