New Pioneer 50-inch, 60-inch Plasma TVs

Pioneer Corporation announced today the introduction of two new KURO 1080p plasma televisions, the 60-inch KRP-600A and the 50-inch KRP-500A, featuring black levels five times deeper than the previous 2007 KURO models*1 and brilliant color reproduction as well as superb sound quality, for the Japanese market.

The Pioneer 2008 KURO televisions feature the stunning expressive power of deeper blacks and brilliant color reproduction as well as superior sound quality. Specially, Pioneer has taken the sound of flat panel TVs to new heights by capitalizing on a host of proprietary audio technologies it has developed for high-end speakers. Consequently, the two new TVs create an overwhelming sound space that provides greater sound clarity.

On the basis of these innovations in picture and sound quality, Pioneer has also upgraded the Optimum (Living-room) Mode. With this function, the intelligent KURO televisions simultaneously monitor program scenes and room light conditions, and then automatically optimize the picture and sound settings in real time to deliver a new flawless viewing experience for each type of content.

The Pioneer KRP-600A and KRP-500A will be available in the middle of October 2008 for a suggested retail price of 940,000 yen and 670,000 yen (including tax) respectively.

Main Features:

1 ) New panel designed for high picture quality with deeper blacks and richer, brilliant colors

Black levels five times deeper than the previous KURO panels:
Pioneer has greatly reduced the idle luminance by combining the new panel and newly-developed drive system, thus improving the black levels five times than the 2007 KURO models. Deeper blacks enhance contrast and deliver intense, sharper images.
Subtle gradations in dark scenes precisely reproducible to faithfully express emotion and feelings in movie scenes:
Pioneer's proprietary drive system for smooth, high-density gradations of black has further evolved together with the new panels. Besides realizing deeper black levels, setting more detailed gradation steps in areas of low luminance results in smoother gradations in dark scenes.
Advanced Direct Color Filter to minimize external light reflections:
The new panel's Direct Color Filter greatly minimizes external light reflections on the screen. Even in bright living rooms, viewers can enjoy sharp video images with intense blacks and vivid colors. In addition, the application of a film on the front filter instead of glass has overcome focal problems caused by multiple reflections occurring between the front filter glass and the plasma panel.

2 ) Further advanced video processing

The fully-digitalized video processing maximizes the performances of the new KURO TVs by including the following technologies:

Pioneer's proprietary High-performance 3D I/P (Interlaced/Progressive) Conversion realizes clear video images by eliminating comb-shaped noise seen in scrolling text and other areas on the screen or minimizing jaggies along diagonal lines.

High-performance Noise Reduction System effectively minimizes block noise that easily occurs in moving images, small dot-shaped mosquito noise occurring along the periphery of the image, compression noise contained in digital sources, and noise remaining in analog video sources. It also effectively reduces noise that tends to occur when conventional TV images are converted to a high-definition size.

Film Smooth Motion Mode reproduces 24-fps video material with smoother movements. This new technology uses a proprietary algorithm to automatically generate intermediate video images when frame-rate converting 24-fps (frames per second) film material to 60 fps. It suppresses awkward movements (judder) during conventional 2:3 pull-down conversion to achieve smoother movement between frames.

3 ) High-quality sound enabling overwhelming, transparent spatial expression

New Speaker circuits, for clearer sound in the mid-to-low range:
Thin, low-distortion custom coils, newly developed, reduce distortion and improve channel separation to deliver clear sound. In addition, new thin, low-impedance electrolytic capacitors stabilize the amplifier's power supply to reduce noise.

Newly-developed speaker units, for greater linearity in amplitude and reduced distortion in the high and low range:

The new KURO TVs have newly-developed woofers with a corrugation edge structure - adopted in Pioneer's EX-series high-end speaker systems and TAD drivers. This boosts amplitude linearity and delivers crisply clear low-range sound. The tweeters use a tangential rib to minimize vibration separation, thereby reducing distortion in the high-frequency range.

New sound-adjustment modes:
Unique optimum sound settings have been preset for each of the picture modes. In the movie mode, for example, the system is automatically set to deliver dynamic lows and increase surround sound effects, thereby enhancing sound presence and improving the clarity of the actor's lines.
Auto Volume Control stabilizes the television's volume level when switching between different types of program content: e.g. dramas and commercials, or broadcasting channels and different input types.

4 ) Upgraded, intelligent adjustment Modes

New Optimum (Living-room) Mode simultaneously monitors each of program scenes (not program contents e.g. movies, sports, and live performances) and room light conditions, and then automatically optimizes the picture and sound settings in real time:

The new Intelligent System monitors the images area by area in the program content, and finely optimizes the image's color hue, contrast and sharpness in real time. At the same time, the built-in luminance sensor detects the room light conditions to adjust brightness, color shades and other parameters. In addition to picture quality, sound quality is automatically optimized for program content according to the viewing environment. The system gradually creates sound and sound fields that are perfect for program content in a way that the change cannot be detected by the ear. In this mode, the Optimum Mode Monitor displays the analysis data on the screen.

Furthermore, with an optional color sensor, the KRP-SE01, the new KURO can optimally adjust white balance by estimating the color temperature based on light sources, including lightings, sunlight and reflected light.
Director Mode for custom fine-tuning of picture quality. This mode is designed for viewers who pursue faithful reproduction of input signals on their own. Viewers can customize various video settings, including color hue and color correction, as if they were video editors.

5 ) 64-mm thick slim body with glossy black, high-grade simple bezels enhances viewing comfort

The thickness of the main body has been downsized to 64 mm- about half of the 2007 KURO models - by completely redesigning the circuitry and the radiation. The weight has been reduced to 49.9kg for the KRP-600A and 31.4kg for the KRP-500A.

Unwanted elements have been eliminated from the bezels wherever possible. This sophisticated design allows users to concentrate more easily on the video contents.

The remote control employs aluminum plates to add a touch of class.

6 ) A variety of easy-to-use features including KURO LINK control

KURO LINK control enables the basic operation of the KURO-LINK-compatible devices*2, such as the Pioneer HDD/BD recorder BDR-WD900 and A/V multi-channel amplifier SC-LX81, on the remote control of the KURO televisions via an HDMI™ connection. Also, by pushing the PLAY button of the connected KURO-LINK-compatible device, the KURO TV will automatically turn ON, and input will be switched to the selected device.
Four HDMI terminals support 1080p/60-Hz and 1080p/24-Hz input signals, and Deep Color 36-bit color depths for color reproducibility of greater detail.

Expanded Electronic Program Guide is suitable for large screen TVs. TV Programs for the user's favorite eight digital broadcast channels are displayed on the entire PDP screen. The EPG function for analog broadcasts supports the G-Guide*3 technology.

Double Digital Tuner enables users to enjoy two different digital broadcasts on the multi-screen mode at the same time.
Surround sound effect SRS WOW HD™ including SRS FOCUS, SRS, SRS TruBass and SRS Definition technologies
Home Gallery for viewing photos with USB connection to a digital camera

7 ) Lower power consumption*4

Highly efficient luminance technology and other various power-saving technologies allow the new KURO televisions to consume the lower power:

KRP-600A: Annual power consumption 488 kWh/yr, rated power consumption 533W
KRP-500A: Annual power consumption 428 kWh/yr, rated power consumption 436W

The power consumption in the standby mode is 0.3 W.