Pioneer KURO New Owner's Thread

Does it make sense to have parallel thread for the same thing?


Here is the original Kuro thread

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...highlight=kuro

a "newbie" kuro owner would find alot of info in the regular stickied owners thread if they took the time to read it.

Heck, I say let him have a novice kuro thread.
Its not like there will be anymore "official pioneer" threads anyway.

no more will be made.

Chad, someone was saying in the other thread that they would produce until the end of the year. Doesn't sound like that from the press release

man, I don't know what to believe anymore.. lol.

THE ORIGINAL KURO THREAD IS TOOOOOO BLOATED [WITH USLESS INFORMATION] FOR A KURO NEWB SUCH AS MYSELF. Perhaps if it had sub categories it would be better.


I have had my 5020 for a little over a week now. It has been running almost 24/7 with a mixture off the break-in color files on USB and SD/HD viewing. I think it's safe to say that my break-in period is over?

I've been using the calibration setting suggested by D-Nice. At times, I find this a little too dim for my vision.

I don't have the greatest eyes in the world, I have night blindness. When I go to movie theaters, no matter what theater it is (IMAX or standard multi-plex) the picture is ALWAYS too dark and I often miss out in scenes that are at night or in a dark setting. Unless you have vision problems, I don't think you could releate.

I've checked the other picture settings and Dynamic would be ok, but it is overall too bright and it cannot be toned down, it's adjustments are locked. Sport has brightness levels I like, but according to D-Nice's calibrations Sport must be some sort of self destruction mode; "****UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE SHOULD THESE SETTINGS BE USED WITH ANY OTHER SOURCE MATERIAL BEYOND THE BREAK-IN DVD OR THUMBDRIVE FILES****"

I've tried the "Optimum" mode while watching American Gangster in an unlit living room and details in dark scenes were too dark. Naturally Dynamic was overkill. D-Nice's Movie setting looked to be a bit dull in this movie.

So, what calibration and or mode should I be using so I can fully enjoy my Kuro? I need a setting that is in between D-Nice's Movie settings and Sport or Dynamic.

When pausing my Dish ViP722 and switching modes, Optimum provided a nice sharp and clear picture, but is not perfect. I could see details in Dynamic that I could not see in any other mode.

One of the best things about our Sammy LN46A550 is being able to adjust the backlight if the overall picture is too bright or too dim. Unfortunately, there is no such adjustment with plasmas.

As a new owner, I appreciate this thread. With the recent price drops, I think there are quite a few new 5020 owners. The original thread probably contains all sorts of good info, but without an index its proving very hard to find. Recent pages on the same thread appear to cover mainly "advanced topics" (and related drama).

I'm about 40 hours into my break-in as well, I plan to watch my first 1:2.35 BluRay tonight, cause I'm dyin'.

Per the comment above about settings... I think most will tell you to start with D-Nice's settings and then tweak to your own liking! Maybe just pop up the brightness a notch or two, since that seems to be your main issue.

One of the questions I have about the break-in images via USB I think should be in the first post is regarding speed. How fast or slow should the Slide Show be? 10 sec, 15, 30, 60 sec, or even 3?

There have been some moments (watching Heroes, 24, or LOST with OTA, or 300 in HD) I have simply been floored with the picture on my Kuro. Other movies such as American Gangster, I think were filmed in a particular way to give a gritty 70's sort of look.

I am all for a thread like this one... My 151FD should be here on Tuesday or Wednesday.. Not sure what to expect, but I am hoping it is everthing I expected it to be..

I'll join in here. I just got a 151FD yesterday. Now I'm searching for what to do and how to calibrate it.

Should I break it in using a thumbdrive or something? I've heard mixed reports of doing this and am hesitant, as I don't want to mess it up.

Most that i know (including myself) go 30 seconds.

this is totally up to you.

I did it and will continue to do it with every plasma I buy.

here is a quick "tutorial" on the procedure:

When you get the Elite, (Pro-111FD or Pro-151FD)

1. Plug it in (LOL)

2. Press the Home Menu button on the remote.

3. then go to setup and press enter.

