Pioneer and Matsushita reach basic agreement on PDP business April 25, 2008
Posted by pioneer in : Uncategorized, HD Plasma , 7 commentsJust to update you on the Business as usual for Pioneer blog post on March 7 - Pioneer Corporation and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, Ltd, best known for its Panasonic products, have reached a basic agreement on a comprehensive PDP business alliance to further progress and reinforce the PDP businesses.
The agreement mainly covers R & D as well as strategic production and supply of PDP and modules. The two companies will discuss further detail and conclude a formal agreement on the PDP business alliance around May 2008.
Pioneer and Matsushita have been serving the market with high-performance, high-quality plasma TVs under their respective brands “KURO” and “VIERA”, exploiting the advantages of the PDP devices as self-emitting displays and their own video technologies. They have won high praise from consumers and audiovisual specialists.
The two companies believe the comprehensive alliance will bring about significant synergy effects by the integration of Pioneer’s KURO technologies, renowned for high luminance efficiency, high contrast and super-slim design, with NeoPDP, Matsushita’s own technologies for high efficiency that has been developed as evolutionary technologies of the next-generation “VIERA” plasma displays. By developing PDPs and modules that are eco-friendly and excel in performance and picture-quality, Pioneer and Matsushita will contribute to further growth of plasma TVs in the flat-panel TV market.
The Pioneer Blog Team
Blogpology! March 12, 2008
Posted by pioneer in : Uncategorized, Questions for Pioneer Customers , 4 commentsUnfortunately we have just uncovered a problem with our blog. This means we may not have responded or posted some of your comments. Please accept our sincere apologies and please continue to send us your posts. Please do also let us know if you have an outstanding query and you have not received a response from us.
Thanks,
The Pioneer Blog Team.
Business as usual for Pioneer March 7, 2008
Posted by pioneer in : Uncategorized, HD Plasma, Entertainment, Automotive, Audio , 20 commentsToday we announced our restructuring plans for our Display business and measures to enhance our Corporate value.
Please be reassured that KURO plasmas remain a key technology for us. We will continue to supply premium models with the high picture and sound quality you all expect.
In addition to our KURO Plasma business, we also look forward to growing and developing our Car Electronics, Speaker and Home Electronics business, as set out in the news release that was published earlier today.
Therefore it remains very much business as usual at Pioneer.
What was your favourite film in World Cinema? November 14, 2007
Posted by pioneer in : World Cinema , 7 commentsDear members of the blog
Pioneer is once again to sponsor the BBC Four World Cinema Award 2008. The event will take place next January, and the nominated films will be announced in the very near future. BBC FOUR recognises the very best in foreign language filmmaking with the annual World Cinema Award.
It has been a truly wonderful year for international cinema, with foreign language films achieving critical acclaim and success at the box office, including Clint Eastwood’s Letters from Iwo Jima, Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth, Olivier Dahan’s La Vie En Rose, Christian Petzold’s Yella, Michel Gondry’s The Science of Sleep, Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto and Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s The Lives of Others, to name but a few.
We want to know what your personal favourite World Cinema film was from the past 12 months, and why?
We look forward to hearing from you.
The Pioneer Blog Team
Tell us what you think about our KURO Nights October 31, 2007
Posted by pioneer in : HD Plasma , 2 commentsHello fellow bloggers,
Over the past couple of months some of our retailers across the UK have been staging special presentation evenings for our range of KURO flat screen televisions. A selection of egistered Pioneer website members were invited along to these events to have a personal viewing of the screens. If you are a registered member and have not received an invite so far it is because there has not been one in your local area, keep checking your inbox as there could be a KURO night near you.
If you did attend one of these evenings we would like to know what you thought about the night itself, and the KURO televisions on display. Your feedback is very valuable to us.
Many Thanks,
The Pioneer Blog Team
Pioneer Update 30th October October 30, 2007
Posted by pioneer in : HD Plasma , 13 commentsDear blog members,
We have received many comments from you regarding Pioneer releasing a 42″ 1080p KURO. We are publishing this post to address these very valid questions.
Of course Pioneer made the worlds first 50″ native 1920 x 1080P Plasma display, so it would seem natural for us to follow this with a smaller screen size although we have no immediate plans. Consumers though should consider the following:
1) There is a lot of confusion and possibly too much emphasis on static display resolution figures like 1920 x 1080 etc. When we just had CRT TV sets, they all basically worked in the same way and resolved the same amount of horizontal Interlaced lines to make up the picture being displayed, (they were all the same resolution). Yet the differences between these TV’s ability to display good television pictures were vast and the market and quality between TV’s equally so. That’s because there is a lot more to a good picture than simply resolution. Pioneer believe that the key elements that make a good flat panel television display are: Brightness, Contrast, Gradation, Accurate colour reproduction, Motion picture resolution, and Good signal to noise ratio versus resolution.
The higher static resolution number is deemed meaningless if the TV’s video processing is not good enough to maintain this resolution when the pictures are moving, and its amazing how many struggle to do this well. What is important is how good the picture looks from your typical viewing distance and in similar conditions to how you watch TV at home. That should encompass details like ambient lighting; turned-up as well as down for that full home theatre experience. A lot of TV’s can look very good in bright show rooms, but this is not necessarily how it will look when you get it home.
