Previous
Windows 7 media center review
Logitech Harmony Adapter for Playstation 3 review
HD 101: What is ATSC, PSIP, QAM, and 8-VSB?
How to install a CableCARD tuner in your DIY Media Center
DISH Network launches remote DVR control
Engadget HD Podcast 157 - 09.29.2009
Paradigm SUB 25 subwoofer review
Engadget goes behind the Dolby logo
Breaking news Feed
- Boxee inks deal with first hardware partner: a 'Boxee Box' is coming
- Best Buy partnering with CinemaNow to stream first-run DVDs to 'all web-connected devices sold'
- Netflix coming next month to PlayStation 3
- Toshiba details CELL REGZA LCD TV, coming December to Japan (update: video!)
- Intel announces Atom CE4100 for insanely powerful cable boxes and Blu-ray players
- Media Center CableCARDs freed from OEM requirement
- Samsung's LED TV Couple packs a 7-inch tablet remote for streaming TV and so much more
- Toshiba BDX2000 Blu-ray player coming November for $250, gives HD-DVD the final cold shoulder
- PS3 Slim bitstreams Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA audio, at last
- Xbox 360 officially the only console to stream Netflix -- sorry, PS3 and Wii
Featured stories Feed
- Spears & Munsil High Definition Benchmark Blu-ray mini-review
- Ask Engadget HD: Is it (still) a good time to buy a TiVo?
- Pace and Rovi work together to make a standard set-top a true multi-room DVR
- Ready or not, the latest 3D technology is coming home
- How to automatically skip commercials in Windows 7 Media Center
- Ask Engadget HD: How do you evaluate HDTVs in-store?
- Sharp AQUOS LC-52LE700UN impressions
- Ask Engadget HD: Best home theater setup for gaming?
- TDK's heavily stacked 320GB disc shows its nearly-clear face at CEATEC
- Panasonic's 1080p twin-lens P2 camcorder seen behind three-dee glass at CEATEC
Resources
Sections
- Announcements
- Ask Engadget HD
- DIY
- Features
- Industry
- Misc
- Podcasts
- Polls
- Regulatory
- Reviews
- Blu-ray
- Cables
- Camcorders
- Displays
- DVRs
- HD DVD
- Media PCs
- Media streamers
- Other formats
- Other hardware
- Players
- Ports
- Receivers
- Recorders
- Remotes
- Set-top boxes
- Speakers
- Switches
- Tuners
Hardware
Manufacturers
WIN Network
- Autos
- Technology
- Lifestyle
- Gaming
- Finance
- Entertainment on AOL
- Lifestyle on AOL
- Sports on AOL
- Travel on AOL
- Also on AOL
Other Weblogs Inc. Network blogs you might be interested in:
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
why not the LS2/LS7? @ Apr 7th 2008 3:52PM
I'd say Kuro is just marketing now. But it always was.
This just makes it more clear. It's like XBR (or even Bravia was for short bit as Sony made RPTV Bravias).
longhairbilly @ Apr 7th 2008 10:22PM
How was the Kuro "just marketing"? The reviews show what a superior set it was/is..
Leonardo DiCrapio @ Apr 7th 2008 11:07PM
"How was the Kuro "just marketing"? The reviews show what a superior set it was/is.."
longhairbilly, "why not the LS2/LS7?" just shows the mindset of the general consumer. sony could sell a box of sh!t in a box and sell it based on its dynamic contrast ratio, maybe by adding a couple of backlights to the box that the sh!t was in.
why not the LS2/LS7? @ Apr 8th 2008 2:36AM
I own a Sharp.
The Kuro is advertised with black levels that are not reproduceable in a room with a light on, nor possible if even a single pixel is turned on on the display. Furthermore, the range of contrast is higher than that which is even possible to express with an NTSC or HDTV signal.
My Sharp has a stated (dynamic) contrast ratio of 18,000:1. This number is COMPLETE BS, just like the figures given by Plasmas like the Kuro.
In the end, why don't I have a plasma? Because they are ridiculously expensive, ridiculously heavy (my 52" is lighter than a 40" plasma) and use ridiculous amounts of power. On top of that, since I don't have A/C, the extra heat they throw off just makes me more uncomfortable in the summer. Finally, since plasma (like DLP) cannot display any shades of color at all (or grey), it must rapidly switch on and off individual pixels to simulate gradients, and this is what turns me off.
With the Kuro, you are being sold a bill of goods. Is it a good set? Yeah. But it's all about the marketing. If Kuros (meaning plasma Kuros) were so goddamn great, Pioneer wouldn't have exited the market.
And now they're going to take the name they built up and just slap it on anything they can. LCD? Yep. Cell phone? Sure. I can't wait to get my Kuro wristwatch. In the end, it won't be people like me with my allegedly groundless attacks who bring the Kuro name down into the gutter, it'll be Pioneer's own marketing. It's too bad too. Pioneer sure showed me the way when I bought my LaserDisc player from them and they were first into the market (in the US at least) with their (50"?) plasma years ago.
Leonardo DiCrapio @ Apr 8th 2008 9:14AM
"In the end, why don't I have a plasma? Because they are ridiculously expensive, ridiculously heavy (my 52" is lighter than a 40" plasma) and use ridiculous amounts of power."
I don't own a Pioneer, but my 42" Panasonic Plasma HDTV is NOT ridiculously expensive. And it produces the best blacks available from 2006. My Panny also doesn't use ridiculous amounts of power (more than an LCD but it is about as much as -- and possibly less than -- a CRT uses).
"If Kuros (meaning plasma Kuros) were so goddamn great, Pioneer wouldn't have exited the market."
No, it is supply-and-demand. There isn't enough demand for a top-notch quality plasma set (at least not enough to make the panels in a cost-effective manner. Pioneer is losing money, so they are outsourcing their manufacturing. Unfortunately, the general public associates plasma televisions with burn-in {which was a real problem with the earlier models but is not much of problem if you don't watch your television in Vivid Mode (which looks like crap anyways, IMHO) and give it a 100-hour break-in period}.
why not the LS2/LS7? @ Apr 9th 2008 12:35PM
Your "not ridiculously expensive" 42" Plasma is only 42". Take a look at 52" or bigger plasmas. I came from a 55" RPTV, and the only flat panel to replace it with even near the same size without breaking the bank was a 52" LCD. a 50"+ plasma was absurdly expensive. Like about twice what I paid.
Again, if these things were so great, they wouldn't be discontinuing them. You basically blame the problem on lack of taste by customers, but what I'm saying is if the difference were really noticeable to customers, they would sell and Pioneer could make money selling them. The reason this isn't the case is because the stated advantages of plasma are greatly overstated and for many people don't amount to anything.
You cannot prevent burn-in by breaking in your TV. Burn in is due to the exponential decay of the brightness of the lit elements (I'll call them phosphors even though they are not actually phosphors). They decay over their lifetime. If some are on more than others, they will get dimmer, and show what we call "burn-in". What I do today (i.e. break-in) cannot prevent differential use of the phosphors in the future and thus cannot prevent burn-in.