Pioneer KRL37V LCD TV review...

[MyWhatHiFi]

Fair comment.

 

[Anonymous]

As an owner of the Pioneer I would disagree about viewing angles on this set. This particular set has worse viewing angles than many other LCDs - I knew this when I bought it and this is not an issue for me.

I would say that the usable viewing angle is about 90 degrees before you notice the picture change significantly e.g. blacks only look really black straight on. I watched this set next to a Panasonic 37lzd800 and that set had a much wider viwing angle - I would believe Panny's claims of about 170 degrees. The panny uses a different panel technology that gives better viewing angles (IPS rather than SPVA) but overall the picture on the Pioneer was better - better blacks, slightly more natural colours especially skin tones and SD had better detail.

 

[TheHomeCinemaCentre]

I have to agree about the viewing angle, the Panasonic set ( its nearest rival IMO) offers a greter veiwing angle ( we have them side by side in the showroom) but I still prefer the colour presentation on the Pioneer. We have had no issues with the uneven backlight from the Pioneer panels although I am more used to the KRL-32V. I will check on our display unit.

 

[MyWhatHiFi]

Interesting, and thanks for taking time to reply (GaryHooper/TheHomeCinemaCentre).

 

[Anonymous]

A month ago my wife and I went to our local dealers to demo a Panny TZ-37LZD800 which we had set our hearts on. While watching SD on the Panny we caught sight of the KURO 37" LCD. The store manager kindly placed both sets side by side and we watched a FREEVIEW programme and were blown away with the detail in the Kuro's picture compared to the Panny.

Now having had the KURO for three weeks I can honestly say we are as happy today as when we first saw it in the showroom. As a self-employed Graphic Designer and Photographer I spend all of my days sitting in front of a calibrated Apple monitor so I think I can say I appreciate a good picture. With that in mind the Pioneer has a brilliant picture but it is not without it's faults, the main one being the relativelyÿacuteÿviewing angle, a few degrees left or right reduces the shadow(blacks) to a dark blueish grey. This I am sure is the problem that people have seen (ie. lighter down edges of screen) when viewing the screen from immediately in front. If you stand back say 3 metres it is hardly noticeable, stand a metre in front and it is very noticeable as the angles from your line of sight areÿbecomingÿgreaterÿto the edges.

I have also read that some people hate the look of the bezel. Everyone to their own but we have disliked the glossy black plastic look which every manufacturer has become attached to recently and the Pioneer just looksÿunderstatedÿand classy compared with most of the other TVs available. Even making the name plate grey instead of the usual white adds to the air of class.

From this you will gather we are happy with our purchase. Yes it does cost a bit more than most other 37" TVs availableÿbut I would certainly place it top of my favourite LCDs list today. Tomorrow is another day.

 

[Anonymous]

I would agree that the Pioneer is probably the best 37" LCD Tv that you can buy. I too saw it side by side with a Panny 37LZD800 and the Pioneer is definitely better. Personally I thought that the Panny SD picture was not particularly great. For the difference in price (£1250 for the Pioneer with 5yr guarantee versus less than £900 for the Panny) I would go for the Pioneer between these two.

However, for me the best 37" Panasonic is not any of their LCD range but the 37px80 plasma and you can get that for about £550 to £600. Justifying apying over twice as much for the Pioneer given the problems below is very hard.

Firstly, the viewing angle on the Pioneer is one of the narrowest that I have seen on an LCD. I sit about 2.5 to 3m from the set. If I face the set directly to point at one end of the sofa then the person at the other end of the sofa has a noticeable drop in colour. So I have to face the set to the point to the middle of the sofa. This makes me think that for the best PQ the viewable angle is probably as little as 45 degrees.

Additionally the set has problems with uneven lighting on dark scenes. The brighter sides that I see on the Pioneer are not due to the viewing angle issue. Below are some pictures illustrating the brighter sides of the set on a grey background. Note that this issue does not arise on a pure black screen. I went to a shop to test their display and it was identical to mine. I also phoned Pioneer and they tested their own set using a grey screen and said that theirs was the same and this problem is inherent in LCDs.