4. The go to Picture and press enter

5. Now set your settings up like this:

Picture:
AV Selection: Sport
Contrast: 50
Brightness: 0
Color: +20
Tint: 0
Sharpness: 0


Pro Adjust

Pure Cinema
Film Mode: Off
Text Optimization: Off

Intelligence: Off


Picture Detail:
DRE Picture: Off
Black Level: Off
ACL: Off
Enhancer Mode: 2
Gamma: 2


Color Detail:
Color Temp: High

CTI: Off

Color Management
R 0
Y 0
G 0
C 0
B 0
M 0

Color Space: 2


Noise Reduction:

3DNR: Off
Field NR: Off
Block NR: Off
Mosquito NR: Off

Screen Size: Full
Power Save Mode: Off
Orbiter: Mode 2



6. Click Here-----> Thumbdrive Files and put the files on your thumbdrive.

Then plug the thumb drive into the usb port on your Kuro.

And follow these instructions:


*Press home/menu on the remote

*Then go to "home media gallery"

*Then go to USB

*Then go to "USB Disk" (it may say 2.0 or something beside it)

*This should open your thumb drive and show you a list of the break-in jpg's.

*Press the "tools" button on the remote.

*Scroll down to slide show and press enter.

*Set the settings up like this:

Effect: Off
Monochrome: Off
Interval: 10 seconds - 30 seconds (your choice, But I used 30 sec.)
Random: Off
Play mode: Repeat All
BGM:Off

Then click "start"


This should start up the slideshow Break-in process.

Let the TV run the slideshow and break-in for 100-150 hours.

Feel free to watch TV when you want. Don't be afraid to.



Once you have finished the break-in process, Put in D-Nices reference settings for whichever Elite you are getting (111 or 151).

Here is a link to where you can find those settings.

D-Nice's settings page


Make sure you carefully read the instructions above the settings that D-Nice put there to determine which setting are right for you.
He put them in bold red.

that should do it for you! let me know if you get stuck anywhere.

-Chadmak09

Wow, thanks for the great post, chadmak. We're going to getting a 5020 or 111 elite in the next week or so and I've been a little intimidated by the break-in process as this is our first plasma. Even though the info you shared is available elsewhere on avs your post will prove to be a great one-stop reference.

You can "search within thread" on the owners thread, just thought I'd let the newbs know.
You'll get an answer for yourself much quicker than this thread will get responded to.
The guys with the Kuro knowledge most likely wont chime in here when they are already actively participating in the owners thread.


Chad....isn't Orbiter Mode 2 the one to use? Then you have the orbiter work on all screen size modes.

Just bought the pair from BB, delivered yesterday. Many thanks for the posters on the AVS forum -- the wealth of info has been extraordinarily useful. My time to return the favor -- this thread is a good idea.

1. Purchasing the unit.

I bought from BB, the place where I spent most of my in-person research time. I made it a point to give them first shot at the sale, as they went through the cost of making my decision much more comfortable. The price for the pair (5020 and 51BD air), after minimal negotiation (i.e., a polite "take it or leave it" offer), was as low as anything I have seen from reputable online places. In sum, a win-win situation. Delivery was painless, the panel and player both appear flawless, all seems to work as it should.

2. Initial impressions.

Positives: TV has very deep blacks, superb finish, no judder that I can detect, good color (could not live with the red push on the Panasonic), and pretty good sound.

Negative: I have only one gripe so far -- the remote. One, the various controls consist of multiple small buttons that seem to be arranged haphazardly. Two, the backlighting is much too weak to be of almost any use. This is an even bigger issue, because the buttons are poorly (IMHO) placed. Three, a rotary dial such as the one found on the Samsung would be a nice addition when navigating menus.

Question 1: When the credits roll, the text does not roll perfectly smoothly (it's close, but not perfect). I had not noticed this in the store, where the motion smoothness of the Pioneer was IMHO clearly superior to that of the Panasonics and Samsungs (let alone LCDs). Does this phenomenon reflect the movie itself (in a movie theater I see this even more) or can the choice of TV settings make this avoidable? If so, please advise!

