It looks like the day I dreaded has finally come and my beloved Pioneer plasma looks to have met its maker. Anyone who's had one of these will know that they were unbeatable back in the day and its been a joy to own but I've now got what's commonly referred to as the blinking blue lights of death so, since Pioneer no longer make these and i'm fairly certain my warranty is well and truly expired, i'm not sure how I would go about trying to get it fixed or even looked at.
Being a TV addict i'm going to work on the basis that it's not rectifiable and begin the hunt for a replacement. That said, i've absolutely not a scooby about TV's currently but know that I do want to get the best picture possible to fit within my budget. I'm not interested in 3D, all our viewing comes from Sky HD and Bluray and is run through a DVDO EDGE processor so I would be looking to pick up something that has the best colour reproduction and blacks. Size-wise 50" or 55". Budget-wise up to £2k, maybe £2.5k if I had to.
So good people, anyone able to offer up some advice? Thanks in advance.
Don't envy you Adam, I was perusing the 'latest' offerings from the big names. Couple of weeks back. They all seem to be OLED or whatever they are now. Our house has 3 panasonics and everyone of them looks soother, slicker, better blacks etc than anything I looked at.
I'll genuinely be interested in what recommendations are made, I know plasma isn't considered green but god it gave the best picture bar none.
Hopefully Rod will make a recommendation as he does know his stuff :-)
Paul
Apparently samsung f8500 is the way to go.
My uncle has a kuro great TVs
I feel your pain. The day is coming for me as well. I have some burn in that will only get worse and/or bother me more until I suck it up and get a replacement. Pioneer was the king of plasma. :(
Adam, don't be so quick to consign it to the scrapheap just yet.
Iirc, manufacturers are required under law to retain spares for at least 10 years after they cease producing the product – so if I'm right, and the cost of repair isn't silly money, then you've every chance of getting it working again, and putting off any purchase for a while yet.
I'd certainly try to extend its useful life for a few more years still, and then look at OLED.
If you simply fancy a change, using this situation as the catalyst to do so, then I'd still stick with a Panny plasma, which the last 2 gens at least, will have matched or exceeded Kuro, as they bought the technology and took on a number of Pioneer's redundant engineers.
Well that's good news re: spares, I'd certainly love to get this fixed rather than go to the hassle and expense of replacing. In fact the more I read about current tv's the more depressing it is. Seems there are no real contenders to the wonderfully natural pictures you get on plasma and LED's suffer from the same poor blacks and viewing angles they did years ago and, like you say PJ S, OLED looks a while off still. I'll give Pioneer a call today and see why they say, otherwise it looks like a second hand, or if I can find it, a new Panny VT65 or ZT65 plasma.
If your Kuro is not repairable (by the way there is no law regarding spares for 10 years), I would consider OLED if you want to keep the quality of blacks as good as the Kuro. I'm not sure about 4K as it depends on the quality of the 'upscalers' to deliver higher definition. OLED delivers very high quality pictures similar to Plasma, but are very difficult to manufacture... hence their high price but over time they will get the prices down, as in all new technology.
I would certainly consider the John Lewis 55"/60" (LG made) which is a great TV and has dropped in price recently... it's very impressive.
Rod
I went for Sony's lastest 65" 4K - http://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/te.../x9000b-series
Awesome TV, my last TV was a Samsung ES8000 which I thought couldn't be bettered - how wrong I was...
Only downside is, due to the speakers, it has a footprint of around a 75" set :-/ But the sound (when paired with the bluetooth sub) is truly awesome, for TV speakers - it was so good it replaced my Bose soundbar.
Try and get you Pioneer plasma repaired, failing that there are still a few end-of-line Panasonic plasmas floating around in various Panasonic shops.
I accidentally cracked the screen on my plasma a couple of weeks ago, and started looking at what was available as a replacement. Nothing, and I mean nothing, currently on the market in a similar price range compares picture wise. Luckily, it looks the panel in my plasma is still available as a spare part and it's at a local repairers now.