The problem is worst in the dark with the brightness reasonably high but even with the lights on and the brightness turned down it is still noticeable in certain scenes. changing the backlight level makes virtually no difference to the problem.

if you cannot see the pictures attached they are here:

http://www.another site/forums/attachments/lcd-televisions/95778d1225402307-problems-pioneer-krl37v-backlight-bleed-image-retention-dsc_0036.jpg

http://www.another site/forums/attachments/lcd-televisions/95780d1225402333-problems-pioneer-krl37v-backlight-bleed-image-retention-dsc_0045.jpg

 

[Anonymous]

I have to agree with the narrow viewing angle, which is a pity because the picture quality, from a processing point of view, is still far superior to any other 37" lcd that I have seen.

It might be interesting to compare picture settings and to that end these are the settings that I am happiest with:

RLS (On)
Backlight (Std)
Contrast (+32)
Brightness (+7)
Colour (0)
Tint (0)
Sharpness (+7)
Pro Settings
Colour Temp [Mid Low]
100Hz [On]
Pure Cinema [Standard]
Active Contrast [On]
Monochrome [Off]
Range of RLS Max (+16)
Min (+11)

These are my settings and whilst the basic settings out of the box aren't that bad they were a bit too cold for me.

What settings are you using Gary?

 

[Anonymous]

I satrted off by setting the TV up using a claibration disk - Avia. Then I adjusted these a little to get the settings below.

I have sent the TV back now but my settings were:

RLS (Off)
Backlight (+4)
Contrast (+26)
Brightness (+4)
Colour (0)
Tint (0)
Sharpness (+2)
Pro Settings
Colour Temp [Middle/Mid Low - not sure which I prefered]
100Hz [On]
Pure Cinema [Standard]
Active Contrast [Off]
Monochrome [Off]
Range of RLS Max (+16)
Min (+11)

Strangely I found that changing the backlight level made no difference to the problem that I was seeing with the sides being brighter than the rest of the set. However, reducing the brightness did make a big difference. At +10 the problem is clearly visible and at about -6 you can barely see it. As my brighness was closer to +10 than -6 I could see the problem.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi there does anyone know how this tv performs with gaming, has anyone measured the input lag, also do you plan on reviewing the 32" set and if so when? thanks

 

[Anonymous]

I bought the Pioneer KRL-37V from Ask Direct on Tottenham Court Road. I was initially very happy with the set, but after a few days I started to notice that the backlight was uneven. After calibrating the set using the AVCHD calibration DVD, the backlight problem was less noticeable, but still there. When watching the Pioneer Blu Ray screensaver, the left hand side of the screen looked grey and cloudy when it should have been a solid black and the black bands on a widescreen image became noticeable less black towards the edges of the screen. Largely black scenes in a film also suffered from this uneven black level.

I rang the Pioneer help line and the response I received wasn't what I was expecting when you pay £840 for a TV. The technician told me that this was how LCD TVs behave and that I should be watching the set from a distance of approximately 4-4.5m in a well lit room.

I then rang Ask Direct (where I'd bought the TV) and they offered to replace the TV for me without even having to see it. They understood that this was unacceptable in a Pioneer and that same day, they installed a new KRL-37V and removed the old one to be sent back to Pioneer. The new set is much better and I now have the sort of picture that you expect from a KURO TV - blacks are deep and even, and the colours are warm and vibrant.

I can't rate the service from Ask Direct much more highly than to say it was FANTASTIC. Raj (their Pioneer salesman) was very helpful. I'll definitely be shopping there again.

 

[simonali]

Apologies for resurrecting an oldish thread, but can I ask the WHF reviewers whether this set would still be given a 4 star rating if it was reviewed now at its currently available price of less than £800?

Also, do you think improvements have been made to the set since its release, as I thought the viewing angles were really good. I could see the picture perfectly from both the side and directly above the screen.