The Official Pioneer 9G Elite KURO Owner's Discussion Thread - Page 681

The old 27" XBR was still going, and it probably could have hung around longer, but I finally decided it would be cool to watch my DVDs on a big screen. Even so, it was several years from that decision to the 111. Most of my system is over 10 years old, so I hang on to stuff. I hope to hang on to the 111 too.

That's why anything new, regardless of how good, doesn't faze me. Buy right the first time and have peace of mind. I went to the store planning to get the last 5010 (8G) but couldn't justify it seeing the 111 in direct comparison even with the price difference. The total lack of buyer's nerves (cost) or remorse (maybe I shouldn't have done that) was the confirmation.

Last night I was watching the DVD Superman Returns through an Oppo 83 set to Auto output resolution and 16:9 Wide/Auto engaged through an EDGE also set to Auto output, with 16:9 AR. During the end credits, gray sidebars popped up. The EDGE doesn't appear to be the culprit.

I suspect the 111 was fooled into thinking it was receiving a 4:3 signal and responded accordingly. Further investigation is warranted, but meantime, has anyone else experienced anything like this?

I've seen that with auto/dynamic masks.

I'll start with the 111 and work backwards, I suppose.

I had my 600M delivered yesterday, and thankfully the screen is intact and there are no dead pixles. The only thing that concerns me is that the sheet metal used for the back of the panel seems rather flimsy and rattles when tapped. I had an RPTV that did something similar and my subwoofer would get it vibrating like a sumuvabitch at certain frequencies. Anyone else notice this or have issue with the case rattling when watching movies or listening to music?

No rattles or noise from my 500M but my panel, which looks like metal, is plastic. If you think yours is metal see if a magnet will stick to it since I doubt they would be using aluminum or magnesium.

Never, but the back panels don't seem at all loose on mine. Are all the screws tight? Honestly, I wouldn't expect a problem, since I've never read any posts here about that kind of problem. You might want to check in the KRP thread, ro be sure.

I have an elite 101FD and find that when I press against the front plastic frame at the top , middle of the screen there is considerable give to it, which I found a bit surprising for such a set. Doesn't rattle though and I think what you are describing is different.

Really? It's metal on the TVs. Maybe they used plastic to minimize weight with those......

The bezel is rumored to be just barely attached with a few screws -- at least on the 50" monitors.

Makes sense, so probably isn't an issue.

Are the TVs fairly flat on the back? I'd guess it would be easier to get the rather complex monitor shape molded rather than stamped/machined but I don't really have any idea.

No, it's not really flat. The TV is thin at the edges, so all the way around, it's flat, then angles out to allow the back depth to expand a couple inches, then flat again.

It's definitely sheet metal on the back of my 600M. And yes, I went over every screw to make sure that they were all tight. IMO, they needed to strengthen the structure of the sheet metal by embossing a few channels along the width of the large flat areas (there's a name for that process that escapes me). Right now, if I lightly press in certain areas, the metal dimples quite easily. Tap on one of those spots and it rattles.

I just went to the local AV store and tapped on the back of a 141fd (similar if not identical case to the 600M), and it rattles in all of the same spots as my 600M. So it would seem that it is just how they are made (rather than a defect in my set).

If you aren't getting the back panel to rattle on yours, you may just be tapping in the wrong spot. The most noticeable area on my 600 and the 141 at the store is on the right side (facing the screen), in the middle, about 9 inches in from the edge.

This is probably a non-issue since no one has complained about it, but then I'm and audiophile and it is in my nature to hunt down anything that might interfere with the sound quality of my system. Unfortunately, I can't test for rattles during movie / music playback for a while because my prepro is in the shop for repair.

I've never had a rattle from my 151. When you get your prepro back, running the subwoofers calibration test tone should reveal any rattles in the set or your room. I isolate any items that are vibrating or resonating in my surroundings with an 80Hz at 0dB test tone, listening from my sweet spot as well as a walking around the room, back of the TV etc. and adjust/move stuff accordingly!

I checked out the 151 while I was at the AV store today and the back panel construction of the 151 is beefier than the 141 or 600M.

I plan to run a full 20 to 80Hz sweep when I get my prepro back from repair. For now, I'm just seeing if anyone has noticed any issues and what they did about it.

Never had any rattles on my 151 in 15 months.

151 and no rattles.

Guys,

I know the 151 doesn't rattle, my comments pertain only to the 141 and 600M. They have a much different back panel than the 151.

I got my answer anyway, as I described in post 20441.

Hi folks,

I love the PQ of my newly purchased PRO-101FD on HD material but the performance on DVD SD material is far from satisfactory. I used component output from a Panasonic S97 DVD player and the 101 de-interlaces signal to 480i. Is there a way to change settings on the display to detect DVD as 480p in progressive scanning with the hope to improve PQ. I tried to output signal via HDMI but the result is not much better in 1080i.

My old 720p rear-projection LCD TV performs much better on DVD play back. Can anyone give me some guidance on how to improve the SD performance on the 101 display?

