will the kuro ever be beaten ?

[Anonymous]

Clare Newsome:Happy to help - and to clarify, when I said the Samsung range looks glorious, I was referring to its on-screen potential as well as its styling.
sorry, my mistake. By the way , is there any plan to test the new Samsung Plasma 850 in near future. Being a plasma its just 1.2'' thin. I am impressed.

 

[Bazzy]

Hi Harry,

I was in your shoes once - comparing nearly every set I could hoping it was as good or better than the Kuro and went crazy waiting for the next big thing - Kuro Killer from someone else which when finallyÿmaterialised, they were no such thing. You will not find a better all round set than the Kuro, especially whenÿcomparingÿto an LCD - I myself was very deeply tempted by the B8000. The Kuro will walk all over the B8000 for SD stuff and it has the best blacks in the business which will not be beaten for some time yet, probably not even next year. The Kuro is an absolute gem - if PQ is your main concern, just do yourself a favour and buy one while you can - you may end up regretting it if you do not. What do What Hifi and nearly every single AV magazine, website etc from the entire world use as their benchmark reference screen? A Kuro. All the world's experts cannot be wrong.

ÿ

Bazzy!ÿ

 

[Anonymous]

Bazzy:
Hi Harry,

I was in your shoes once - comparing nearly every set I could hoping it was as good or better than the Kuro and went crazy waiting for the next big thing - Kuro Killer from someone else which when finally materialised, they were no such thing. You will not find a better all round set than the Kuro, especially when comparing to an LCD - I myself was very deeply tempted by the B8000. The Kuro will walk all over the B8000 for SD stuff and it has the best blacks in the business which will not be beaten for some time yet, probably not even next year. The Kuro is an absolute gem - if PQ is your main concern, just do yourself a favour and buy one while you can - you may end up regretting it if you do not. What do What Hifi and nearly every single AV magazine, website etc from the entire world use as their benchmark reference screen? A Kuro. All the world's experts cannot be wrong.

Bazzy!
the b8000 is said to have very good sd too , factor in price , styling , limited internet , file player , and its an attractive tv , i think samsung are being fair and realistic with their prices at the moment , i would make sure the viewing angle is not an issue though if wall hanging in a family lounge , as i think harry is planning , a problem the kuro dont have ...

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Guys,

I have just seen Samsung Series 8 Plasma PS50B850 today and really impressed with the picture quality. Its also just 1.1" thin. Any thought about this one?

As compare to UE66B8000, its 4'' bigge and almost £200 to £400 cheaperr. My only concern is if its that good Tv, why samsung priced it less than its LED range. Is it because LED is expensive because its new technology? OR ...?

 

[Anonymous]

aulakh:
Hi Guys,

I have just seen Samsung Series 8 Plasma PS50B850 today and really impressed with the picture quality. Its also just 1.1" thin. Any thought about this one?

As compare to UE66B8000, its 4'' bigge and almost £200 to £400 cheaperr. My only concern is if its that good Tv, why samsung priced it less than its LED range. Is it because LED is expensive because its new technology? OR ...?

By the way, in one of the review, this tv is directly compared with Kuro 500A and they said its picture is same as kuro. I was going to buy UE40B8000 this weekend and thought to wait for few more weeks to see how this PS50B850 goes. I hope Whathifi will review it soon.

 

[Anonymous]

aulakh:aulakh:
Hi Guys,

I have just seen Samsung Series 8 Plasma PS50B850 today and really impressed with the picture quality. Its also just 1.1" thin. Any thought about this one?

As compare to UE66B8000, its 4'' bigge and almost £200 to £400 cheaperr. My only concern is if its that good Tv, why samsung priced it less than its LED range. Is it because LED is expensive because its new technology? OR ...?

By the way, in one of the review, this tv is directly compared with Kuro 500A and they said its picture is same as kuro. I was going to buy UE40B8000 this weekend and thought to wait for few more weeks to see how this PS50B850 goes. I hope Whathifi will review it soon.

hmmm , did the picture compare well with the kuro and lcd to your eyes ??? i have mentioned the b850 several times on here , and its great review , but didnt think it could possibly be that good , i hope im wrong ...

