Recent Comments:
Plasma Display Coalition emphasizes picture quality {Engadget HD}
Jun 21st 2008 9:38AM It's important to know that the power consumption differences between PDP and LCD are not what they seem. All manufacturers rate their TVs by maximum power, not by average power. An LCD's CCFL backlight typically does not change in intensity, so it maintains a constant state of energy consumption. An LED-backlit LCD somewhat alters this by switching on and off various banks of LEDs, so an LED-backlit LCD display will generally have a lower power consumption than a same-size CCFL-backlit LCD, and not just due to the higher efficiency of LED vs. CCFL. However, because each cell in a PDP is its own light source, and because not all cells are being driven identically 100% of the time, PDPs tend to be more energy efficient PER INCH than CCFL-backlit LCD displays in size larger than 42". This is very easy to demonstrate with a power meter. Again, "tend to be", not always, because some PDP manufacturers may lean towards overdriving their panels.
ATSC celebrates 25 years {Engadget HD}
May 9th 2008 1:48PM ATSC has not been kicking around in TVs and on street corners for 25 years. It was established 25 years ago, but not until 1998---10 years ago, give or take six months---that the first ATSC tuner-equipped STBs and TVs appeared on the market. 99.999% of the HD-ready TVs which streeted that year used plug-in or external ATSC tuners.
PBS to bring the outdoors in with "Nature" on Blu-ray {Engadget HD}
Mar 13th 2008 12:43PM This is good news for me, as even OTA and cable HD feeds of my local PBS station WETA are chock full o' block noise and smearing (due to the fact that they are still broadcasting from a very short antenna while surrounded by buildings and trees). Sometimes it's unwatchable.
Pioneer officially ends in-house plasma production, Kuro LCDs coming soon {Engadget HD}
Mar 7th 2008 11:18PM why not the LS2/LS7?
Couldn't agree more. But for better or worse, we live in a world of marketing hype. That's why (again, for better or for worse) Pioneer has tried very hard to stay away from using tricks in a controlled test or demo environment in sales literature. They don't reflect real-world use. One just has to look at how power ratings are listed for HTiB systems in Europe which everyone adopted in the US a few years ago. We call it the "Struck By Lightning Rating". 1600 Watts from a $199 5.1 system? Yeeeeeaaahh, right! It's not an outright lie, but it sure isn't a realistic representation. And who has a completely black home theatre???
The "infinite" contrast ration panel demo really was cool, tho'. ;-)
Pioneer officially ends in-house plasma production, Kuro LCDs coming soon {Engadget HD}
Mar 7th 2008 10:01PM Tony, 9G is still on schedule. You won't see any line changes in '08.
Regarding highly inflated contrast ratios, Pioneer has not advertised contrast ratios for any of its US market panels in many years due to the simple fact that no two brands use the same methodology to measure them. You won't find contrast ratios on our web-site or in our owner's manuals or brochures.
We used the catch-phrase "infinite" for one of our prototype concept panels at CES '08 due to the fact that it was literally unmeasurable using any of the current tools, and was certainly far below the measuring threshold of the industry standard. But that is a marketing phrase used only for that show, and not a declaration of technical specificity. If you had seen the demonstration, it literally disappears in a blacked out room. A rose by any other name...
Again, folks, we're not abandoning our dedication to the legendary KURO quality; we're just not going to be physically making the panels ourselves. We will still be designing them, so 10G and onwards should continue our tradition of being the best.
Pioneer officially ends in-house plasma production, Kuro LCDs coming soon {Engadget HD}
Mar 7th 2008 10:39AM Thanks for all the kind words! Coming from Pioneer, I can tell you this isn't so bad, tho'. Sure it's a blow to our pride, but does it really matter where the panels come from so long as they look great? As a point of fact, very few name brands actually manufacturer all of their own lines of products; Pioneer was one of those few. Unless you're a mega-brand like Matsushita or Sony, that eventually proves to be uneconomical (as we've sadly seen!) if you want to remain a global player and not fall into a niche market. Even Sony, as we all know, doesn't make any of their own TVs except for the OLED screens. Much of what you see out there is designed by Brand A and manufactured by Brand B. Of course, as Marty said above, we will be sharing certain key technologies with Matsushita to ensure that future panels will maintain our exacting qualities. This could change, but my understanding is that this year's 9G panels will still be released to market, but that will be the last designed and built in-house. Everyone should win in this new scenario as you should now be able to expect KURO quality at a lower price.
Pioneer says goodbye to plasma manufacturing {Engadget HD}
Mar 4th 2008 12:11AM Richard, I'm glad you have an opinion, but please verify the facts with the brands involved before making assumptions. The companies mentioned happen to say otherwise.
Pioneer says goodbye to plasma manufacturing {Engadget HD}
Mar 3rd 2008 11:23PM Everyone calm down. This is a false story. Pioneer is getting out of the 42" PDP display biz, not PDP entirely. There was a story in the Japanese press about how Pioneer was shutting down it's 42" panel factory which it had purchased from NEC several years ago, and somehow that has been completely blown out of proportion. Pioneer is NOT getting out of the PDP biz.
Motorola: over 15 million HD set-tops served in 2007 {Engadget HD}
Feb 28th 2008 10:44AM I dunno about everyone else out there, but my girlfriend has Comcast (service blows, by the way), and she's gone through FOUR defective Motorola boxes, including the new model, in less that six months. I use Cox, and I've had only two SA boxes go bad in four years!
Sony rolls out three production LCDs {Engadget HD}
Feb 28th 2008 10:39AM "Accurate black levels" and "accurate colors" are contradictory to LCD technology. ;-)
