Pioneer Unveils Super-Thin, High-Contrast Plasma TVs
Today, Pioneer showed off two significant concept models for its flat-panel plasma TV product line. Under the banner of Project KURO, a sci-fi-sounding internal anthem for change, Pioneer unveiled both the thinnest flat panel TV and a flat panel that boasts an unparalleled contrast ratio.
To give you a better perspective, one TV has a screen frame 9mm thick (thinner than the iPhone!), as opposed to contemporaries that are 3.5 inches thick. The other, in techno babble, eliminates all idling luminance – or, if you prefer an example in English, the screen would not be visible in a dark room when displaying a black screen.
The latter, dubbed the Extreme Contrast Concept Model, adheres to the golden rule of the plasma TV viewing experience: Black is the most important color on a display, controlling where an image starts and the shadows it projects. By developing a screen that gives off no ambient light, the black is the blackest, to put it simply.
The 9mm flat panel, on the other hand, creates a new form factor for 50-inch screens, getting rid of the bulky frames that characterize current models. While the concept models exhibited at CES do not combine the two innovations, Pioneer plans to integrate them when this next generation of flat panels becomes available to the public at some indeterminate point in the future.
In case you hadn't noticed, we're pretty psyched about this announcement. Not only will we get to that holy grail of picture clarity, but the TV will seem to blend into the wall upon which it is attached. And, hey, we're not excitable folk – unless it comes to technology that really matters to you.
From Pioneer
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
damaddestdog @ Jan 6th 2008 7:58PM
This Is Going To Be Very Expensive I Guess. I Just Hope It Doesn't Have Any Downs Since Its Something New. Also I Wish They Tell How Much The Contrast Ratio Would Be.
Amando Bahena Jr @ Jan 6th 2008 8:04PM
This Is Going To Be Very Expensive I Guess. I Just Hope It Doesn't Have Any Downs Since Its Something New. Also I Wish They Tell How Much The Contrast Ratio Would Be.
bryan catmull @ Jan 13th 2008 5:38AM
Pioneer are at it again, no mention of power usage of these concept models, both plasma models are dead in the water, before they are even in production, with the new power rulings coming into vogue throughout the world, other Plasma manufacturers such as Panasonic ect are wasting
their money with Plasma, first off the image
although full HD lacks punch, compared to LCD,
Samsung amongst others have already demonstrated
101cm LCD only 10 mm thick, and here is the knockout blow to Plasma, it uses only 90 watts!!
Plasma are struggling to reduce their power use
for equivalent size down to 300 watts let alone
the LCD current power use of 265 watts, don't
be conned by FALSE advertising from Plasma
manufacturers, Pioneer will be releasing LCD panels for the first time in the company's
history under the PIONEER name in 2008 although
supplied by Sharp, Panasonic are increasing their LCD range in 2008, I will repeat it again
PLASMA WILL BE OFF THE MARKET BY 2010,
nycmuscleasian @ Mar 15th 2008 4:21AM
Pioneer has made the announcement that they are no longer manufacturing plasma panels, but will continue to produce plasma TVs. Rumor has it that the present Kuro line was actually part Fujitsu, whose plasma panel manufactoring plants were aquired by Pioneer, and Fujitsu just recently announced that they will pull out the plasma market, coincidentally just 6 months before Pioneer announced thier own plan of ceasing plasma panel production. There will be a Kuro LCD line in addition to newer plasma line, which will possibly use plasma panels from Panasonic, given that the specs meet the standard of Pioneer electronics.
I must disagree with comment from "brian catmull" that plasma "full HD image lacks punch, as compared to LCD." All critical and objective tests have shown that LCD still cannot match the black level and shadow detail of plasma, even with the current spot dimming LED backlighting technology. I own large HDTV sets of both kinds, and I must agree with the critics that LCD only looks brighter and deceivingly sharper (careful look between sets side to side with the same materials shows that is not the case) initially, especially in show rooms and with program material that were shot in bright lighting conditions such as sports broadcasts, TV news, or materials that are composed of solid fields of color, such as animations and graphics. However, any video material of real life images such as films, movies, nature documentaries, LCDs provid far inferior and less natural picture than plasma. Now days, I choose NEVER to watch any Bluray or HD DVD (I have both, one of each) video materials on my large LCD set. Black is just too crushed and lack shadow detail on a LCD, so everthing either look like a sharply contured areas of ink, and variations of dark greys into light greys all have the fuzzy and powdery look.
The only current future flat panel technologies that will replace picture qualities of plasma are SED and OLED displays. As a matter of fact, OLED would consume less power than current LCD sets.
I think the public presently choose LCD sets over plasma mainly because most consumers do not purchase HDTV sets under the 50"/52" size range, and that brighter image tends to attract more attention in showroom floors than acurate videophile picture. If you look at the market share of LCD TVs being sold, it is still under the 52" size catagory, while 50", 58", and 60" are still dominated by plasma sets, EVEN TODAY. LCD sets larger than 52" are only made currently by Toshiba and Sharp, and both are very expensive and provide inferior picture quality than competing plasma sets pf the same size category from at least 7 different plasma HDTV manufacturers (Pioneer, Futjitsu, Samsung, LG, Vizio, Panasonic, Hitachi, they all make plasma sets bigger than 50".)
nycmuscleasian @ Mar 15th 2008 4:27AM
CORRECTION from my other post:
"...public presently choose LCD sets over plasma mainly because most consumers do not purchase HDTV sets LAREGER than the 50"/52" size range..."
Majority of consumers still have HDTV sets under 50" size.
If the majority of consumers are buying 58" or 60" sets, then plasma would wipe out LCDs.