Pioneer 9G Owners Thread - Present & Future

[Sonny]

Originally Posted by sarge1976

D-Nice arrived at my house around 4:30 pm lat night to calibrate my 600M. First off, he is a very nice guy and has a wealth of knowledge on Kuros and HDTVs in general. Every question I threw at him he had the answer to no matter what it was. He set up his laptop and calibration equipment on one of my TV trays and sat in front of the 600M until he was finished. I offered him something to drink multiple times and politely refused. He didn't even take a bathroom break. He calibrated my Component and 2 HDMI inputs and got done around 7:30 pm. He sat me down to explain the before and after settings and mesurements. I had him setup the isf Day, Night, and Auto. At first it was a shock to my system because I was so used to watching everything in "Standard" mode but after awhile I'm starting to get used to the calibrated settings. Everything is more natural looking. I added a pic of D-Nice and myself in my HT gallery if anyone wants to see.

Congrats on the calibration sarge!! It feels good doesn't it?!?!?

[sarge1976]

Originally Posted by Sonny

Congrats on the calibration sarge!! It feels good doesn't it?!?!?

Thanks Sonny, Yeah it feels good even though my wallet is a lot lighter

[Sonny]

Originally Posted by sarge1976

Thanks Sonny, Yeah it feels good even though my wallet is a lot lighter

The lighter wallet issue will pass my friend. I have to go earn mine right now...it's hell getting shot at...

[sarge1976]

Originally Posted by Sonny

The lighter wallet issue will pass my friend. I have to go earn mine right now...it's hell getting shot at...

Damn man, Are you right in the battlefield? How do you get to go on the internet? When is your tour over? sorry for all the ?s. Thanks again man for doing what you do

[Sonny]

Originally Posted by sarge1976

Damn man, Are you right in the battlefield? How do you get to go on the internet? When is your tour over? sorry for all the ?s. Thanks again man for doing what you do

Im sorry I can't give you specifics, but we (SF) have capabilities that far surpass "Regular Army". We are in different league & get the good toys first or exclusively. Im getting to old for this $h!t my Kuro brother.

[gamebred]

Well, I finally gave my new 500M a test run tonight after 150 hours (with no cheating) break-in. I used D-Nice's recommended Pure mode settings. I am very pleased with the natural film-like quality this mode provides. To be honest, I liked the Pure mode before I even touched the settings. They were fairly subtle adjustments but I could tell a difference.

The black bars from playing "The Fifth Element" on BD just seemed to dissapear into the bezel. It just looked like two big thick bars on top and bottom. I could see shadow detail I've never noticed in the black suits the fuzz was wearing when they chased Milla Jovovich through the ventilation duct right before she jumped into Bruce Willis' cab.

The 1080p/24 setting on the PS3 and the Kuro's processing was perfect for BD viewing. Movement and panning was just the way the film was intended to be.

Overall, I am very impressed and pleased with this display and can't wait to watch a blu-ray or three tomorrow, as well as tweaking that beast of receiver!!!

Man, I seriously need some real speakers now.

[Drew664]

^ Awesome. I'm looking forward to having the same experience.

When I get off work on the 29th, I will be able to give my 500M a spin. Can't wait!!

It might be a while before everything is set up though. Service master was called in to 'de mold' my living room, and I just developed a case of strep throat over the last couple days (not related). LOL, at least my TV is here and almost ready! I also ordered a TV stand that hasn't shipped yet, so no clue when that will arrive.

[ShockWave]

Thats great guys. That 500M is seriously a great monitor. There is no 50 inch plasma out there that beats it!

[sarge1976]

Originally Posted by ShockWave

Thats great guys. That 500M is seriously a great monitor. There is no 50 inch plasma out there that beats it!

+1

[wafi]

Originally Posted by Sonny

I told my wife to order me a KRP 500m so hopefully it works out...And arrives in one piece! hopefully she can check it out before signing for it too, hell she cant even mail my good buddy wafi back his Pioneer Kuro demo disc. Sorry about that wafi, it will get back to you. if I was not fighting a war you would of had it LONG ago. I have to get rid of another Kuro to make room damn it... I just cant let my good O'l 50" panasonic model 60u go...she was my first 50" plazzy, were tight you know...

Bro its no big deal! You're dwelling way too much on it....its only a friggin disc...I can always get another one if I suddenly have an urge to watch it in a few years!

[gamebred]

After watching quite a bit of different sources and various material, here's what I've come up with so far...

"Pure" mode is by far superior for blu-ray play. No other mode can touch it, IMO. I'm no ISF tech but it was as close to accurate as I've ever seen on any other display...period. However, any other source other than BD seems washed out with only average blacks. Shadow detail was present but I couldn't overcome the "haziness". This was when viewing 720p material on Dish Network (HD movies mostly).

"Optimum" mode was used for pixars. Watched Kung Fu Panda on Dish without even touching any settings under this mode. Simply awesome...not to mention the audio with the SC-25 in THX cinema. I was very pleased to see that this mode was not over-saturated or eye-melting like most other displays are out of the box with similiar modes. Very easy on the eyes but with just enough "pop" to get you lost in the details of these types of movies. Doubt I'll watch anything but pixars in this mode but it is a perfect match for them. We have a daughter, so we'll definately get some use out of this mode.

"Movie" mode was tweaked to my liking when watching satellite movies and DVD, as they both seemed lacking when in "Pure" mode. I played with basic controls as well as Pro Adjust settings. I don't know how accurate the specs would be on paper but it looked much better when I did the before and after. I managed to retain detail while increasing the black level. I'm sure that I compromised somewhere, but I could care less. It looks great to me. Personal preference, right?

