wstevens

Dunno when the sammy is coming out. The Kuro Elite PRO-151fd's are scarce. I'm worried if I wait to see the new sammy B9000 (supposed upgrade on the 950 series), the Kuro Elites will be gone.

What to do?

invisiblewar

Ive never heard of Kuro, maybe a higher end brand i dont know about. But as of right now samsung>*

NetEditor

I'd be highly suspicious of your opinion if you've never heard of Pioneer's Kuro line.

NetEditor

If the 8000 series is any indication of how good the 9000 will be, it'll be nice, really nice. The 9000 will use local dimming rather than edge dimming, which is a huge difference. The only thing, as you said, is the release date. I'd say it's safe to assume the 9000 series Samsung will be worth the wait. The only question is whether you want 55" or 60".

doopstr

The Kuro is a known variable. Do you think you would really be missing out on anything by not waiting for the new Samsung?

stogie1020

Well, how is the resale market for the Kuro? Buy one and re-sell it when the Sammy comes out.

invisiblewar

not tv savvy i just know that ive never heard a bad thing about sammys

stogie1020

Kuro is the top end of the top end of Plasma. It's just plasma, right? No LCD?

NetEditor

Just giving you shit. And, yes, Samsung makes very nice TVs.

No Kuro LCD.

Jonesi

posting outside of hockey talk.....

wstevens

This is why I'm thinking of going with the Pioneer. I'm not sure the samsung will be able to beat the image quality. However, I'd like a lighter (weight) TV if the image quality is equal. Also, LCD light clouding in the blacks when I'm watching in a dark room will drive me nuts.

Yakuza17

What's the lighting situation in the room you plan to put your new TV? LCDs tend to do better in brighter rooms since they tend to be brighter and don't reflect stray light off the screen as much as a plasma - reflections on the glass screen of a plasma can get annoying. The Pioneer Elites are supposed to have better anti-reflection coating than other plasmas though. Plasmas tend to look their best in darker rooms. I own a Pioneer Kuro 5020d (non Elite) and absolutely love it. I'm still amazed at the realistic skin tones, color, and black levels whenever I watch it. It's the closest to film on a TV I've experienced, especially when watching a Blu-ray DVD. No knock on Samsung or any other LCD manufacturer but I still don't think any LCD, even LED backlit ones with zone dimming, can match the picture quality of a top of the line plasma like the Pioneer Kuro Elite series. However, some people prefer the brighter look of an LCD and some prefer the more film-like look of a plasma. It comes down to what YOU prefer.

chill_dog

My current line of thinking on TVs is Samsung for LCD, Pioneer for plasma. My friend just got a new Pioneer, I believe the model you're looking at, and it is a great TV; much better than the plasmas I was looking at this time last year. On the other side, LED technology isn't solid yet, so the current crop of LCDs aren't as good as last years, in my opinion. What will the new technology bring? We'll see.

At the end of the day, do you want a new TV now or in a few months? If you wait to see the new technology, you'll always be waiting. If the Pioneer meets your needs, go ahead and get it. If you have any doubts, wait until the the Sammy comes out.

dom

Get the Kuro. Its a known commodity. I haven't heard a bad thing ever said or written about a Kuro.

Having said that, do you really NEED to spend that much? a Panasonic V series is 90% of the TV (please correct me if I'm wrong as this is what I've gathered from researching the avsforums) for half the price.

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

Haven't heard bad things about either... so you should be good to go whatever you decide!

wstevens

OK so I think I've come back down to earth a little. The Kuro runs $5500 right now (ugh). The Samsung UN55B9000 will probably run $4200 - $4500 when it comes out (in late August).

The Samsung LN55A950 is out right now and gets great reviews. It's backlit with local dimming. From what I can tell the UN55B9000 won't have that many upgrades over the 950. The 950 is $3500.

I'm thinking I may try the 950, as it appears to be the best picture for the money. It's $2000 less than the Kuro. That's a lot of scratch.

dom

Read this thread.

https://acurazine.com/forums/home-theater-electronics-45/led-tvs-better-than-lcd-just-thinner-724473/

wstevens

Ended up getting the 60" Kuro Elite 151fd.

Teh viewing angle on the LCDs made up my mind. The new backlit LCDs seem even worse than the regular LCDs in the showroom. A little off axis and the color washes out big time. Although, the head-on picture quality is awesome (but still not as good at the Kuro Elite).

dom

Nice. Take some pics when you get a chance but make sure porn isn't playing.

Maybe some men's Tennis.

wstevens

I'm waiting on delivery this week. It will stay in the box until I get a home theater guy to come install it on the wall. I also splurged on a new Pioneer AV receiver and Energy Micro-RL speakers that need to be wired through the ceiling. I'll take a pic of the whole set-up once it's installed.

dom

Sounds good. Is he going to calibrate it for you as well?

wstevens

this guy wanted $650 to calibrate. I'm going to run some settings that people have listed over at AVSForum and see how I like it.

dom

Are you going to break it in? Is that even nessesary on a kuro?

Yakuza17

Yes, unfortunately, on plasmas it is recommended that you follow proper break-in procedures. For my Kuro, it was 150 hours. Look in the AVS forums and you'll find what to do and not to do during this break in time.

dom

I'm in the process right now with a Panny G15.

2001AudiS4

If you weren't on the opposite coast, I would have given you a discounted rate on install.

2001AudiS4

Also, I'd check the tv. We had a run of 60" Kuro's that shipped with cracked screens. I haven't done a new Kuro in about a month or so, so hopefully this issue was resolved. It is heartbreaking to unbox a Pioneer, and a 60" at that, to find the screen is cracked.