Recent Comments:
Heidi Montag's Playboy Spread -- The Coverup {TMZ}
Jun 12th 2009 5:22PM Playboy has been in a downward spiral of bad taste for the past 20 years. More and more of their models are silicon and collagen injected mannequins which are truly repulsive to look at. Showcasing blatantly artificial media-whore Heidi Montag is yet another example of their complete lack of quality control.
Mitsubishi's DVR-BF2000 Blu-ray DVR up for grabs in Japan {Engadget HD}
Dec 9th 2008 12:45PM As a BD hardware manufacturer I will tell you the real reason for the the lack of BD STB recorders here in the US is due to Hollywood (gee, what a surprise!), not the rumor-mill of BD's early demise. None of the BD manufacturers are deliberately refusing to sell them. Hollywood is deliberately throwing up every legal obstacle possible, just as they did back in the years prior to DVD STB recorders. The rules, regulations and fees applied to OTA and other types of recording in Japan are significantly different than they are here.
Pioneer rechristens Black Friday "KURO Friday," won't lower prices {Engadget HD}
Nov 20th 2008 1:48PM You don't see Meridian, Krell, B&W or any of the other high-end brands slashing prices either.
Poll: Are your new James Bond Blu-ray Discs acting up? {Engadget HD}
Nov 3rd 2008 3:55PM Bond discs are just fine...it's the new Matrix discs that won't play with my player's latest firmware! They load the Java apps, then just sit there and I have to unplug and reboot! The extras discs play fine; only the feature films won't play.
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.
