Popular Science
  Give the Gift of Popular Science Magazine Subscribe | Newsletter 

Home
PPX
What's New
How2.0
Photo Gallery
Blog
Science
Aviation & Space
Automotive Tech
Technology
Environment
Current Issue
Contact Us
Subscribe
Digital Edition
Customer Service
Gift Subscription
PS Showcase
Media Kit
PopSci Store
RSS

Enter e-mail address to receive popsci weekly updates to your inbox.



Best of What's New 2007

Home Entertainment
Pioneer Elite KURO PRO-1150HD

The Rebirth of Plasma


If plasmas are on their way out and LCDs are taking over, as sales figures might suggest, nobody told Pioneer. The company completely redesigned its plasma technology to produce the sharpest, most vivid picture you’ll find on any TV. The effort was code-named Project Kuro, Japanese for “black,” and that’s where this screen really sets itself apart.

The biggest challenge for any flat-panel TV technology is producing dark blacks, which create the contrast that makes other colors stand out. In LCDs, a constant backlight seeping through makes even dark pixels look gray. Plasmas have a different problem. Each tiny cell in the screen must be primed with an electric charge so it’s ready to fire up quickly, and that charge turns blacks slightly gray. Pioneer designed cells that require far less charge. Then it added a screen filter that further dampens excess light from the cells and reflects less room light. The result: Blacks are 80 percent darker than on Pioneer’s earlier models.

The TV’s new processor fixes other image problems. It effectively removes fuzzy “video noise” from the picture. And it eliminates the choppiness of DVD movies by taking 24-frames-per-second film content and generating additional frames to match the 60fps of the television. $4,500; pioneerelectronics.com



SLIDESHOW
Infographic and photo


  
OTHER WINNERS IN Home Entertainment




Pioneer Elite KURO PRO-1150HD
The Rebirth of Plasma




HDMI 1.3
THE BEST TV CONNECTION yet




Acoustic Research WHT-6024 Speakers
NO WIRES AND NO STATIC




Sony Bravia DAV-IS10
NEARLY INVISIBLE SURROUND SOUND




Digeo Moxi Multi-Room HD DVR
SEND HD AROUND THE HOUSE




Sonic Solutions Qflix
make your own DVDs




Samsung 3-D-ready DLP HDTVs
HOME 3-D GETS REAL




Customer Service

Copyright © 2007 Popular Science
A bonnier Corporation company All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.  |  Privacy Policy  |  Terms of Service  |  Site Index