Pioneer Elites making a comeback!!

[BlahBlahYouToo]

as rebranded Sharp Quattrons.
:hmm:

http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/27/pioneer-elite-hdtvs-to-ride-again-in-2011-as-rebranded-sharp/

 

[blackangst1]

Blech.

The bad news? They will be LCDs, not plasmas

 

[MagickMan]

Word is they'll have RGB LED backlighting, might be decent.

 

[sivart]

Quattrons seem like a bunch of hype...we'll have to do some "eyes on" testing of these before making a decision if they are worth it.

 

[BornStar]

I was hoping that this would be good news but I won't be purchasing a Sharp TV again, even if it's rebranded as a Pioneer. I was an extremely loyal Sharp fan after purchasing my TV even though my father's larger TV of the same model developed a rather nasty banding problem. After 2.5 years of normal use the screen seems to have delaminated (judging by posts on AVS) and is now varying degrees of cloudy across the display and has three sharp vertical lines which combine to make using the display very distracting.

I've been casually shopping for a new TV since I'm really frustrated with my Sharp and while I wish this was good news, I guess I'll have to keep looking.

 

[0roo0roo]

lol the bad news...they are now just sharp.
sharp is not exactly respected as top tier display company....
i guess all they've done is smeared pioneers name cuz anyone that cared about kuros isn't going to be fooled, and those that didn't care didn't know wtf pioneer was about to begin with. they shoulda just improved their stuff so their name meant something mroe than dirt

 

[JackBurton]

This is pretty sad. Pioneer's new BD players are pretty much re-badged Sharps, so I guess Sharp said, "might as well slap the badge on our TVs to see how long we can fool people." 🙄

Pioneer is just about dead in the A/V market. Their receivers are really the only thing left, but who knows how long those will last.

 

[Patranus]

Ill be sticking with Panasonic plasmas for now.

 

[Emulex]

yup another brand pioneer has sold out. some fools will buy into this. then again why would a BD player matter? it's a pure digital reader. nothing analog to it.

 

[JackBurton]

yup another brand pioneer has sold out. some fools will buy into this. then again why would a BD player matter? it's a pure digital reader. nothing analog to it.

Depends on which BD player you get. The REAL Pioneer BD players had a great analog section.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Ill be sticking with Panasonic plasmas for now.

I like Samsung plasmas too.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Yeah, shame to see them pimping out the Elites name now, as that was about the only way to really tell what was the good stuff. I was never a big Pioneer fan, but I know they had some excellent TVs for a while.

Am I the only person disgusted with TV tech lately? Remember a few years back when they were hyping SED, OLED, Laser, LED projectors and it was like we were getting real advancements? Plasma seems to be slowly dying off, SEDs dead in the water, OLED is progressing so slowly that it'll be forever before we see it compete with LCD, Laser we got one high end TV that I haven't heard anything about for like 2 years now, and then LED projectors seem focused on fitting into phones more than anything.

Then there's the mess that 3D is, and at some point they're going to want to actually expand the color space so we'll probably end up with a mess there.

Quattrons seem like a bunch of hype...we'll have to do some "eyes on" testing of these before making a decision if they are worth it.

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/display_myths_shattered?page=0,4

Its not exactly bad (other TVs can have improper color as well), but its very much marketing more than anything.

Depends on which BD player you get. The REAL Pioneer BD players had a great analog section.

Yeah, there's quite a few Blu-Ray players that probably have better analog sections than your average receiver.

 

[thegimp03]

I thought Panasonic bought the technology? Maybe not...

 

[CubanlB]

The tech, but not the name...

In regards to the rebranded sharp blurays, I shed a small tear when I opened up one of the first fake pioneer elites (sharps) and the remote, menus and the physical outputs were the same as the sharps. And a retail sandisk usb stick tossed in for BD+ stuff. It was a sad day...

 

[CallMeJoe]

I have my doubts about the whole "quattron" thing; it's a interesting idea to get a purer yellow, but they're adding a fourth color channel not supported by any video standard. What algorithm are they using to generate the "yellow" drive signal?

 

[Emulex]

i'll buy into it when THX puts their name on it.

 

[djnsmith7]

I wonder how many they'll fool with this nonsense. I'll keep my Samsung & my next display will be a Samsung. Sharp, no thanks...Only the uneducated will buy this.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

I wonder how many they'll fool with this nonsense. I'll keep my Samsung & my next display will be a Samsung. Sharp, no thanks...Only the uneducated will buy this.

there's not going to be anyone to fool because pioneer was never a household name, at least not in the US.

pioneer elites are only known among audio/videophiles.

 

[Ross Ridge]

I wonder how many they'll fool with this nonsense. I'll keep my Samsung & my next display will be a Samsung. Sharp, no thanks...Only the uneducated will buy this.

You might be surprised to learn that Samsung is currently in negotiation to buy LCD panels from Sharp.

There aren't many companies that make LCD panels, and there are even fewer that make the large IPS panels used in TVs. If you buy a Sony, a Toshiba, or a Vizio, or a you're buying a TV that uses a LCD panel made by someone else. You're not buying a rebranded TV, however. Everything else, the case, the filters, the electronics, the software, are made by Sony or Toshiba, or like in the case of Vizio some other company you've never heard of.

Pioneer really has no option but to buy their LCD panels from someone else. The weren't selling enough Kuros to keep their already existing plasma plants running, so they're not likely to be able to afford build a new LCD plant from scratch and keep it running on Elite sales alone. They'll take the Sharp LCD panels, put them in a chasis of their own design, put their own filters in front of it, their own electronics behind it, apply their own motion processing and other effects, do up their own user-interface and then slap the Elite brand on front.

