Any opinions on the new Elite series

[scottyb]

Walked into best buy and saw the 70inch Elite. Waiting to see the 60 inch. It's this or plasma. Did anyone else see the picture quality?

 

[sawzalot]

I actually helped unbox and wall mount a 70 inch Pioneer elite kuro yesterday at The HiFi House in Cherry Hill N.J., Very first impression, Holy $hit, what a masterpiece, The bezel is brushed alum. instead of the glossy black on the 9g sets, super thin panel and truly light weight for the size. I think people will be impressed with the overall look of this , it is not intrusive for its size, in fact it is really sleek looking at 69 and 3/4 of an inch. The picture quality out of the box was absolutely amazing and the Blacks , well lets just say that the Kuro is there indeed without a pic on the screen you cant tell if the panel is on or off, lol , yes it's really black, black , black.The dealer says it should go for about 7200 dollars in about a month or so.
I only stopped there to look at the Pio Receivers and spent about two hours listening to the B & W diamond series and watching the new 70 inch Elite, welcom back Pioneer Kuro.

 

[Jeepers]

This means that the European version (if ever released) will be even more expensive. Did it really have the Pioneer brand or was it a Sharp ?

 

[its phillip]

They are Sharps. http://elitelcdtv.com/elite-lcd-hdtv-overview/

 

[scottyb]

So, I would be better to buy a Sharp 60" and it would be basically the same tv?

 

[its phillip]

You can't just say one 60" lcd is the same as another simply because they are the same brand. The ELITE displays were codeveloped with Pioneer (and of course they licensed the name). Even if you weren't talking about an Elite, I'm sure Sharp has multiple 60" displays with different features and specifications.

 

[Crackerballer]

Yea they have one setup at my Best Buy. Considering my VT30 65" is $3500 right now and the sharp is $8,000, I like my decision

 

[FirstReflection]

The new Elite Pioneer/Sharp LCDs have mirror-finish glossy screens, which make them completely useless, IMO. In a bright room, they are unwatchable due to being so glossy. And in a pitch black room, you might as well get a plasma, since they're still better, or better yet, a front projection setup!

Throw in the very high (overly high) price tag and the new Elite displays are a total no-go.

Now, put a matte screen on them, and I think they'd be worth a look!

 

[its phillip]

Value Electronics recently held their annual shootout - the Sharp Elite won.
Value Electronics HDTV Shootout page
http://www.valueelectronics.com/images/pdf/VE 2011 shoot-out results.pdf
Sharp Elite wins Value Electronics' HDTV shootout | TV and Home Theater - CNET Reviews

It easily had the best contrast ratio & black levels when compared to a P65VT30 and a PN59D8000.

 

[BMXTRIX]

I think it is interesting that there is some reference to the 141HD Elite being thrown in at the last second and basically being the best, indicating that years after the true Elite series is gone, it is still the gold standard.

I recently opted for a 64D7000 from Samsung, and was happy to see that it is up there as one of the best, and was actually chosen as the best by one of the pros based upon color accuracy. I've certainly been happy with mine.

Anyways, it is certainly hard to go wrong with almost any of the displays listed, except of course, the LG display. I have been a long time hater of LG for their poor product build quality, but it is good to see that they fare equally poor with image quality.

It would be interesting to throw a better Visio in there just for grins and giggles.

 

[its phillip]

Yeah, the old Elite still trounces the competition. Pretty amazing.

 

[DTV TiVo Dealer]

Value Electronics recently held their annual shootout - the Sharp Elite won.
Value Electronics HDTV Shootout page
http://www.valueelectronics.com/images/pdf/VE 2011 shoot-out results.pdf
Sharp Elite wins Value Electronics' HDTV shootout | TV and Home Theater - CNET Reviews

It easily had the best contrast ratio & black levels when compared to a P65VT30 and a PN59D8000.

Thanks for posting the links to my shoot-out and the article that David Katzmaier published for CNet.

We had fun organizing and producing the shoot-out event. The live audience was full of motion picture and TV Broadcast professionals along with serious a/vphiles. This year was our 7th annual shoot-out event and for the first time we combined it with a fund raiser for the American Cancer Society's "Making Strides Against Breast Cancer" and we raised over $4k.

We also had the largest viewing audience with thousands of a/v enthusiasts watching the event live and speaking with our team of moderators. Anyone interested in seeing the shoot-out can go to our Youtube page.

The Elite won the event by popular vote of the attendees. It's the very deep black level and peak luminance that persuaded the audience to award the new Elite TV the "King of HDTV".

The Elite's big dynamic contrast ratio delivered and richer more detailed image quality and Sharp was able to so greatly reduce the anomalies typically plagued in full array locally dimmed LCD/LEDs displays. So this TV does not suffer from the normal glowing around bright objects against dark backgrounds and the off axes viewing was better than all other LCD/LED panels.

I asked the audience to vote strictly on the four attributes of image quality, and without prejudice or consideration on the costs of the TVs. As these factors could be debated later.

With all of that said Panasonic's VT30 and Samsung's D8000 pdps came in close to the Elite so draw you own conclusions. However, if the cost is not a limiting factor the Elite is definitely the best choice.

Tomorrow we're expecting Panasonic's new studio reference monitor the TH-65VX300U to arrive and it will be mounted on the shoot-out wall and evaluated against the top three TVs. Kevin Miller, D-Nice, Ed Johnson along with a few popular forum members and myself will do the evaluation and comparison.

Stay tuned for the continuing results as new displays are launched and compared to the top contenders.

-Robert

 

[BMXTRIX]

I didn't catch it in the writeup (and am being lazy, so I'm not re-reading) but it would be nice if a simple blackout curtain/cardboard, whatever, was built for all the displays if it wasn't done so already so that names of manufacturers are not listed.

I think there is a definite level of favoritism people have when they view certain displays and brands which really can only be overcome by hiding manufacturer information. Maybe not as perfect as DBT but it ups the requirement to judge based upon appearance instead of brand. Granted people may still be able to figure some things out. It would also be nice to throw in a few of the 'off' brands to see how well they fare and to keep people honest. A good looking Vizio (or other) in there to keep people guessing about what they are looking at.

I imagine it is still a ton of work to get it all setup as it is, and don't want you to think that it isn't greatly appreciated, but I hope you are always looking for ways to make it even more interesting if you are able to keep it up in following years.

Thanks for your hard work!

 

[DTV TiVo Dealer]

BMXTRIX, thanks for the advice. We've considered this idea for the past few years and decided not to do it as the audience is made up of very highly skilled professionals and serious a/v enthusiasts. TV Broadcast engineers, cinema-photographers, professional calibrators and film archivist along with serious a/v hobbyists make up the voting audience.

I would love for you to attend our 2012 shoot-out event.

We ask the voting attendees not to use any bias in favor of or against any brand or model and we believe this works well as each year the audience picks the same displays that the professional reviewers end up selecting. Further, no one would select a Sharp TV as the best unless it truly was the best.

Last year Sharp's flagship model came in dead last.

-Robert