 

[Anonymous]

with so many hotly anticipated tvs getting poor reviews , i hope whfi give the b850 top marks after scrutiny , its only £1500 , so it shouldnt lose a star over price , wouldnt it be great if it was really as good as a kuro , my heart hopes yes but the head sais no ...

 

[Anonymous]

Does anybody know when WhatHiFi will review this tv (EDIT: new Samsung Plasma 8 Series PS46B850)?

Is it this month or next? any news!

 

[Bazzy]

Hi,

I agree the Samsung 850 is a stunning looking set with great bunch of features I really wanted - it was my top choice - but it has been reviewed a number of times elsewhere and the black levels are are not that great - worse than last years Panasonic's and SD was disappointing too. The Kuro is still light years ahead on black levels compared to the 850 (measured data) and is much better on SD stuff - otherwise I would have bought it. More worryingly, a very large number of people in the USA and a few over here ( where the set is only just been made available) are returning the sets due to a number of quality control issues - the main one being prominent buzzing which Samsung have said they will only look at if the buzzing is audible from more than 15ft away! I suppose we also have to take in things like reliability and quality control - no point having great picture and sexy body if it needs to keep going away for repairs or attention!

When I looked at the LED BL sets - both local dimming and these new thin edge lit ones, on dark scenes, I have found they lose a lot of info and shadow detail - when one plays a scene that shows star filled space, it is very evident that there were far fewer stars showing on the LED-LCD sets compared to a Plasma which also gave much better shadow detail.ÿ

ÿ

Bazzy!ÿ

 

[Anonymous]

Nothing to add about the 850, I just don't know.

The edge lit 7000 series when properly calibrated doesn't give much on shadow detail to the Kuro - I have both. I actually ran the Star Wars test (Phantom Menace - sad I know) on both side by side, because I could and because I'd heard exactly what you describe, I just didn't see it - plenty of stars. I wasn't going to count them all but I did pause and count a section - no difference. Not a definitive test by all means but give it a shot outside of a store and do it side by side.

But anyway, I have no agenda, I have them both and like them both.

 

[Anonymous]

well take scarlett johansson , and anjelina jolie , two beautiful women , some may say one is better looking , some say the other , but there can be no clear winner , i guess its similar with tvs , when choosing between 2 high end sets , you pick what you like , for me its scarlett and the kuro , but alas i feel ill only get to have one ... cos i have a girlfriend

 

[Anonymous]

I am quite happy with my 5090 but have to agree - it is just a TV. There are areas where others beat it, brightness, sharpness etc. so if these are important aspects to you, they are beaten already!

I feel that the pioneers give the most natural picture at present and imagine that any future improvements by any manufacturers will have pros and cons. As drummerman says, projectors give the best performance if you have the space and finances.

Personally I think the next major break through will not occur until 4k2k resolution takes over from 1080P. Some time away though!!

 

[mandeville]

maxflinn:the_lhc:nads: I little Birdie told me that the Kuro may be coming back.

when Panna and Pio sort things out.

not holding my breath though.

Anything's possible I guess, if the world economy picks up sufficiently that people start spending money again it might happen, but given Pioneer's pretty small market share, I'm wondering if they'll consider it worth their while.

A representative from a TV manufacturer once told me that no-one made any money on CRT screens, they were all lossleaders to promote the rest of the range, I wouldn't be surprised if Plasmas are similar, I think the margins, if there are any, are tiny. The Pioneer dealer I got my KRP-500A from said that he'd been told Pioneer would really have liked to sell the KRP for £5k, not £2.5k, that way it would have been viable, financially, but the market just won't support that kind of pricing structure. When people see they can get a 50" screen for £600 it's very difficult to persuade them that they need to spend thousands on a screen of the same size.

