On October 2008, Pioneer named Susumu Kotani as president of the company and will be taking over the role starting November 16. The current president is Tamihiko Sudo. Pioneer is expected to report a greater-than-expected net loss due to slowing demand for electronic goods. Pioneer is expected to halt its plasma display panel (PDP) production [...]

Pioneer KURO KRP-600M Specifications
Display: 60″ G9 KURO PDP
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Pixel Format: 1920 x 1080
Connectivity: HDMI (2), DVI-D, Composite, Component, KURO Link
Availability: End of June, 2008 in Japan
Price: JPY850,000 (€5000, US$8500)

Pioneer’s KURO KRP-600M is a 60″ plasma TV that incorporates the company’s 9th generation (G9) KURO plasma display panel (PDP). You should expect extremely black blacks [...]

Pioneer G9 KURO
Size: 50″ (PDP-LX5090), 60″ (PDP-LX6090)
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Pixel Format: 1920 x 1080
Contrast Ratio: Infinity
Input: HDMI (3), Component (1), RCA AV (1), Euro-SCART (3), CI (1), VGA (1), USB (1)
Dimension:
60″ PDP-LX6090: 1465 x 876 x 93mm
50″ PDP-LX5090: 1233 x 723 x 93mm
Weight:
60″ PDP-LX6090: 50.8kg
50″ PDP-LX5090: 33.5kg
Power Consumption:
60″ PDP-LX6090: 510W (operational), 0.4W (standby)
50″ PDP-LX5090: 420W, 0.3W
Price: [...]

Panasonic Viera PZ850 Series
Size: 46″ (TH-46PZ850), 50″ (TH-50PZ850), 58″ (TH-58PZ850), 65″ (TH-65PZ850)
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Pixel Format: 1920 x 1080
Response Time:
Contrast Ratio: 30,000:1 (native), 1,000,000:1 (dynamic)
Lifetime: 100,000 hours (to half brightness)
Input: HDMI (4), VGA
Other: Viera Cast (direct access to YouTube, Picasa, Bloomberg, etc.), No lead or mercury.
Availability: June (46″, 50″), September (58″, 65″)
Price: $3100 (46″), $3500 (50″), [...]

The folks over at Engadget was able to take a shot of the comparison that Pioneer built to showcase the second generation KURO plasma display panel (PDP). The thing that really pops out to me is how terrible the LCD panels are. Granted, LCD panel black levels are actually worse when viewing from an angle. [...]

Pioneer PRO-FPJ1
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Pixel Format: 1920 x 1080
Display Technology: Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCoS)
Input: HDMI 1.3 (2)
Price: $9,000
Availability: June 2008

Pioneer is getting into the high-end projection business with its PRO-FPJ1 Elite KURO front projector that is geared toward cinematic installations. Pioneer is stating that advanced calibration is available on the PRO-FPJ1 and that black levels [...]

On April 24, 2008, Pioneer and Matsushita announced a comprehensive business alliance on PDP technology development and panel production. Pioneer will share its proprietary PDP-related technologies (and that means its KURO PDP technology) and Matsushita will absorb Pioneer’s PDP R&D team. Matsushita will be responsible for volume production of PDPs for the Panasonic and Pioneer [...]

Pioneer’s KURO plasma display panel (PDP) TVs have extreme performance and has set the standard for black levels. Pioneer has stated that it will introduce KURO front projectors and LCD TVs.
The second generation KURO PDP TVs feature a near absolute black by reducing the idle luminance. Compared to the 2007 KURO models, the second generation [...]