Thanks

In general, it's best to have the player or the Kuro do all the processing. It's not clear what you mean when you say the 101 de-interlaced the signal to 480i....the Kuro doesn't do 480. It outputs everything at 1080p, regardless of input resolution. You should either input the DVD's native 480i or an already-scaled 1080p. Also, I'd recommend you go back to HDMI.

Your best bet for SD-DVDs is usually a good blu-ray player. If you have a blu-ray player, try using that and outputting either the native signal (to let the Kuro do all scaling), or output at 1080p/60.

Hi progprog,

Thanks for your comments. I don't have a Blu ray player now but will be getting a PS3 for that purpose. My DVD player only upconverts to 1080i via HDMI. Are there any settings I can change on the Kuro to improve the PQ for now until I get a BD player?
Shall I deploy PureCinema and use Smooth or Advance Film Mode?

I was watching the F1 race this am when I heard a "pop" and the picture looked like this:



I know it's still under warranty, but does anyone have any thoughts? Is this repairable? I would hate to have to get credit towards another display

If your DVD player can output the native signal (480i) over HDMI, I would do that. If that's not an option, I would next opt for 1080i over HDMI. If you really want to stay with component, I'd leave it as unprocessed as possible in the player and output 480i to your Kuro. (Are you going through a receiver, BTW? That should be set to pass-through, if you are.)

As for Kuro settings, the Pure Cinema setting will primarily affect your perception of motion in the image, not overall PQ characteristics like clarity or "pop." For DVDs, you should try STANDARD and ADVANCE (and SMOOTH if you like), and use whichever one appears to lend the least glitchy motion, since there will always be at least a little of that with DVDs. (Slow pans are especially good tests for this purpose.)

Beyond that, you need to choose an AV selection that you like best. Which one are you using now? And what are your main complaints about the PQ? If you were using PURE, for example, and you find it a little bland, subdued, or "soft," you would probably be happier with something like OPTIMUM or PERFORMANCE. Once you settle on the basic template (AV selection) that best suits your picture preferences, you can start tweaking basic controls like Contrast, Brightness, and Sharpness to fine tune a bit. Many users (me included) really like the ISF modes, so you might consider activating those if you haven't already.

As a final note, keep in mind that DVDs vary a lot in video quality. I've seen some that look almost as good as blu-rays, and others that are almost painful to look at, regardless of settings. A large, TOTL display like your 101FD is very revealing. If the source material is poor, the Kuro will show its faults in all their hideous glory. You'll be wanting a blu-ray player real soon!

Ouch! Definitely looks like it's time for a service call. I'd bet it's repairable.

Greetings fellow Elitists. I have had my 151 since the end of May 2009 and have been enjoying it immensely. This thread has been a great source of information and definitely contributed to my decision to purchase this amazing set. I performed the whole D-Nice break in procedure and used Control Cal (thanks Turbe!!) to activate the ISF Day, Night and Auto modes. I used D-Nice's settings initially and proceeded to tweak them to my liking. I was pretty happy with the results but couldn't resist the urge to constantly adjust settings in search of the perfect picture for all types of signals. Since my 151 is a March 2009 panel, I decided to get an official ISF calibration done for my own peace of mind. I contacted Chad Billheimer and he was able to schedule me in within two weeks. He arrived this past Friday evening with all of his equipment in tow and proceeded to work his magic. After three and a half hours of meticulous work he had calibrated Pure, ISF Day, ISF Night, and ISF Auto for each input and also for the Antenna input and checked all of the video settings on each of my players. Honestly, I wasn't expecting to see much of a difference as the picture quality was already stunning. But after Chad's work, the picture is even better. The biggest difference I notice is my whites are now WHITE instead of grayish white and the shadow detail is much improved and colors are spot on. Chad also found a couple of settings that I had set incorrectly on both the 151 and PS3.

It was a real pleasure to have Chad calibrate my set and he is a great guy and a real perfectionist as many others have noted. He takes his time to get everything right while still answering all of your pesky questions. If you are in the Pittsburgh area and are thinking of getting an ISF calibration done, I would definitely recommend contacting Chad. Oh, and his rates are extremely reasonable for the quality of work that he performs.

Lastly, I would like to thank all of the brilliant and intelligent people who have contributed to this thread ( I'm looking at YOU progprog!!). It seems like I check this thread every day and learn something new each time.

Thanks for your calibration report. I'm adding it to the flat panel (Post #2) list that's linked at the bottom of my post.

Progprog, thank you again for your detailed explanation. I use PURE for my DVD play back, adding color to the setting making picture with more "pop". For some reasons, PQ on movies look better than concerts, it may be something to do on the quality of the recordings but did not see this difference by enlarge on my older 720p LCD TV.

Yes, I am going to get a PS3 soon for my son and will be using it as a blu-ray player but don't really want to use it as a regular DVD player for my large DVD collection. I am toying with the idea of getting a good quality DVD player with 1080P upconverting capability such as Oppo DV 980HD which seems to receive many good reviews on its video & audio quality. That case, my Kuro will just need to process input signal in its native 1080p resolution. What do you think?

BTW, I understand that not every blu-ray player in the market work well with SD DVDs.