Unfortunately, financial conditions mean that manufacturers can no longer support the kind of lossleading strategy that they've been using up until now, that, I should think, is why the new screens coming out appear to be so expensive, they're reflecting the true cost. The top end screens will become more aspirational, which, I'd imagine, the manufacturers will hope will make people more likely to buy the cheaper sets in the range, where's there's probably more margin available.

that sounds like a pretty good summation of how things are , i wonder though , take panasonics latest range of plasmas , i may be wrong , but is the £4300 panasonic z1 not the same as the £1300 46g10 apart from all the xtras , different design , etc ?? if thats the case its hard to imagine the crazy price charged is justified ?? i still have my panasonic cobra stereo from 1995 , it still looks and sounds brilliant , real quality , unique at the time too , i think i paid £160 for it down tottenham court road , id say if the guys in charge of pricing at panasonic were around then it would have cost £600 , maybe im being sceptical , but i think some companies are taking the mick ...

 

[mandeville]

Hi,

i don't know if you know that pioneer have pulled the plug on mauufacturing/shipping the krp500a 6 months earlier that expected.

i ordered mine 2 months ago from a retailer that advertises in what hifi and it was only when i rang them that i was told that they actually could not get the plasma for me

and that pioneer sent out a memo on friday 19th june,i was not impressed that the retailer had not contacted me so i had to ring around chasing one and luckily the guys at Futurehome had one in stock(cheers guys).

speaking to other retailers the krp 500a will nearly impossible to get hold of and the ones left in this country will probably be ex-demo,the lx5090 will now be a highly sought after commodity so if you are thinking about getting a pioneer plasma i suggest you get on the phone now. good hunting

 

[The_Lhc]

mandeville: i don't know if you know that pioneer have pulled the plug on mauufacturing/shipping the krp500a 6 months earlier that expected.

I think they stopped production exactly when they expected to. What they didn't expect was for demand to go through the roof once they'd made the announcement, so much so that the stock the expected to last until March 2010, has already sold out.

 

[Anonymous]

hey harry akulah , how do you find your kuro ???

 

[tvspecv]

if they were so good why did they pull the plug? was it consume too much electricity !!

 

[Dave_]

tvspecv:if they were so good why did they pull the plug? was it consume too much electricity !!
Because Pioneer wasn't making money from them!

 

[tvspecv]

aaahhhh!!! so steep with the price but not still making money?

or just not enough sold?

 

[Andrew Everard]

Not enough of a market for premium-priced plasmas worldwide, when everyone wants to know where they can buy a 60in set for under £1000...

 

[Sliced Bread]

tvspecv:aaahhhh!!! so steep with the price but not still making money?

or just not enough sold?

I've heard (although not verified) that there was a lot of logistics involved with moving the Kuro plasma screens from one factory to the next in order to manufacture them.

IF this is true then the shipment costs would probably have a lot to do with the high production cost of the unit.

 

[Andrew Everard]

Interesting, but can't see why that should be so: after all, the likes of Samung and Panasonic seem to manage OK...

 

[Anonymous]

Andrew Everard:Not enough of a market for premium-priced plasmas worldwide, when everyone wants to know where they can buy a 60in set for under £1000...

Exactly! I was fotunate enough to get mine at £1700 because I paid for it mid March but didn't get it until late June. However, I would have still bought it at the original price of £2400 if I had to. While far from perfect, they are very good sets. Some excellent LCDs will trounce it on sharpness (not necessarily detail) and brightness and some sets will have less noise but few (barring the 500A and 500M) if any will match it for a good all round natural picture.

I think there is a lot of hype about the black level of these sets and it is justified. The excellent black levels give a good contrast and contribute to the naturalness and depth of the picture. This development must have been very costly and why have other manufacturers not been able to match it?

 

[Anonymous]

This forum was concentrated on 50 and 60 inches reference TV's but what about the 42 inches ones. Is the Pioneer Kuro PDP - 428XD still your reference 42-inches TV or Philips 42 PES0001 took the lead? How do you compare 428XD to PES0001?

Thanks

FD

 

[Anonymous]

Yes, I would like to find that out as well, i.e. is the Pioneer Kuro 428XD still considered to be a "reference" set even though it will not be featured in any more magazine tests like the 9th generation 50 inch Kuros?

Andrew, Andy, Clare?

Or do you guys only have one reference set, i.e. the 50 inch Kuro and benchmark all TVs regardless of size against that Kuro?