Question two: I watched some OTA digital broadcast as well as a Winnie the Pooh DVD and the BR-remastered version of "from Russia with love" yesterday night, using D-Nice’s settings. While his settings seemed perfect for regular TV, they seemed a little too bland for the two movies. As a result, I ended up watching the Pooh DVD on “Standard”. The difference between D-Nice’s Movie setting and the "Standard" could can be compared to the difference between the colors in the original Winnie the Pooh books and the colors of a regular, modern comic book. Both have their fans, but one is punchier. Question -- will the colors on D-Nice's ses become more vibrant as the panel matures?

3. Break-in or no break-in? That is the question...

Before receiving the unit last evening, I had downloaded the break-in images to a thumb drive. However, I was so eager to start enjoying the TV that I decided not to wait. I have since watched several movies in a couple of hours of on the air digital TV, all a maximum resolution. Once the work week starts, I will most likely run the USB pictures, just to be on the safe side.

Question: is it okay to intersperse regular watching with periods of break-in?

4. BDP-51FD:

I bought this unit because of the good reviews, the many comments on how robustly the unit was built, and the hope that it would come well integrated with the panel. In particular, I was hoping that I could live with a single remote. Initial impressions are positive. On the plus side, it plays extremely smoothly and seems to change regular DVDs nicely. The two Blu-Ray discs I have watched so far have been fine (From Russia with Love, a documentary Bears), as has the DVD (Winnie the Pooh’s Heffalump). On the minus side, it takes a tad too long to load up, and in practice, I have yet to figure out how to get to my goal of a single remote.

I will try the BR and DVD versions of Cars tomight, to compare.

Thanks and cheers!

yep,
mode 2 is best. Its like the "automatic" of orbitor modes. It works with everything and is the best mode to use IMO.

I had copied those break-in settings from D-Nices, And he has mode 1 on there (which works as well).

I will change.

I must say, that after extensive research for a total of two weeks, I have been sold on the 5020FD. I am going to be moving from a Samsung 50" 720p DLP to the Kuro. I placed my order yesterday on Amazon. My delivery estimate is between the 20th through the 24th. I am super excited for next week. I imagine some people from here have ordered from Amazon before... if so, some input on what to expect for delivery would be nice.

Any new/beginners advice would be greatly appreciated, as this is my first Kuro (probably last now) and plasma TV. I had one important question that I would like to have answered. Is getting ControlCAL a good idea for $25? Would any female-female straightthrough cable with with the program and the 5020? Should I get ControlCAL right away?

Any other input would be appreciated. I plan on letting straight break-in images for the first 24 hours or so, maybe a break for some hd content, and then mixing it up from there. Letting the break-in images run while I am gone at school or work.

Thanks in advance guys!

Hi...like this "new" thread..perhaps can help with similar basic questions...have tried D-Nice settings, etc...but, perhaps its just me, but often movies and tv look very "dark." ?? Like you cannot see a lot of detail in the blacks..shadows, etc....so...wondering... lets say if in MOVIE mode, how to best adjust CONTRAST and BRIGHTNESS to "brighten" picture overall....obviousely you bring brightness UP...but how far is safe without potential damage to the panel...and the which direction to take Contrast if raising brightness up a lot??? Thanks!!

Ditto here. It helps if someone is holding the speakers while you screw the brackets (n my case, the BB delivery guy helped me). The middle bracket is harder to fasten than the side ones -- keep it for last (and only tighten the side brackets after you are sure that the middle one fits well).

YES YES YES.

The manuals method is CRAP!!!
DONT DO IT THAT WAY ANYONE!!!.

I had 2 6010s that I laid down face first on my tablewith a blanket on top of it when I put the stand on.

When I powered them on BOTH were dead due to cracked internal glass.

I am not sure if it was done during shipping or when I laid them down, but on the 3rd 60inch Kuro I had delivered, I lifted the panel on the assembled stand instead of laying the panel down face first.
It powered on immediatly.

Blu-ray load times are a function both of the player and whether the specific title is authored as HDMV or BD-J. Blu-ray Java titles take longer because of reading that code.