It's up to you decide after all that if such as TV is a really a Pioneer Elite, or the fact that its using Sharp panel is all that matters. Probably a lot Pioneer Elite equipment is manufactured from key parts made by someone else. Either way, it's too early to say whether end result will be better or worse than say a Sony, Sharp or Samsung LCD TV.

 

[JackBurton]

You might be surprised to learn that Samsung is currently in negotiation to buy LCD panels from Sharp.

There aren't many companies that make LCD panels, and there are even fewer that make the large IPS panels used in TVs. If you buy a Sony, a Toshiba, or a Vizio, or a you're buying a TV that uses a LCD panel made by someone else. You're not buying a rebranded TV, however. Everything else, the case, the filters, the electronics, the software, are made by Sony or Toshiba, or like in the case of Vizio some other company you've never heard of.

Pioneer really has no option but to buy their LCD panels from someone else. The weren't selling enough Kuros to keep their already existing plasma plants running, so they're not likely to be able to afford build a new LCD plant from scratch and keep it running on Elite sales alone. They'll take the Sharp LCD panels, put them in a chasis of their own design, put their own filters in front of it, their own electronics behind it, apply their own motion processing and other effects, do up their own user-interface and then slap the Elite brand on front.

It's up to you decide after all that if such as TV is a really a Pioneer Elite, or the fact that its using Sharp panel is all that matters. Probably a lot Pioneer Elite equipment is manufactured from key parts made by someone else. Either way, it's too early to say whether end result will be better or worse than say a Sony, Sharp or Samsung LCD TV.

Ok, let's be clear, Pioneer no longer produces any TVs, and never produced an LCD. Sharp is just taking the Pioneer name (Elite) and slapping it on their LCD. It is really as simple as that. Again, the Pioneer name as everyone knew it once is pretty much dead in the A/V market. The only TRUE Elite equipment they have left are their receivers.

The last TRUE Pioneer TVs were, 5020, 500M, 6020, 600M, Elite 111, Elite 101, Elite 151, and Elite 141. All 9G panels with the 500M and 101FD being 9.5G.

The last TRUE Pioneer BD players were, 320, 23FD and 09FD.

Anything newer is just a Pioneer (Elite) branded Sharp. Same will go for the TVs. Pioneer isn't producing any TVs, Sharp is. This is different than when other manufactures use someone else's panel. Runco uses Panasonic glass for their plasmas, but it is definitely not a Panasonic TV.

 

[djnsmith7]

Let me say this...I can't remember that last time I was impressed with a Sharp display, especially when compared to a Samsung. To think of it, not many manufacturers do match the quality of Samsung. Heck, when I bought my Samsung 3 years ago this summer, I chose it over an Elite, but the Elite was my 2nd choice.

 

[JackBurton]

Am I the only person disgusted with TV tech lately? Remember a few years back when they were hyping SED, OLED, Laser, LED projectors and it was like we were getting real advancements? Plasma seems to be slowly dying off, SEDs dead in the water, OLED is progressing so slowly that it'll be forever before we see it compete with LCD, Laser we got one high end TV that I haven't heard anything about for like 2 years now, and then LED projectors seem focused on fitting into phones more than anything.

No you are not. But that is what happens when the leaders in TV tech leave the market. What you have now are manufactures trying to produce the cheapest sets possible. Why? Because that is what "Wal-Mart Joe" wants. The latest and greatest tech costs money to produce, and the public has made it VERY clear that is not what they want. They want "CHEAP," not "great." And infinite blacks and OLED don't fall into that category. So that is what you are left with now. Mediocre TVs.

 

[wirednuts]

meh. lcd and plasma tech is "old" now. why would they want to invest in that stuff when OLED, laser and mini ray-gun tv's all look so promising?

i wouldnt be surprised if pioneer is the first to unveil a large sized laser tv.... something that absolutely destroys every tv out there in picture quality, like 10 fold.

then samsung and others will produce cheap OLED tvs that are 1/3 the weight of normal lcd's today, with more then acceptable picture quality for anyone, even design artists or the like.

from everything ive been reading over the years about tv technology, and seen how fast things are moving, i see a good chance of what i said happening sooner then later.

 

[Ross Ridge]

Sharp is just taking the Pioneer name (Elite) and slapping it on their LCD. It is really as simple as that. Again, the Pioneer name as everyone knew it once is pretty much dead in the A/V market.

Hmm... ok, the Engadget article linked in original post made it sound like they were going to be Pioneer made with Sharp LCD panels, just like they're originally planning to do with the Kuro brand as referenced. I searched web a bit and found the original press release. You're right, in this case its Sharp who's making the TVs.

The only TRUE Elite equipment they have left are their receivers.

Even with Elite AV receivers, on the low-end they're just rebadged high-end Pioneer receivers...

 

[JackBurton]

meh. lcd and plasma tech is "old" now. why would they want to invest in that stuff when OLED, laser and mini ray-gun tv's all look so promising?

You obviously didn't see Pioneer's ECC plasma demo in 2008.

i wouldnt be surprised if pioneer is the first to unveil a large sized laser tv.... something that absolutely destroys every tv out there in picture quality, like 10 fold.

then samsung and others will produce cheap OLED tvs that are 1/3 the weight of normal lcd's today, with more then acceptable picture quality for anyone, even design artists or the like.

from everything ive been reading over the years about tv technology, and seen how fast things are moving, i see a good chance of what i said happening sooner then later.

That's a pipe dream. Pioneer is dead in the TV market. The NEC acquisition is pretty much what killed them and they aren't coming back. As much as I would LOVE to see it happen, it ain't. And Samsung MAY come out with OLED, but they won't release a set that will replace a 50"+ LCD or plasma for a looong time. So don't hold your breath.