"Game" mode was fun to play with. It looked close to "Optimum" when I finished with this mode but without the settings and features that hinder gameplay. I used "Uncharted: Drakes Fortune" to calibrate this mode because I plan to get Uncharted 2 very soon. Gaming modes are very difficult to calibrate because each game differs from title to title ...even more so than film. Nothing basic controls can't fix, though. I mananged to get a good, all around base setting for this mode.

You could say I was very busy today. I was back and forth with audio and video all day. I just love all the adjustments on this panel. It's definately a tweaker's wet dream. lol I actually need to stop typing because this damn LCD screen is killing my eyes after looking at that beautiful Kuro all day.

[ra1nman]

Well I finally made the jump .

This will be my 1st HDTV upgrade since 03' when I purchased a Samsung DLP (HLN-4365). It has served me well with it's stunning 1000:1 contrast ratio and an all new DVI input but it was time to upgrade.

I found a local retailer who carried the 500M and surprisingly the
TS23 as well. After some conversation and negotiation over the phone I decided to visit his store. I was very pleased with speaking with the owner and his courteous and knowledgeable staff. Needless to say I left his store, I had a big ol' box strapped to the back of my truck that said KURO.

With the help of my wife, we unpacked the unit and set it up in a spare room to run the break-in dvd. Hopefully these 6 days will go by quick.....

BTW, is anyone running one of these 9G panels with a Yamaha AVR (663), come across any issues that I should be aware of?

[squire23]

Yes. I am using with a Yamaha 663 with no issues.

[sarge1976]

Originally Posted by ra1nman

Well I finally made the jump .

This will be my 1st HDTV upgrade since 03' when I purchased a Samsung DLP (HLN-4365). It has served me well with it's stunning 1000:1 contrast ratio and an all new DVI input but it was time to upgrade.

I found a local retailer who carried the 500M and surprisingly the
TS23 as well. After some conversation and negotiation over the phone I decided to visit his store. I was very pleased with speaking with the owner and his courteous and knowledgeable staff. Needless to say I left his store, I had a big ol' box strapped to the back of my truck that said KURO.

With the help of my wife, we unpacked the unit and set it up in a spare room to run the break-in dvd. Hopefully these 6 days will go by quick.....

BTW, is anyone running one of these 9G panels with a Yamaha AVR (663), come across any issues that I should be aware of?

Congrats on your 500M! Welcome to the Kuro Klub

[HDTV1080P]

Originally Posted by Sonny

Pure mode is the best most accurate mode right out of the box of any display to date . For lots of people it looks dull or washed out and takes some time getting used to but thats just because there not used to truly accurate colors and the life like PQ it produces. Even the 5020/6020's Movie mode is the same way. People are used to the colors being very hot, then you see them the way there supposed to be and it just does not look right - at first (to most) . Then the videophile comes out in you & YOU WONDER how did I do without this perfection in the first place.

Back when people on this site were just getting into Kuro's and saying they liked other modes better and that they looked better.... All I said was "Pure Mode people, Pure Mode, thats all you need to know". Then over the last 6-7 months people have figured out what I was talking about and love Pure mode. But of course use whatever looks best to you and your environment.

Sonny you are correct about Pure mode being the best setting. Even the professional reviews from magazines like Home Theater mention that they do all their testing and viewing in pure mode for Pioneer Elite screens. Home Theater magazine mentions that the pure mode provides the most accurate color gamut.

Quote
"I did all of my testing and viewing in the Pure mode. As in all Elite sets we’ve tested, Pure mode provides the most accurate color gamut (in Color Space 2)."

http://hometheatermag.com/flat-panels/pioneer_elite_kuro_pro-141fd_plasma_hd_monitor/index.html

Another great thing about the Pioneer 2006, 2007, and 2008 model plasma screens is that they will automatically display 1080p/24 source material from BLU-RAY's at a 72HZ refresh rate regardless of the menu settings. For those that watch a lot of films on cable or satellite the best setting is Advanced under PureCinema. The Advanced mode on 1080P Pioneer displays will automatically do a reverse 3:2 pulldown for 480I,480P,720P and 1080I film based material and upconvert the image to 1080P at 72fps.

[HDTV1080P]

Originally Posted by Sonny

The lighter wallet issue will pass my friend. I have to go earn mine right now...it's hell getting shot at...

Sonny,
Thank you very much for your service. You are helping to keep the United States safe. I will pray for your safety and hopefully the war will end soon with a victory.

[Drew664]

As of a 1/2 hour ago, my 500M reached the 150 hour mark!

I changed the settings to Pure mode based on Dnice's suggestions, and quickly watched about 10 minutes of Quantum of Solice. For my jump in TVs the first obvious advantage was NO MORE COLOR BANDING!!! That alone makes the TV worth it. I'll come back and give more insight, but I'm off to the doctors. Strep hasn't gotten better, it's gotten worse - feels like death...

I'll wrap up my thoughts later today.

[wafi]

Is it just me or is my Kuro's PQ getting better and better! I've had it since Feb but lost my count on how many hours it has on it. My rough guesstimate would be 1100-1200 hours. There are moments when my eyes cant believe how bootiful the PQ is at times.

[Sonny]

Originally Posted by wafi

Is it just me or is my Kuro's PQ getting better and better! I've had it since Feb but lost my count on how many hours it has on it. My rough guesstimate would be 1100-1200 hours. There are moments when my eyes cant believe how bootiful the PQ is at times.

I've mentioned that a couple times! I'm glad you see it too, I'm not crazy after all....well maybe a little.

[HDTV1080P]

Maybe in 10 years I will replace my Pioneer with a 4K or 8K display.
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=2494778&postcount=1