The Official Pioneer 8G KURO Owner's Discussions Thread - Page 328

Originally Posted by SaltiDawg

10th St,

Where are you located?

Originally Posted by yngdiego

My ISF calibrated XBR800 easily beats my 1150HD in black-level detail and overall picture quality. But the 1150 is 16" larger, so I'm "settling" with the somewhat reduced picture quality for a larger display.

Originally Posted by SephirothXR

So this ONLY works with a cable card?

Originally Posted by Bitwize

A properly calibrated xbr 960 will easily produce as much detail in the dark parts of the picture. You should know that if you had XBRs for years...but maybe you didn't have them calibrated? Granted, the Kuro is still my favorite flat panel.

Originally Posted by yngdiego

My ISF calibrated XBR800 easily beats my 1150HD in black-level detail and overall picture quality. But the 1150 is 16" larger, so I'm "settling" with the somewhat reduced picture quality for a larger display.

Originally Posted by enator

It seems that I have to put these pictures here for second time. This is what you will get after calibration of both sets. So I hope this will help you to choose your set.

On the top 8G bottom 7G:

Originally Posted by umr

Your Pioneer calibration may be off. I did a Sony XBR 960 back to back with a 150FD. While both are excellent displays the 150FD looked better overall to me. The processing in the Pioneer was clearly superior and the blacks on both were excellent. The colors were slightly better on the Sony CRT, but I would give the edge to the Pioneer for overall look. I would not say either was easily better than the other except the Pioneer was much easier to watch because of its size.

Originally Posted by SephirothXR

So this ONLY works with a cable card? If so, that will make my decision a lot easier, or just I'll be happier with my decision I guess.

Originally Posted by 10th St.

Dallas

Originally Posted by MadCityBrad

I am looking at getting the PDP 5080hd. I have a question regarding the PIP function.
I will be using the cable card with my cable company. Will I be able to get a PIP picture using the cable card as one picture and a DVR on one of the HDMI inputs as the other picture? (In other words, can I view two live events at one time using PIP?)

Thanks

Originally Posted by lgwinn

I was the one lucky enough to have Jeff calibrate both my 150FD and Sony XBR960 and it is truly amazing how much better they both look now. I agree with Jeff that the Sony has very slightly better colors but the the 150FD draws you more into the video due to the great screen size. The 150FD is like a super size Sony XBR 960 which is truly astonishing

I feel very fortunate that I was able to have Jeff calibrate both my TVs and sounds system he truly does an amazing job on both video and especially the audio system. Before he came out for the calibration he was kind enough to help me with recommendations for the speakers, sub woofer and AVR that I was debating about.

If you are looking for someone to calibrate your new Kuro I highly recommend Jeff who is very passionate and gifted and an overall great guy to work with.

- Larry

Originally Posted by maxdb

For video image quality, I don't see any difference (or measure anything different) between HDMI cables ranging in price from free to $135 at lengths up to 12 feet. Longer cable lengths... cable quality WILL make a difference but only in how long the cable can be before you need a signal booster to keep from losing too much signal.

HDMI cables do vary in AUDIO sound quality from cable to cable, but price alone doesn't seem to be the determining factor... a $17 and $135 cable I have are the best for audio... the $50 cable is not as good as either of those.

Not having a difference in image quality between digital cables is not surprising. Audio is a true analog experience-sound is produced continually without interruption. Digital video has this "buffer" that's always there. If you are viewing 1920x1080p... the display receives data for 6.2 million pixels. It has 1/60th of a second or so to get all that data into the right registers for the next frame. The Frame flashes up for 1/60th of a second... all pixels at the same time. So digital video is not really analog AT ALL. It's flash-flash-flash-flash... and the incoming data has plenty of time to get perfectly organized for the next frame. It's just numbers moving into registers. As long as the cable doesn't lose numbers, it can't CHANGE numbers. When the signal gets too weak from long cable runs, THEN you can have problems pulling the right numbers out of the signal (signal to noise ratio is very high because the signal is low).

Originally Posted by cmulder

Hey folks, excuse me if this is been covered, but this is a 100 page thread now, so a bit tough to read throught he entire thing. If it was covered, maybe someone can give me an idea as to where in the thread.

Anyway, just recently got the PDP-5080--the colors look most stunning in the Dynamic mode, but I read somewhere that you aren't supposed to view in that mode that its only for the showroom, etc., and it will burn the Plasma out sooner. Anything to that?

