Photos: Pioneer Kuro PDP-LX6090 is big, black and beautiful

By Ian Morris on 01 July 2008, 11:56am

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Black is the new grey -- at least it is for Pioneer, which cares more about making TVs reproduce black properly than any other company in the world. When Kuro was introduced last year we weren't sure how far Pioneer could take the technology. Could it keep increasing black levels each year? Yesterday, the Kuro PDP-LX6090 landed on our doorstep with a formidable thump and we eagerly set about unboxing it.

The LX6090 certainly comes in an imposing box -- three boxes actually -- and at 60 inches wide it's the size of a smallish horse, but with less of a hunger for hay, and more of a desire for amazing contrast. Indeed, Pioneer simply describes the contrast ratio on its Web site as "extreme". It goes without saying that the 6090 is a 1080p/24-capable set, with 100Hz picture processing to handle films in the smoothest possible way.

A plasma TV this size is going to need a great quality input to make the best out of it. We certainly aren't looking forward to testing it with Freeview, although we're sure the Pioneer will make the best out of our great nation's over-compressed national digital TV system. Where this set will sing is with 1080p video from Blu-ray, or a games console or PC of your choice.

There are a number of optional accessories available for the PDP-LX6090, including a wall-mounting bracket. Now, we're not structural engineers, but we think you're going to have trouble finding a wall strong enough to hold this TV up, if you can even find one wide enough in the first place. There are also options for either side, or bottom mounted speakers and stands that support them.

You'd expect a TV this high-end to scare your bank manager, and buying one will cost you a substantial £4,500 -- but compared to a projector, that's not actually a terrible price. In fact, you'll save money, because unlike projectors it doesn't have an expensive bulb to replace every few thousand hours.

Join with us for a few choice photos, as we show you around one of the most exciting TVs we've seen in a while -- and enjoy the process of unpacking a TV so humungous, we could barely fit it in our testing room and shut the door.-Ian Morris

Update: Read our full Pioneer Kuro PDP-LX6090 review.