Advice Needed for New Plasma to Replace Stolen Pioneer Kuro

[oildude]

Man, what a bummer. Came home from work to find my home broken into. Front door jimmied open and my 60" Kuro Elite Pro-151 fd plasma stolen

Have not looked into plasmas since I bought the Kuro in 2009. Any recommendations on a replacement are appreciated.

[ryandubbz]

Originally Posted by oildude

Man, what a bummer. Came home from work to find my home broken into. Front door jimmied open and my 60" Kuro Elite Pro-151 fd plasma stolen

Have not looked into plasmas since I bought the Kuro in 2009. Any recommendations on a replacement are appreciated.

Panasonic 65VT30, or a Samsung 64" D8000 are both great sets, Pick your poison

edit: Sorry dude, how rude of me, Sorry about your loss. Get that Alarm system A.S.A.P. They must have known you had a nice tv. Is that all they took?

[ryandubbz]

Originally Posted by oildude

Yes. Oh, and they took the remote too. Can't watch a stolen plasma without a remote.

Thanks for the recommendation. What sucks is I cannot just go out and buy a replacement (not for the extortionate prices these things are going for now if you can even find one).

I suppose after two years other TVs have caught up with the Kuro Elites. Do the ones you recommend compare for color, inky blacks, etc? Damn I feel like crying.

Inky Blacks No, The color on the Samsung Looks pretty bright and accurate even out of the box. The Panasonics have deeper blacks but not yet compared to the Kuros. These sets are 3D also if that interests you

[Blu-ray Fanatic]

Originally Posted by oildude

Man, what a bummer. Came home from work to find my home broken into. Front door jimmied open and my 60" Kuro Elite Pro-151 fd plasma stolen

Have not looked into plasmas since I bought the Kuro in 2009. Any recommendations on a replacement are appreciated.

What the???? That sucks! Sorry to hear that. That's something you can't just replace unless you buy a used one on Amazon or eBay for over $3000 minimum. I would hire a bounty hunter to track those sons of (you know) down and bring them to justice.

[Sonny]

Originally Posted by oildude

Man, what a bummer. Came home from work to find my home broken into. Front door jimmied open and my 60" Kuro Elite Pro-151 fd plasma stolen

Have not looked into plasmas since I bought the Kuro in 2009. Any recommendations on a replacement are appreciated.

I feel your pain... I got the satisfaction of meeting my would be kuro thiefs face to face. I'm an ex-police officer & always carry. Eventhough they broke my elite pro-111 getting it off the wall, I gave one of them the hot lead treatment, & hadn't I rendered aid he would of been DOA before EMS arrived. Lucky for this dumbass I was in a good mood.

As far as new TVs, if I was getting one today I'd get the panasonic 65" VT30. It's no kuro but there is nothing out there that's kuro quality.... The VT30 is a worthy display for this foul year of our lord, two thousand and eleven. Hop you find one that you can be happy with.

[ngkf7]

I am so sorry to hear about your loss. People are *******s.

I have a VT25 and absolutely love it. I strongly suggest you get a VT30 and you will love it too. Do you have homeowners insurance or something to alleviate expenses?

I hope they find the bastard(s)!

[oppopioneer]

oildude did you call the Police and what happened? Did they steal anything else? It might be someone you work with that stole it or someone you might have been bragging to about it. I wouldn't be surprised if you had a party with a bunch of guys and one or a few of them came back and stole your tv.

[Blu-Benny]

so sorry to hear that man!!

[HDTV1080P]

I am sorry to hear that someone stole your Pioneer PRO-151FD. Many Pioneer plasmas have been stolen if you search the forums online (educated thieves sell them on EBAY for up to $10,000 or more, uneducated thieves take it to their local pawn shop to get a quick $2,000. Of course some thieves will just keep it and use it for their home theater system). The Pioneer 2008 technology is still the best in 2-D flat panel picture quality. No other flat panel company has matched or beat the Pioneer picture quality yet.

The Pioneer PRO-151FD has a list price of $6,500. The Pioneer PRO-141FD Elite Signature series list price is $7,000. There is a dealer on Amazon that claims to have a factory new Pioneer PRO-151FD for $9,999.99 plus free shipping. Link to new PRO-151FD for $9,999.99, Link to an open box PRO-141FD for $9,999.99.

P.S.
For those that have a lot of electronics that they do not want stolen, an alarm system and a DVR with indoor and outdoor security cameras is recommended. Some DVR computer systems can handle up to 32 cameras with 24 hour recording of video and audio. Video can be viewed remotely on a computer or smartphone.

[oildude]

Originally Posted by oppopioneer

oildude did you call the Police and what happened? Did they steal anything else? It might be someone you work with that stole it or someone you might have been bragging to about it. I wouldn't be surprised if you had a party with a bunch of guys and one or a few of them came back and stole your tv.

There had to be, in all probability, two of them since the Pro-151 weighs about 125 lbs with stand. All they took was the TV and the remote. There was a stack of blu-rays on the coffee table next to the remote that they did not touch. Then again, they were all Criterions and I can picture these two "film lovers" saying "WTF are those?"