Originally Posted by keithhr

I've settled on the PDP6010 with a nice studio tech triple ultra u-22T and was wondering if most use the stand or hang them. I was leaning towards the wall mount but have come back to thinking the stand option would be better, I could then secure it to the wall with wire. Next, I want to use my Dtv hr10-250 component outputs to feed two sources, one hdmi and one component tv in the same room via a matrix component switcher. I haven't had a problem with component hd outputs to my tv, and when I get a hd Player I will wind up with two hdmi sources(unless I go HD dvd and BluRay as well) to plug into my 6010. I really like the design of the vented studioTech cabinets. Will the Pioneer have any problems with an HD source using component cable?
I was wondering what preference you guys had for stand mount vs wall mount. I currently have a 50" Hitachi ultravision CRT based rear projection. It really has a wonderful picture and I actually have no good reason to get rid of it. I know there would be a picture upgrade to some degree, but visuslly everything would be a huge improvement for the wife who has been soooooooooooo patient.

Originally Posted by michaelv

complaint that there is buzzing sound coming from the the back of TV, especially it's a bit loud every i change the video input. However, it can only be heard within 2,3 feet and when there is no sound from the source Well, i sit 15 feet away from the TV and of course, i play BD or DVD whenever i turn it on.

I am still learning my new tv, though. Blu-Ray looks great on this TV.


Question: has anyone tried upconvert DVD to 1080p on this tv yet? such as Oppodigital 981HD?

thanks.

Originally Posted by michaelv

I use stand mount. This TV is heavy and huge to hang on the wall, unless you do custom build for wall stud. From siting position TV looks great on stand. I would hang 50" on the wall by the way.

Originally Posted by highheater

I inquired earlier about a wall mount for the 150FD and the Sanus VMDD26B was recomended by SaltiDawg (post #9566). He did not mention any special reinforcements for wall studs.

Originally Posted by lgwinn

I was the one lucky enough to have Jeff calibrate both my 150FD and Sony XBR960 and it is truly amazing how much better they both look now.

Originally Posted by htwaits

Thanks for the calibration report. I've added it to the owner's list of calibration reports for flat panels that is linked at the bottom of my post.

Originally Posted by I WANT MORE

Anyone have an opinion on the optimum mode?

Originally Posted by Macfan424

Not many people here seem to use it, as they tend to prefer the "low" color setting such as those D-Nice recommends, which is technically more accurate. Optimum is locked into "mid," which gives a cooler, bluish cast to the picture.

The general population (not this forum) tends to prefer a "cooler" look, which provides a subjectively brighter, crisper picture, even if it may not accurately depict what the producer had in mind. That is why most manufacturers, including Pioneer, default to cooler (higher) color temperature settings. Popular taste was no doubt a factor in Pioneer's design of the Optimum setting. It's designed to be an all purpose solution for the typical owner.

I'm in a minority here, but to my eye Optimum looks excellent with video or live transmissions (especially sports), and I use it for those, as well as with some SD broadcasts which to me may look over-saturated with the warmer, reddish, low setting. I generally use my own custom "User" settings for film based HD broadcast material and Movie for DVD's. However, I sometimes revert to Optimum to impress guests, who generally like it better than my carefully dialed in "accurate" settings at first glance.

If all source material conformed to established standards, all ancillary equipment passed the source signal perfectly, and we all had the same tastes, there could be agreement about the "correct" settings. As it is, it's an individual matter, so every owner should chose the settings that look "right" to him.

Originally Posted by Macfan424

Not many people here seem to use it, as they tend to prefer the "low" color setting such as those D-Nice recommends, which is technically more accurate. Optimum is locked into "mid," which gives a cooler, bluish cast to the picture.

The general population (not this forum) tends to prefer a "cooler" look, which provides a subjectively brighter, crisper picture, even if it may not accurately depict what the producer had in mind. That is why most manufacturers, including Pioneer, default to cooler (higher) color temperature settings. Popular taste was no doubt a factor in Pioneer's design of the Optimum setting. It's designed to be an all purpose solution for the typical owner.

I'm in a minority here, but to my eye Optimum looks excellent with video or live transmissions (especially sports), and I use it for those, as well as with some SD broadcasts which to me may look over-saturated with the warmer, reddish, low setting. I generally use my own custom "User" settings for film based HD broadcast material and Movie for DVD's. However, I sometimes revert to Optimum to impress guests, who generally like it better than my carefully dialed in "accurate" settings at first glance.

If all source material conformed to established standards, all ancillary equipment passed the source signal perfectly, and we all had the same tastes, there could be agreement about the "correct" settings. As it is, it's an individual matter, so every owner should chose the settings that look "right" to him.

Originally Posted by Glenee

Isn't it nice to be able to have a opinion!

Originally Posted by JFR0317

I had UMR do my upstairs system (PRO-FHD1) last year and my downstairs system (PRO-150FD) last week. He also calibrated both associated audio systems. Highly recommended.

Originally Posted by SaltiDawg

Sorry, can't help. Here in the DC area there are B&M Elite dealers that have prices equal to the www prices.