Pioneer KRL37V LCD TV review...

[Simon Lucas]

...is now sort of imminent-ish. That's to say, we've finally taken delivery of a review sample this afternoon - so providing we have time to get it plugged in before the weekend's exodus to ExCel we may be able to get a review online by the end of next week. With a following wind, Godspeed, etc etc...
We'll try to get some 'first impressions' up before then. Try, mind.

 

[Anonymous]

That's fantastic news, really looking forward to seeing how this compares to the Kuro plasma as well as Sony and Samsung's latest LCD offerings.

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[stuart123]

Here we are at the end of the week. Where is the review then???

 

[Andrew Everard]

Here we are at the Stuff Live/WHFSV show at Excel. We'll do our best to get something up next week if we can. as promised

 

[Clare Newsome]

stuart123:Here we are at the end of the week. Where is the review then???

PLus Simon clearly said end of NEXT week - ie around 6th-7th

We've been here at the Show since Thursday!

 

[stuart123]

Not good enough. We want it now!!!............... Please.

 

[TheHomeCinemaCentre]

This is a stunning TV. Like the Kuro plasma screens it stands apart from the competition with build qulaity, appearance and delivers a very natural picture. PQ wise it is very close in quality to the Panasonic LZD800 screen with perhaps more neutral colour. Sound is good as is the remote - it is a premium product without a doubt. The only downside so far is the layout of the EPG - it comes across as very busy. I am still to investigate if we can adjust it to get less information on the screen.

 

[Anonymous]

At long last i can see if you rate this pioneer as much as when i had a chance to view it.

Personally i think it is just outstanding in SD or HD?

Cannot wait for your review as this depends on whether or not to paid a preminum price for an lcd tv.

 

[Andrew Everard]

stuart123:Not good enough. We want it now!!!............... Please.

Hmmm...

Pioneer TV in test room in Teddington. WHFSV review crew in Docklands, me in my living room at home having spent three hours in London traffic getting home from the show.

See our problem...?

 

[Anonymous]

An official review has finally appeared on another review site - which rates the set quite highly but questions the price differential. Will be interesting to see if the same conclusions are reached here this week...

 

[Andrew Everard]

DaveyA:An official review has finally appeared on another review site
What's an official review?

 

[Anonymous]

Word games - interesting... IMO an official review would be one published on a review site by someone who does multiple reviews of the same product types and represents the website or the publication they work for - they may or may not get paid for this work. They also approach their review in a systemmatic/organised fashion so you can have some hope of comparison between products. They should also appear to know what they are talking about. Rather than a punters opinion grabbed in a shop.

Anyhow we are drifting from the subject are we not?

 

[Andrew Everard]

DaveyA:They should also appear to know what they are talking about.

Counts me out, then...

 

[Anonymous]

Am I the only person who's a little bit suspicious as to why Pioneer have taken so long to send out review samples of the new LCDs when they have been out in the shops for a while now. Did they want to sell as many as possible before the bad reviews put people off?

 

[MyWhatHiFi]

I second that. Its been around for a while and there are many comments on "Ive seen it in the shops" but no samples have actually been tested/analysed. You do wonder if they are holding back.

Here's hoping WhatHiFi are onto it soon.

 

[Clare Newsome]

Detailed review will be up online tomorrow

 

[MyWhatHiFi]

Many thanks Clare - nice that you are keeping track of this thread. And good to see the recent 40" Samsung reviewed.

 

[Andy Clough]

Just waiting for the review copy to come in later this afternoon. Picture already cropped and ready to upload...

 

[Clare Newsome]

And you can read our Pioneer LCD TV review here

 

[MyWhatHiFi]

Hi - thanks! One small question, can you just elaborate more on whats meant by "slightly uneven backlight"? What effect does that give?

 

[Anonymous]

As an owner of the Pioner Krl37v I think that the review is very fair.

To me this is the best 37" set available. (40" was just a bit too large for my room otherwise I would have gone for the Sony W4500.) It has the best standard definition picture quality that I have seen and colours are very natural. The set has an array of picture controls which have helped me to get just the picture that I like. The 100hz seems good and I have not noticed any significant nasties that I have seen on other sets with 100Hz.

As pointed out in the review the set has two main drawbacks:

(1) The key one for me is that screen is not evenly bright on dark grey scenes. Basically with dark grey backgrounds both sides of the screen are brighter than the centre of the screen. (A good example is a plain dark grey screen or the screen saver on my Sony 350 BluRay player that fades from balck to dark grey.) This unevenness appears to be especially bad with the out of box settings i.e. high brightness and low backlight. Once I had set up the screen the way that I like i.e. lower brightness (from about +15 to +3) and higher backlight (from standard to +6 - I watch TV in a brightly lit room) this effect is much less significant but is still noticeable. Also changing the backlight level made very little difference to the problem (even from min to max) whereas changing the brightness level changed the severity significantly e.g. I could not see the problem on the screen saver if I turned the brightness down to -5. however, this may simply push the problem to other grey levels i.e. turn the brightness down cures the problem for dark greys but makes it worse on lighter greys that now have the same intensity as dark greys on the previous higher brightness setting.

I only see this issue occassionally during normal TV viewing but it still is enough to annoy me. This does not seem like backlight bleed to me as it is not noticeable on black backgrounds e.g. when watching a widescreen film there is no light leakage into the black bars, or on other brighter or strong colour backgrounds.

(2) It is very expensive for a 37" - I paid £1250 inc 5 yr guarantee. Other 37" options that I considered were the 37pf9603 Philips (around £1100) the Panasonic 37lzd800 (around £900) and the Panasonic 37px80 plasma (£600). Personally I think that overall the PQ on this set is better than those others (each of which also had its own drawbacks) but whether it is worth the premium is up to you.

 

[Clare Newsome]

MyWhatHiFi:
Hi - thanks! One small question, can you just elaborate more on whats meant by "slightly uneven backlight"? What effect does that give?

The backlight was brighter on one side of the screen than the other - which made it tricky to get a truly satisfying backlight setting.

Still a superb set in many ways, though - we just expected more for the money, especially when you consider just how clearly superior Pioneer's Kuro plasmas are over the rest of the pack.

 

[MyWhatHiFi]

That is a great detailed reply, many thanks. I, like you am looking into 37" TVs and have held off to hear response's on the Pioneer. Its frustrating that they have produced a great set with annoying niggles that us keen eyes will notice (and no doubt continually be aware of should we/I purchase one).

I'm seriously tempted to look into some of the Samsung 40" TVs purely for the more bang-for-the-buck reason. Esthetically though, I love the pioneer ...

Decisions, decisions!

• May I ask if you have any issues with viewing angles? I have read viewing from the side see's quite a change in picture...

 

[Andy Clough]

No, we had no particular problems with viewing angles, certainly no more so than with other LCD screens we've tested.

 

[Anonymous]

MyWhatHiFi:

• May I ask if you have any issues with viewing angles? I have read viewing from the side see's quite a change in picture...All LCDs have a narrow viewing angle, unlike plasma, not even Pioneer can fix that.