- TV

hey guys, i have now 1 week with my 5020 and since i brought it in i have been using the Break In Images via usb, yesterday i wanted to put the black levels to the test, i have seen pictures of the 5020 that you cant actually tell where is the bezel of the TV, i control the lighting of my TV room so i made it as dark as possible and putted on the episode of CAVES from PLANET EARTH on Bluray, well the black level of this tv is really great is the best of all the other TVs i have owned LCD and plasma alike. But the black level never plunged at a point where i could not see the differences between the screen or the bezel of the TV, again, pretty impressive black levels but did not see what other people are putting on pictures saying that they can not see the bezel of the TV.

Just before Christmas I bought an ex -display Pioneer PDP-4280XD. At the time I really turned myself inside out trying to make the decision as I wouldn't know the history of the screen and how much it had been played with but the price was so low... £997! Yep, under a grand for an 8G Kuro!!!

It was an awful predicament as I've been wanting a Pioneer Plasma for years, watching generation after generation be released and never able to afford one. I even advised my dad to buy the same screen which resulted in much jealousy. Anyway, the salesman advised me that it was the last one that they had and had only been on display for 2 months, and besides, Pio don't make a 9G under 50" anyway so it would have to be an 8G, the cheapest 42" Kuro I've seen anywhere is £1400.

After spending 2 and a half hours watching the screen, checking for dead pixels and scratches (none!) and making sure that the contrast/brightness hadn't been set too high I bit the bullet and for the most part I've been pretty ecstatic.

Its only tonight that I have spotted a problem. When there is a bright, white scene, burnt directly in the middle of the picture is a BluRay logo where the screen must have been left on pause for too long. Can't have been me as I don't have BluRay and now I'm gutted!

So was it a good idea to buy ex-display? And is there anyway of getting rid of image retention like this? I've searched for hours in the forums which are HUGE and found no real mention of a tried and trusted method.

Please help...

What are the differences between "Dot by dot" and "Full"?

As for picture modes, I find it interesting that each mode has it's own brightness, sharpness, or POP in the mode itself and not due to adjustments being boosted. The adjustment sliders are mostly neutral by default.

So, this begs the question are the modes actually targeting specific content? Such as Sports for racing, football, baseball and other sports? I know Optimum is fully automatic and utilizes the room lighting sensor and it's neat to see it working. Movies would be for watching movies or general TV content? What would "Standard" and "Performance" be used for?

Watching NASCAR racing in Movie mode, the colors look pretty bland and not real.

Once I get the 6020 on the base stand and put it on my furniture, is it hard to mount the included speaker by yourself on the underside? Do you have to lift the tv to properly set it? Also when securing the base stand to the tv, is it ok to rest the tv directly on the stand or do you have to lift it slightly to line up the screw holes?

Well if you bought it right before Christmas. That means you are now coming up on close to two months or slightly longer that you've owned it and have been using it, so it probably has a fair amount of hours on it where just you have watched it in your own home, and that has done nothing much to get rid of the Blu-Ray logo image that it has in the center. Sad to say, is that if after the two months that you have had it in your own home and that you just now noticed seeing it. Is that it sounds like the set actually has burn-in of the Blu-Ray logo from being on display at the store, and it's not just image retention. And if is burn-in, burn-in is permanent and there is pretty much nothing you can do to get rid of it.

Hiya,

Kinda new owner...got the 151FD three weeks ago. Nice unit. One thing I'm having trouble with is the subwoofer out on the back. I run my BD player and HDDVR via HDMI to the set and use the set to send audio out (2-ch to preamp and sub out to subwoofer). Problem is, I get no sub signal but the 2-ch is fine. I then tried plugging the sub to the BD player's sub out and I get signal. Any trick to getting sub out of the TV? (this is kinda temporary as I'm awaiting my pre/pro)

BTW, I ordered an OmniMount ULPT-X tilting wall mount for this unit...got a decent price from some well know web auction site . They drop shipped it and I notice it came from a liquidator place. Being curious, I checked it out...wow, cheap (way cheaper than what I paid...and I got a good deal already). Anyhoo, here's the place if anyone's interested in a great discount: http://www.shopbiglots.com/family/in...goryId=3280685 I have zippo affiliation with this.

Cheers.

-Hedwig