Pioneer's TV division hits the dusty trail

For the last two years, Pioneer Kuro plasmas have sit squarely at the top of our HDTV heap. Both the PRO-110FD and the PRO-111FD earned their years' respective Editor's Choice award for Best Product of the Year, and they've been roundly considered to be among the finest flat panels on the market.

Unfortunately, starting next year, we won't be seeing any more of them.

Pioneer has announced that it will no longer be in the TV business. By March 2010, Pioneer will cease production on all displays. The company will still produce other home theater equipment, but this is a crushing blow for people who have been holding off on getting a Kuro. Consumers can still get Kuro PRO-111FD's, but there won't be any new models on the way.

So long, Kuro. We hardly knew, yo.

— Will Greenwald

CES 2009: Pioneer's Blu-ray Array

Pioneer didn't have a big press push at the show this year, but they are pushing three new Blu-ray players with BD-Live.

The Pioneer BDP-120 and BDP-320 and the Elite BDP-23FD are all BD-Live with either expandable external memory or built-in memory.  (The BDP-120 will have a 1GB external flash driver, while the other two will have 1GB internal memory devoted to BD-Live functionality.) All three have HDMI 1.3a outputs and Ethernet connectivity. The Elite model adds RS-232 for home automation controls in a custom installation.

“In our relentless pursuit to envelop home audiences in their movie and music selections, Pioneer designed a new Blu-ray Disc player lineup that incorporates an extensive series of customization capabilities and best-in-class performance features that compliment consumers’ entertainment and installation needs,” said Chris Walker, senior manager of Blu-ray Disc marketing and product planning for Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc.

On the audio front, all three output Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD bitstreams, and the BDP-320 and BDP-23FD have 7.1-channel outputs.

All three models will ship this summer; prices are unavailable at this time. --Leslie Shapiro

Pioneer's Elite KURO's Hitting the Streets

The Elite KURO Signature Series are finally shipping. Life is good. This long-awaited line of monitors takes the KURO to the next level. The Signature Series are handpicked at the factory for the deepest blacks and highest levels of color accuracy, with a signed certificate of authenticity (get it, Signature Series?) "validating Pioneer's commitment to providing only the best-in-class panels for this limited run series."

Notice that these are limited run sets. They offer extensive controls through an online site available when the serial number is submitted. The Elite KUROs offer self-diagnostics, signal support and more that give installers complete control, so the custom installer-folks are grabbing them up.

The PRO-101FD (50-inch class) is selling for $5,500, and the PRO-141FD (60-inch class) monitors  has a suggested price of $7,000.

Keep reading for the complete press release.

Elite Blu-ray Weighs In

In today's world of MP3 players and Playstations, there is still something reassuring about big, heavy, old-school components. Does a 50-pound device reproduce audio better than a 5-ounce device? Who knows? But it sure makes your back hurt when you lift it, and that's really what it's all about.

Pioneer's Elite line has always taken the solid-and-heavy approach to building, so hopes ran high when they earlier hinted at a forthcoming massive Blu-ray player. Now hopes are fulfilled as the Elite BDP-09FD is unveiled. This player is ready to go (no stinkin' future firmware upgrades needed) with Profile 2.0, BD-Live and Ethernet for running internet-based content. Moreover, unlike some other BD-Live players that require SD cards, the BDP-09FD handles downloads with its own 4GB of internal memory.

There's lots more....

Elite Blu

Not long ago, the Big News was Blu-ray versus HD DVD. Now, it's all about the avalanche of new Blu-ray players. Everyone loves a winner. Pioneer has jumped into the fray with not one, but two new BD players: the BDP-05FD and the BDP-51FD. Both are, in a sense, old-school products - heavy on sound and video quality, while sacrificing some of the latest bells and whistles. In particular, neither player will support the latest Hot Button Technology, BD-Live and its interactive possibilities. Still, both of these BonusView players have a lot to offer, and will push the Blu-ray envelope a bit further down the road. In particular, both players will decode multichannel audio formats such as Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS-HD and DTS HD Master (note: some firmware updates needed). The other welcome news is speed. Some BD players are sooooo slow. These are promising 15 seconds from Eject to Off, and 22 seconds to load a disc. And, there's more.