Eyes-on with Pioneer's 42" Kuro Plasma HDTV

For the past couple of weeks, I've had the pleasure of feasting my eyes on Pioneer's 42-inch PHP-4280HD, a 720p set from the new Kuro brand of plasma HDTVs (some of the larger Kuro TVs have full 1080p native resolutions). Pioneer's touting its Kuro sets as having the darkest black levels you'll find in a flat-panel set—and being a fan of such famously dark movies as the "Matrix" films and "Blade Runner" (which often suffer because of the grayish blacks in many plasma and LCD TVs), I was more than happy to put the 4280HD to the test.

The PDP-4280HD itself ($2,700 list, but as low as $1,600 online) certainly looks gorgeous, with its glossy, jet-black housing and subtle Pioneer logo just beneath the screen. The set comes with its own table stand—always a nice touch—and the massive remote makes quick work of the 4280HD's easy-to-use menu system. (I didn’t get much use out of the remote, however, since I almost immediately programmed my Harmony 880 universal remote to control the set).

One of the 4280HD's strong suits is its collection of inputs, including four HDMI 1.3 inputs (impressive), a couple of composite inputs and an S-Video input—not bad, although I was disappointed that there was just a single component-video input. The set also comes with NTSC and ATSC tuners and a CableCard slot, perfect for those who want to bypass their cable company's set-top box entirely.

The 4280HD comes with a wide variety of picture settings, including four picture presets (dyamic, standard, movie, and game), along with an "optimum" mode that automatically adjusts the screen brightness according to surrounding light levels, plus a "user" mode that lets you tweak the settings manually for each video input. There's also a "PureCinema" settings that does its best to smooth out image jutter; it's a setting that might be helpful if you're using, say, a bargain DVD player with the set, but with my upconverting Oppo player, I preferred switching PureCinema off altogether. I used the standard-def DVD of "Digital Video Essentials" to calibrate the various inputs on the 4280HD; with a little tweaking, I managed to get the brightness and contrast settings just right for my living room (although I suggest you bring in a professional if you're planning to drop more than $2,000 or so on a new set).

So the big selling point on the 4280HD is that it has the deepest, darkest black levels of any competing HD plasma or LCD on the market—and after a couple weeks of viewing, I'm a believer. The black levels on the Pioneer really must be seen to be believed—we're talking deep, inky blacks that I'm more used to seeing on CRTs than on plasma or LCD sets. Watching the HD DVD version of "The Matrix" was a revelation; the cavernous nightclub where Neo first meets Trinity and dark interiors of Morpheus' ship looked almost 3D thanks to the deep shadows. The 4280HD excels in bright scenes as well; switching to the Imperal Walker battle on my "Empire Strikes Back" DVD, the fireballs against the expansive snowfields looked vivid and detailed, and I was impressed by the natural skin tones on Luke's bloodied face. And just wait till you see the deep shadows beneath the Super Star Destroyer—amazing. Going back to the grayish "blacks" on my 42-inch Westinghouse LCD hasn't been easy.

That said, there's one complaint I had with the 4280HD's picture quality that's worth mentioning: I noticed bright flashes of extraneous color when watching high-contrast scenes (such as the opening black-and-white sequence in "Casino Royale"). This "rainbow effect" is usually seen on DLP sets, although plenty of viewers have noticed it on plasmas as well. Pioneer reps said they couldn't reproduce the problem on their end, but that what I was seeing was "likely the result of the significant contrast and gradation in black and white scenes"—interesting, although I noticed the rainbows during high-contrast color scenes, as well. Are my eyes just super-sensitive? Maybe, although my wife noticed the effect as well. Was my test 4280HD set defective? Perhaps, although I'd have to check out another test unit to know for sure.

My advice? If you're considering buying the 4280HD, check it out in a showroom first. Bring along a DVD of a black-and-white movie, play it on the set and flick your eyes back and forth; if you don't see any flashes of color, you're probably good to go. But if you do, be warned—the effect can be quite annoying, especially if you're a video nitpicker like me.