GadgetRatty: More on Pioneer's Project Kuro: What it Means For Plasma, and Why it Floats on a Wall

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More on Pioneer's Project Kuro: What it Means For Plasma, and Why it Floats on a Wall

2008-01-06 11:27:41 by Jose Fermoso in Gadget Lab

With this morning's announcement of the 'Project Kuro' TV concept, Pioneer is using its strength in the HD market to cement its position as the top Plasma technology provider and take a lead on imposing the tech's status as the best bet for high-income consumers. And therein lies the rub: With LCD makers slowly creeping within distance in terms of quality and pricing models, Pioneer had to commit to better blacks and hope its highly rated models are followed by the consumers who can afford to buy them.

In short, they won't care that LCD is growing (in model sizes and quality) as long as they continue to innovate and come out with beautiful screens. One of the VPs copped to this fact when he denied that the coming economic recession will have any noticeable impact on his company's sales.

The screen will have extreme contrast, with no 'measurable light emitting from the television.' The release details the importance of blacks on picture quality:

Contrast ratio is defined as the ratio of the luminosity of the brightest color (white) to that of the darkest color (black). While manufacturers all measure this differently, they agree that a high contrast ratio is desirable to recreate picture quality. . , the truer the black, the more accurate the color.

Click on after the jump for more on Kuro, and more pics from the press conference.

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The contrast ratio pitch is the reason why the VP at the conference mentioned his experience of not being able to see a Project Kuro TV that was turned on in a dark room but didn’t have an image onscreen. When an image was played, it seemed as if the picture was floating in air. That’s nice, and it’s actually a not-bad method of testing its picture quality, but we would like to try it for ourselves in all types of lighting.

The dual innovation found in the Project Kuro screens also plays into hand of the top-moneyed consumer, especially the beautiful and clean lines expected in the set that go so well in mansions across the Valley. The winner of the saddest cubicle contest will not be purchasing this screen.

In terms of weight, the screen is expected to be at around 41 lbs, which seems to be the next level of lightness in these type of TVs. Sony, LG, Samsung, and a couple of others will likely compete in this Slim Fast category.