2) The human eye and the brain’s ability to distinguish between an XGA resolution and a 1920 x 1080 resolution screen at an average of three meters viewing distance is limited and this is further reduced when you move further away or reduce the total screen size and respective pixels size.
3) What are you watching? The best Progressive HD broadcast available today is 720P (1280 x 720 Progressive) or alternatively 1920 x 1080i (one field of 1440 or 1920 x 540 odd lines Interlaces with 1440 or 1920 x 540 even lines = 1080i). Flat panel displays are inherently Progressive and this results in Interlaced to Progressive conversion either within the broadcast receiver or Set-Top-Box or processed within the Flat Panel TV. Interlaced to Progressive conversion is hard, if not impossible to do accurately and without a number of potential picture quality issues. The only Formats that currently offer a native 1920 x 1080P picture are the Blu-ray and competing HD-DVD formats.
4) The PDP-4280 / 428XD Kuro TV’s have won critical acclaim around the world and in most instances been tested directly against our competitors TV’s, many of which are the higher 1920 x 1080 static resolution. Yet the results simply speak for themselves. There is a lot more to a good TV picture than simply resolution.
We hope this information is helpful, and please feel free to keep the questions coming.
The Pioneer Blog Team
Our HD Ready 1080p KURO TVs are now online September 18, 2007
Posted by pioneer in : HD Plasma , 16 commentsDear All,
We have just updated our KURO website with full product specifications of our 1080p KURO flat screen televisions. The range consists of two 50 inch models, and two 60 inch. All of these models will be available to buy from October.
Thanks,
The Pioneer Blog Team
KURO in the press August 21, 2007
Posted by pioneer in : Uncategorized , 1 comment so farDear All
The online team has been updating the new KURO microsite with reviews of our new flat screen televisions from leading journalists and magazine publications. We are delighted with the positive reviews for the KURO televisions, and would like to share them with you.
We will continue to add more reviews as they become available.
Thanks a lot
The Pioneer Blog Team
What do you think of our new KURO flat screen televisions? July 11, 2007
Posted by pioneer in : HD Plasma , 45 commentsDear All
Pioneer is proud to announce the launch of KURO, the 8th generation of flat screen televisions that offers seeing and hearing like never before; with the deepest levels of black and high-grade audio.
The new screens incorporate technology that sets new standards in what you expect from flat-screen televisions.
With significantly deeper black levels (80% deeper than before), which ultimately lead to richer colours and sharper details, the new screens are unrivalled in video and audio performance.
The line-up is available now in 42 and 50-inch screen sizes in XGA and Full HD in 50 and 60-inch (available from September).
50 inch:
PDP-508XD - High End 50-inch KURO with Digital DVB-T Tuner
PDP-5080XD - 50-inch KURO with Digital DVB-T Tuner
42 inch:
PDP-428XD - High End 42-inch KURO with Digital DVB-T Tuner
PDP-4280XD - 42-inch KURO with Digital DVB-T Tuner
Flat screen TVs have become commodities. Our new screens break the mould; bringing uncompromised quality, finely-tuned performance and intelligent design to your living room.
For more details please visit: www.pioneer.co.uk/kuro
Read reviews of our new flat screen televisions from leading journalists and magazine publications here.
Are you one of the early pace-setters and have bought one of our KURO flat screen televisions already? If you are we would love for you to share any thoughts and comments with the blog.
Share your photos of your KURO in our new Flickr group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/pioneerkuro
Thanks a lot
The Pioneer Blog Team
Update on Pioneer Audience Award Shortlist March 7, 2007
Posted by pioneer in : Entertainment , add a commentThere has been a lot of passion shown for some shows on our blog which did not make the final list. This has, needless to say, upset some of the fans who were championing their favourite show for inclusion. In contrast, there were a lot of equally passionate fans elsewhere for shows such as Planet Earth, Big Brother & The Royle Family who will be very happy indeed.
Ultimately our blog produced a shortlist of around 30 shows. Other blogs and forums were screened for public opinion also and additional shortlists suggested. These nominations were then given to our judges panel made up of TV critics, magazine editors and journalists, who deliberated everyone’s thoughts and ultimately made their final decision. A video showcasing the judges and their thought process will be put online at www.obsessedwith.tv very shortly.
Sadly we could only include 6 shows on the shortlist, and it was down to the opinion of the judges after they had been given everyone’s thoughts. As well as what the blogs had to say the judges considered what programmes had been a ratings sucess, what impact they had on the public, and innovation. Taking these different factors they came up with a blend of very different shows (the hype surrounding Celebrity Big Brother 2006 where the ‘then’ non-celebrity Chantelle scooped the prize is a contrast to the visual wizardry of Planet Earth) which will appeal to many sections of the public.
Please keep your thoughts coming. When the blog opens over at Obsessed with TV I will let you all know.
David
Pioneer Blog Team