If you have no choice, how about buying a cheap LED to tide you over (or waiting) until the Panasonic AX902 range is released later this year - it's supposedly as close to plasma as current LED technology allows.
OK now the initial panic has subsided I've found a company who are coming to take the TV away tomorrow for an inspection and they reckon it's salvageable so fingers crossed.
It's totally bizarre, any other Kuro owners out there, these feel almost like losing a beloved pet. It's a TV, for gawds sake!
Yeah got a krp500a pioneer gave me 5 yrs warranty
But it can't be in warranty for.much longer
reading your thread has made me.worried now
Gonna go home and put a blanket over it just in case it gets cold at night :-)
If you are going the 4k route make sure the TV will work with Netflix as that's the only native content right now apart from a lot of YouTube demo stuff. After my big Phillips which was great but unreliable, I got a Kuro. Fantastic picture but then it started to fail so I got a Samsung 55 inch 4k. It is very good once you have sorted the picture settings out and the Netflix stuff looks awesome.
Perhaps the Kuro can be revived though.
New panasonic here
http://www.wesellelectricals.co.uk/P...spx?menu_id=16
While a repair on the pioneer might work, I'd question for how long, might be better to grab a panasonic while still available?
If you can buy one of the recent Panasonic 3D plasmas, then go for it!
Panasonic bought the Kuro technology from Pioneer when they gave up the ghost (see what I did there?!), so that's the next best thing really. I too used to have a Pioner KRP 500a. Lovely TV. :)
Even if you're not interested in 3D per se, it's worth buying a 3D plasma as for the minimal additional cost you get better phosphor quality on the screen.
I'm on Tapatalk at the moment and so can't see where you are located but for an excellent repair by knowledgeable people speak to Peterborough Video Services (or PVS).
Not affiliated to me or viva versa but they do most makes and certain lay know their stuff (they do repairs for a lot of the catalogue companies (you know Gratan, Littlewoods etc).
Regards,
Si
Out of interest, how do you make a meaningful comparison between the picture quality of the TV in your home, with another in a shop, that is probably running the special shop display mode?
I don't generally watch TV but when I do, it's lovely to watch on our KURO.
Hope it lasts
I had a Pioneer many years ago but moved to a Panasonic Pro display as the extra control box annoyed me.
A couple of years ago I really wanted to get a TV with smart functions so stumped for a Samsung F8XXX series, I'm pleased to say I haven't looked back!
Picture quality is superb, it looks great on the wall, and as an added bonus it uses hardly any electric! lol
Sound is crap but I have everything hooked up to a Bose Lifestyle system and never use the internal speakers.
I hope you get your Kuro repaired ok. It sounds like a control or power box issue - same kind of thing happened to mine when it was quite new and I got it repaired pretty easily. I probably still have the repair company details somewhere in case your current place can't get it to work.
Good luck!
I have the F8500 and it's a super TV, my only gripe with it is that the stand is quite low therefore I am limited to what sound bar I can use, the Sonos is too high for example and will block off IR sensor/bottom of screen. The sound is actually very good for a thin TV. The voice control is pointless as you need to press a button first so you might as well just push another to do what you want. The motion control is good though for turning the sound up/down when you can't be bothered with getting the remote.Originally Posted by ac82
Strangely enough I have just picked up a great used KRP500 from the av forum. I have a Kuro 5090lx and have been enjoying it soundly for the last 5 years. When I realised last month that plasma is dead I panicked In case the pioneer gave up and have brought a back up!
Panasonic did buy up some of the tech but most will recognise that the Pioneer is still king. The pannnys have other issues. The guy I brought it off had a 65" panasonic and although great did not look as good as the KRP
The KRP is a great machine and another notch up from the 5090.
My mate has a samsung plasma and I have to say its a great picture and they are at good prices.
I agree with the sentiment of the Pioneers being a like a pet. The kids know not to mess with mine!
Good luck on getting your repaired.
Andy
The new Samsung UE85S9STXXU should suit. Well worth a look.
Thanks for all the feedback so far, the TV was taken away yesterday so we await the prognosis. Amazing. How bare a room can become without such a focal point.
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