Scott Wilkinson

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Picture Control & Backlight Settings
Scott Wilkinson  |  May 24, 2011
I've always used the Spears and Munsil High Definition Benchmark Blu-ray disc to set up my TVs, and I find that there are many ways to skin a cat as far as settings are concerned. For example, I get the same result if I set contrast to 87 and backlight to 33 or brightness to 67 and backlight to 22. Is there any real difference as long as the result on screen meets the suggested result on the Spears and Munsil disc?

In a related question, does it make a difference in the cadence tests to use the deinterlacing of the TV versus the AVR ?

Kevin Cochran

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Picture Presets, AVR Shopping, Soundbar Center
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jul 28, 2010
Black Hole Mode
You often talk about the advantages of professional calibration, but why couldn't TV makers include a mode for a blacked-out room? Or am I missing something? I have a ninth-gen, 50-inch Pioneer Kuro and a PS3. I set the TV's picture mode to Movie for standard-def TV and Standard for Blu-ray (with film mode set to Advance).
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The Big Picture
Pina 3D Dazzles
Scott Wilkinson  |  Feb 21, 2012
As a musician, I've played for a number of modern-dance performances and classes, including classes taught by members of the renowned Bella Lewitzky Dance Company. So when I learned that Wim Wenders, director of Buena Vista Social Club, made a 3D movie about the late modern-dance choreographer Pina Bausch and her Tanztheater Wuppertal troupe, I had to check it out—especially since Pina has been nominated for an Academy Award as the best documentary feature of 2011.
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Pioneer AVR with B&W Speakers
Scott Wilkinson  |  Mar 30, 2012
I have the following system:
  • Pioneer VSX-1021 A/V receiver
  • B&W 600-series speakers (683 front L/R, HTM61 center, 685 bookshelf surrounds, ASW610 subwoofer)
  • Oppo BDP-93 Blu-ray player
  • Sonos wireless audio system
  • Sony 55-inch XBR TV
All in all, the sound is outstanding, and the image of Blu-ray discs is also amazing. However, a friend says the overall setup is not balanced—in particular, the receiver is cheap compared to the other elements. I do not have much space for a higher-end receiver, so is there any other solution? Is this setup really unbalanced, since it sounds great to me?

Ricardo Monnerat

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Audio Video News
Pioneer Backing Out of Plasma?
Scott Wilkinson  |  Mar 04, 2008

I wasn't going to post a story about this until we know more about it, but it's too important to wait. According to several news sources, Pioneer is finalizing plans to stop manufacturing plasma panels and concentrate on assembling plasma TVs. The company is negotiating to acquire panels from Matsushita, Panasonic's parent company. A Pioneer spokesperson said an official statement would be forthcoming this Friday.

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CES 2010
Pioneer BDP-120
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 08, 2009

Pioneer has no new plasma panels at the show, but it was not to be outdone in the Blu-ray player department, with three new models. Under the Pioneer brand, we have the BDP-120 (<$300, pictured) and BDP-320 (<$400), while the BDP-23FD ($600) joins the Elite brand. All are BD-Live with internal memory (except the 120, which comes with a memory stick). The unique feature here is that all can be connected to USB hard disks—up to 2TB!—for additional BD-Live storage. Not only that, the 320 and 23FD can power portable hard disks. As I always say, you can't have too much storage!

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Pioneer Elite BDP-09FD
Scott Wilkinson  |  Sep 08, 2008

Pioneer debuted another high-end Blu-ray player at the show, shown here in a cool 3D "exploded view" that highlights the player's isolated circuit boards. It's BD-Live with a whopping 4GB of onboard memory and two HDMI outputs. A Pioneer-developed video chip processes 8-bit video with 16-bit resolution, and a Marvell Qdeo handles the scaling. The BDP-09FD should be available in December for $2000. Also at the show were the Elite BDP-05FD ($800, shipping now) and the Pioneer-brand BDP-51FD ($600, shipping now), both Profile 1.1 with the same Pioneer processor (12-bit instead of 16). Power-up and load times are said to be much faster than previous generations.

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Pioneer Elite DVR-57H DVR/DVD recorder
Scott Wilkinson  |  Apr 24, 2004

Digital video recorders (DVRs) have become the central icon of a new religion I call TiVoism. Although TiVo is not the only brand of DVR on the market today, it's by far the most recognized, and has already entered the popular lexicon as both noun ("I just got TiVo!") and verb ("Don't worry; I'll TiVo Law & Order while we're out."). Those who become TiVoists (also known as TiVot&#233;es) are highly devout and tend to proselytize at every opportunity, with good reason: If you watch TV at all, a DVR can dramatically change your life, as it did mine.

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Pioneer Elite PRO-101FD Plasma Monitor
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 20, 2009

When Pioneer first introduced its Kuro plasma TVs a couple of years ago, everyone was amazed at their deep blacks, stunning detail, and gorgeous colors. Those first Kuro models represented Pioneer's eighth generation of plasma TVs, including the 50-inch <A href="http://ultimateavmag.com/flatpaneldisplays/308pio110fd/">PRO-110FD</A> from Pioneer's upscale Elite line. The current offerings are referred to as 9G and include the 50-inch <A href="http://ultimateavmag.com/flatpaneldisplays/808pio111/">Elite PRO-111FD</A>, which exhibits even deeper blacks than the previous generation.

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Pioneer Elite PRO-110FD Plasma TV
Scott Wilkinson  |  Mar 17, 2008

Pioneer has single-handedly revitalized the entire plasma market with its Kuro line. Named with the Japanese word for "black," all Kuro models exhibit astonishing black levels that are far lower than all other plasmas and just about all LCD TVs (except those that use LED backlighting, which can reach black levels that are literally 0fL).

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