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Pioneer's Kuro Elite: Best flat-panel HDTV ever

CNET editors review the Pioneer Kuro PRO-111FD, calling it the best flat-panel display they've ever tested.

David Katzmaier Editorial Director -- Personal Tech

David reviews TVs and leads the Personal Tech team at CNET, covering mobile, software, computing, streaming and home entertainment. We provide helpful, expert reviews, advice and videos on what gadget or service to buy and how to get the most out of it.

Expertise A 20-year CNET veteran, David has been reviewing TVs since the days of CRT, rear-projection and plasma. Prior to CNET he worked at Sound & Vision magazine and eTown.com. He is known to two people on Twitter as the Cormac McCarthy of consumer electronics. Credentials

Although still awaiting his Oscar for Best Picture Reviewer, David does hold certifications from the Imaging Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Standards and Technology on display calibration and evaluation.

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David Katzmaier

Sept. 30, 2008 9:20 a.m. PT

2 min read

For once, the headline is not an exaggeration. We just finished testing the 50-inch PRO-111FD, and like most professional publications who got there first, and most viewers who have seen this TV or its 60-inch brother in action, we came away very impressed by what we saw--so much that we felt compelled to award the first "10" we've ever given for picture quality.

The Elite Kuro may cost a mint, but if you have the cash to burn and the discerning eye to appreciate the differences, it's worth it. It produced the deepest black levels we've tested outside of OLED and the most-accurate color, and in most other important picture quality areas it performed admirably. That's the short story.

Note: Longtime readers of CNET reviews have come to expect the pieces to be accompanied by picture settings that enable viewers to set up their TVs as we did for the review. Unfortunately, we're unable to publish those settings to the review itself at the moment, so you'll find them reproduced below instead.

Below you'll find the settings we found best for viewing the Pioneer PRO-111FD in a completely dark room via the HDMI input with a 1080p, film-based source with a Blu-ray player set to 1080p/24 output mode. Your settings may vary depending on source, room conditions, and personal preference. Check out the for more information.

Home menu > Setup > Picture
AV Selection: Pure
Contrast: 38
Brightness: +1
Color: +6
Tint: 0
Sharpness: -15

Pro Adjust menu > PureCinema submenu:
Film Mode: Advance
Text Optimization: Off
Intelligent Mode: Off

Picture Detail submenu:
DRE Picture: Off
Black Level: Off
ACL: Off
Enhancer Mode: 1
Gamma: 2

Color Detail submenu:
Color Temp: Manual
CTI: Off
Color Space: 2

Manual color temp submenu:
R High: -3
G High: 0
B High: 0
R Low: 0
G Low: 0
B Low: 0

Color Management submenu:
R: 0
Y: 0
G: -1
C: 0
B: 0
M: -2

Noise reduction submenu:
3DNR: Off
Field NR: Off
Block NR: Off
Mosquito NR: Off

Others:
3DYC: [grayed out]
I-P Mode: 2