Pioneer non-Elite Kuro Plasma

This is an easy review to write, because in many ways, the non-Elite Pioneer Kuro plasmas are similar to the Elite versions. Both have the same world-class on/off and ANSI contrast. Both have similar processing.

So how do they vary? Primarily in two ways: adjustability and price.

The non-Elites have very few user controls. In fact, they offer no service menu access for professional calibration either. Thus, pretty much what you are left with is the standard user controls and a few useful presets. Use the Movie mode with dot-by-dot screen size to get the best image.

In fact, the only way to perform even a basic grayscale calibration that improves upon the Movie mode (it is noticeably reddish) requires an external program called ControlCAL that allows direct manipulation of the set's firmware via a RS-232 serial cable. With this useful tool a calibrator can at least get a nearly perfect grayscale.

However, there are no controls for gamma, color decoding, or the color points. This is a shame, too, because they could use some adjustment. After all of the other controls are properly set, the gamma is a little low. I measured a 2.11 gamma. This is too low, but at least it was quite flat throughout the entire range. Ideally, gamma should fall somewhere in the 2.16-2.35 range. I generally aim for a 2.25 gamma for the best compromise between shadow detail and image depth. Fortunately, the color decoding is pretty good out of the box, so no adjustment beyond the main Color and Tint controls is required here. The color points are another story. Both red and green primary colors are significantly oversaturated, as the CIE chart below reveals.

As you can see, the grayscale calibration improved the secondaries significantly, but had no effect on the oversaturated red and green primaries.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about these displays is that they look better than the measurements would suggest. The low gamma and oversaturated color led me to expect a somewhat flat image with sunburned faces and neon grass. On the source material I saw this was not, surprisingly, evident. Thus, the bottom line is that a post-calibration Elite will measure significantly better than will a post-calibration non-Elite, but the subjective difference is smaller than the numbers would suggest. This makes the non-Elites a great buy.