I do not have anything to add to this thread. I am creating a post to make sure I get to read all the new posts that do pop in.

Since this is a bit of a debate of Kuro vs LCD, I thought it would be interesting to throw the Philips 46PFL9706 in the mix.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/philip...ormance_Page-2

Specifically this bit of information is quite intruiging.

"Getting into more detail, the set's black level response is astonishing, setting not only new standards for LCD technology but even getting a little deeper than the final range of commercially released Pioneer Kuro plasmas. Honestly, it's that good."

Measuring a facet of performance against the Kuro is a game to be played until the Kuro is actually unseated as the all around best television, ever. This review doesn't say that - it's a rave review, for what is probably a very nice television, but clearly, it's not quite to Pioneer levels of performance. Or Sharp, either.

Why shouldn't be of Sharp levels of quality? It does beat Panasonic plasma's in numerous areas apparently and the only large criticism aimed towards it is its 3D performance, which the Kuro doesn't have.

In fact, it is never stated if this Philips is better/worse than the Kuro/Sharp Elite overall, so why "it's clear that it's not Pioneer/Sharp performance levels" is beyond me.

Oh yeah maybe a bit that I should have mentioned: Philips in Europe are actually Philips models and as such their tv's are actually good (of course from mid-entry and upwards, like with every other brand ;)), I noticed on this forum that Philips in the US is apparently only a logo slapped on mediocre budget tv's.

Well said ! :)

I finally saw the Sharp Elite today @ BB. Very nice picture quality but I still rather go plasma.

My fiance and I also saw a Sharp Elite at BB yesterday and the PQ was very nice but not nice enough to plunk down $6000 for it, to me thats just plain stupid. But hey the people that do buy em all I can say is your money and you can do what you want. Me? No tv is worth that kind of money.

It's not really needed, IMHO. From the CNET review:

"The Elite has a native 120Hz refresh rate augmented to "more than 240Hz" via a scanning backlight according to Sharp."

Whatever they're doing, it's definitely the smoothest looking picture I've experienced. No motion blur to speak of unlike my older (high-end) 240 Hz LED set.

Actually, the HomeTheater review raved about the 3D, saying it was the best they'd seen and better than IMAX 3D! Katzmaier of CNET simply said he like the
Samsung plasma's 3D more.

The "biggest" criticism thus far has been over a minor color accuracy issue with cyan, but there's a rumored firmware update that may fix that entirely.

All correct ^^ boulder_bum. The backlight scanning is up to 720, which helps this TV deliver very good motion resolution.

The main advantage of the superior 3D image is how bright this TV can get and the absence of ghosting.

I've been a dedicated plasma-head and I upgraded my PRO-141FD to the PRO-70X5FD and would never go back. Also this is the first year a LCD TV won our shoot-out event.

-Robert

I have a Philips 40PFL9705 (2010), and I did post a comment in this thread, regarding Sharp Elite vs PFL9706 (2011), but they are both for different markets. The Elite is only available in the US and the PFL9706 only in Europe. someone needs to get these together for a shoot-out!

I wonder why you guys didn't put in the PRO-101 in the shootout instead?

The 141 is the 60" Signature Elite. The only difference is a slightly higher black level. D-nice has measured the 141 at .0006fL (verses the .0005fL of the 101) which is still about 7 times blacker than the VT30. :)

So which Pioneer is the best? the 101 or 141. Sorry because I'm not confused.

111! :cool:

It is IMPOSSIBLE to make an intelligent decision about a HDTV in a Best Buy. You need an entirely different setting.

Actually the 101 is.

I've NOT seen a better picture than the 111 I own. :cool:

Actually he is correct. The 101FD was the best Kuro made with KRP-500M being the second best. Both are essentially the same except the 101FD comes unlocked for ISF calibration while the KRP-500M needs a hack to do it. Both produced the lowest black level of all of the Pioneer sets with a measurement of 0.0005fL. Other Kuro's measure around 0.001fL. Aside from that the 101FD and KRP-500M have better color accuracy as well. The 111FD is still better than the non-Elites however.

That's because you haven't seen the 101.;)

The 101/500m, then the 141. For some reason the 141 has better black levels than the 151 even though they use the same panel.
I believe the 141 was used for the shoot out because of the size. Plus I don't think very many people can visually see a difference of .0001fL.