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Pioneer Elite back in the game

MatthewB

MatthewB

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Just got this months issue of HT Magazine and there was a short blurb about how Pioneer Elite and Sharp corporation are now selling higher end displays (60" and 70" LED full array backlit displays. They will retail for 5,500 for the 60" and 8,000 for the 70". The mags back cover had a full page ad for the new displays and the website is http://www.elitelcdtv.com
 
I love Pioneer, but I have to tell you.....I hate that price tag. The old 60" Elite RPTV I had, I paid $4500 for back in '94. That probably going to be the most I'll pay for a TV.


No matter how good the picture will look, and I know it will look damn good, I would rather plunk that $8000 on something else.
 
I go tthe impression that Pioneer got out of the TV game because the market just wouldn't support the price premium that they demanded. I'm not saying the price wasnt justified, just that the public would rather pay 50% less for a tv that was 90% as good as the Elites. Maybe their margin is high enough that Pioneer can afford to sell fewer sets.
 
It would seem that Pioneer's ONLY involvement was to sell the rights to use "Elite" (and by extension "PRO" in the model name) to Sharp. These models are simply Sharp TVs with Pioneer nomenclature.

From HD Guru -
"Sharp formally introduced its Elite LED HDTVs at a press event August 4. Under a license agreement with Pioneer Electronics, Sharp is resurrecting the moniker that cemented Pioneer’s reputation as maker of some the finest plasma TVs in the industry. Pioneer left the TV market in 2009."
 
Zing said:
It would seem that Pioneer's ONLY involvement was to sell the rights to use "Elite" (and by extension "PRO" in the model name) to Sharp. These models are simply Sharp TVs with Pioneer nomenclature.

From HD Guru -
"Sharp formally introduced its Elite LED HDTVs at a press event August 4. Under a license agreement with Pioneer Electronics, Sharp is resurrecting the moniker that cemented Pioneer’s reputation as maker of some the finest plasma TVs in the industry. Pioneer left the TV market in 2009."
Click to expand...
I was going to post something similar as I had heard the same about a week ago...but the article Matt linked to did say there was involvement from some ex-pioneer engineers and that there is some new technology implemented but on the flip side no reviews are out yet that I know of and they're applying the Elite brand to led...
 
The highly regarded Pioneer Kuro's were plasma TV's, not LCD/LED. Pioneer supposedly sold the Kuro technology to Panasonic a couple of years ago as I remember. Sharp has never gotten professional reviews that rated their models nearly as high as Samsung or Panasonic. Kind of like the Bose of TV's. Just a feeble PR move, IMO.
 
Towen7 said:
I go the impression that Pioneer got out of the TV game because the market just wouldn't support the price premium that they demanded. I'm not saying the price wasn't justified, just that the public would rather pay 50% less for a tv that was 90% as good as the Elites. Maybe their margin is high enough that Pioneer can afford to sell fewer sets.
Click to expand...


I agree, and that solidifies my previous post.


A prime example is my DIY screen compared to a Carada, Stewart, etc. Those brands, obviously, are better than what I made, but I barely have a quarter of the cost of a Carada in mine.
 
I was under the impression that Pioneer got out of the TV biz, was because they got tired of spending millions on research and development only to have their technology stolen by other companies and implementing them in the next years models. There was a lawsuit against Panasonic who had blatently stolen all the technology in their higher end plasma line. Don't know what became of that lawsuit, but do know that once Pioneer stopped producing TV's Panasonic hired almost alll of the engineers who had worked for Pioneer and why Panasonic TV's today rate very high on PQ.

I do have to say that yesterday I was calibrating a Samsung LED 55" TV and was just blown away with how great that picture was, I would say it was probably the best HD image I had ever seen and made me long to trade in my older Pioneer HD RPTV, but can't quite cut the cord since the image is still fantastic.
 
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