Pioneer's Pure Black Kuro HDTV
01.06.08
discuss Total posts: 1
by Dan Costa
CES 2008 Coverage
Las Vegas—Today at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Pioneer announced it would take one the most important feature to look at when buying an HDTV and make it completely irrelevant. The company wants to eliminate contrast ratio.
Developed under the company's Project Kuro code name, Pioneer plans to demonstrate a plasma TV that can show a black that emits absolutely no light. This so-called High Contrast Model will emit virtually no light in the very blackest area of any picture. The company claims this prototype display can achieve virtually zero idling luminance in more than six million cells—something never done before in a TV display. This would make the traditional measurements of contrast ratio completely immaterial.
For HDTVs, contrast ratio is defined as the ratio of the luminosity of the brightest color (white) to that of the darkest color (black). Although the way contrast ratios are measured differs by manufacturer, high contrast ratios have an enormous impact on image quality.
Plasmas have always offered better contrast ratios that LCD HDTVs, but LCD manufactures have been working to close the gap. To remain competitive, Pioneer needs to keep pushing image quality. Of course, eliminating contrast ratio will come at a high price. Pioneer's plasma HDTVs are designed for well-heeled movies fans.
At the same event, Pioneer is previewing an advanced design concept that is the world's thinnest 50-inch display at only nine millimeters (mm) thick. It weights just 41 pounds and hanging on the wall it looks more like a painting than a high-definition display.
Pioneer claims fully-operational concept televisions based on these designs will be commercially-available by the end of 2008.
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