CES 2009

Fresh from flooring virtually everyone (apart from the competition) with its latest line of Kuro flat panel plasma displays, Pioneer is showing two new concept displays at the show: a future design that offers even better blacks, and a new, super-flat model.

Neither set will be available immediately, but it would not surprise me if the new "standard depth" Kuro shows up toward the end of 2008, with the super flat design following in 2009. (These are my guesses, not Pioneer's estimates.) Neither model was on display at the press conference, but we expect to see them when the show floor opens starting tomorrow. I'll have more to say about them at that time.

The advanced, standard thickness Kuro's claim to fame is a complete shutoff of each pixel's idling luminance when it is not displaying a signal. The result, according to Pioneer, is that the screen is so dark when it displays a full screen black image in a darkened room that you can't tell if the set is on or off. According to Pioneer, this will end discussions on contrast ratio!

The super flat design (which does not claim to incorporate the same contrast ratio breakthrough as the model described above) is a mere 9mm thick—thinner than an iPhone. In contrast, most flat panels average about 3.5". A 50-inch set using this design is not only thin, but is said to weigh 41 lbs!

On another subject, Pioneer also announced new car stereo speakers with cones made from crushed and reformed basalt, a type of volcanic rock. As Pioneer's spokesperson noted, Rock Crushes Paper. But as Stereophile's Kal Rubinson observed, these speakers might be best used for rock music!