One of the biggest news of CES 2008 has been the announcement of Pioneer's Project Kuro Television, a prototype plasma with 'absolute black' properties that deliver some of the most vibrant images ever. We took a closer look to see if the hype is warranted or not.
After trying out Pioneer's darkroom demo, the verdict is this: It's impressive all right. Reds were popping and bloody good, yellows on the demo video's sprouting tulips were luminescent (but not brightened out like most light colors on displays, up-close), and of course, the blacks stole the show. The halo effect around the tulip in the above picture is a result of my camera's inability to reign in the brightness around perfect blacks. Even after getting within a few inches of the screen, distinguishing between the screen and the dark room around it proved difficult.
In fact, this prototype is so good that it may kill off the current (and truly excellent) 8th generation plasma before it even has a chance. After all, if you know next year's TV will make current displays pale in comparison, why would you buy one now? In fact, it was a little bit painful to see the otherwise excellent 8th-generation technology get overlooked in favor of its even more gorgeous future competition. It was like watching a beautiful, confident, and successful woman being dumped for Angelina.