It was a smash and grab job all the way. Probably in and out in a couple of minutes. They did not touch the blu-ray player or the receiver, both of which were inside the media cabinet.

Yes, the police came, were nice about everything, made a report, then left. I will never see my TV again. I was assured I live in a relatively crime free part of the city, but this is Houston after all and no place is safe from break-ins and theft. I had the Kuro for about 20 months. This was my dream TV that I saved money for a long time before buying it in late 2009, and now it is gone.

Insurance will cover most of the loss but that is small consolation since these are no longer in stores.

I had an alarm system installed today, and the door repaired with a reinforced plate and stronger deadbolt. Lesson learned, and I will likely wall mount whatever replacement plasma I get. Right now I have to give the insurance company a week or two to try and locate a replacement Pro-151 if they can find one. Otherwise, I get a settlement and buy something else, which is why I created this thread for advice.

[HDTV1080P]

The Pioneer PRO-101FD that had a original list price of $5,500 in 2008 is now going for $7,999 on EBAY.
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Pioneer-Elite-PRO-101FD-Signature-Plasma-Monitor-/300563603368?pt=Televisions&hash=item45fafc9fa8

[HDTV1080P]

There are new and used PRO-151FD’s available but they normally sell for around $10,000. Someone is selling a used PRO-151FD for only $3,499.99 on Amazon. They claim it is in excellent condition. Used ones have sold on EBAY for $7,000-$10,000+ around Christmas time.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B001CE0594/ref=sr_1_1_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1308802424&sr=8-1&condition=used

http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=pro-151fd&_sacat=See-All-Categories

[Sonny]

Originally Posted by HDTV1080P

There are new and used PRO-151FD’s available but they normally sell for around $10,000. Someone is selling a used PRO-151FD for only $3,499.99 on Amazon. They claim it is in excellent condition. Used ones have sold on EBAY for $7,000-$10,000+ around Christmas time.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B001CE0594/ref=sr_1_1_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1308802424&sr=8-1&condition=used

http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=pro-151fd&_sacat=See-All-Categories

$3,500 is a steal ( even for a used one). It's probably the OP's Kuro.....

[ManUtd]

Sorry for your loss. Although nothing in the market can replace your Kuro except another Kuro (which a reasonably priced brand new unit is near impossible to find) I would choose between the Panny VT30 or Sammy 8000 series. It won't have the same PQ but IMO close enough. If it's any consolation, you will get a slightly larger display (4 or 5 inches more).

[sarge1976]

Sorry for your loss I hope you find something worthwhile to replace it with

[dchesney]

maybe a Panasonic VT30?...I mean this is like trying to replace Scarlett Johansson....it's tough to find a replacement and I'd probably wait a year to get something closer to what you had...

[Sonny]

I agree with the above poster, next year, with things go how they have been the VT should be darker by 50%. It's be measured at 0.004fL. Next year I can see 0.002fL on the flagship model, but who knows maybe they will work some magic and pull off a 0.000fL (kuro dark). The question is how long will the insurance company let you hold out on buying a new display?

[Uniquely]

Originally Posted by oildude

Thanks for the recommendation. What sucks is I cannot just go out and buy a replacement (not for the extortionate prices these things are going for now if you can even find one).

Your insurance should cover for the same model IF it is still available.

[oildude]

I left work early today and went to Best Buy near my office with a couple of my own blu-rays to test on the VT30. It was mid-afternoon and slow, so they let me have the run of the 55" display TV in one of the Magnolia side rooms. I started with Alien, which I think is a real test of dark levels with so many shades of black and near black with lots of contrast between light and dark, especially the scenes where Dallas is moving around in the air ducts. The Kuro handled this so amazingly well on Optimum pre-set mode, no calibration needed to my eyes. In fact, that is one thing about the Kuro, the Optimum pre-set mode was astonishingly good for movies.

Put the VT30 through its paces, viewing scenes in different pre-set modes like THX, Cinema, etc. One thing I noticed right away is that the black bars on top and bottom that were truly black on my Kuro under all pre-set modes and melted into the bezel were more of a muddy black on the VT30. However, in the film itself, THX mode was pretty good for the blacks and dark shades, but I admit I have been spoiled and viewed everything with a critical eye.

Then I began playing around with custom settings and by adjusting the brightness, contrast, and color, things got better. It is no Kuro, but it ain't bad. Maybe it really benefits from professional calibration (and, of course, the Best Buy salesman was really trumpeting how good their service is, but to his credit he left me alone for over an hour to view my test movies).

I will go back later to check out the Samsung. Maybe I will get really lucky and the insurance will cover full replacement cost minus my deductible. The agent said they have a team specializing in locating hard to find items, and they also will look on eBay and Amazon too to value the TV.

[scweb13]

When my 500m was stolen about 14 months ago, the insurance company felt that the VT25 was adequate replacement. We took the money for the VT25 plus some money out of pocket and ended up gotting a new in box Pioneer 101. I was lucky it happened when it did because the 9g Pioneers were still available. If it were to happen now, I'd probably go with the VT30.