Home > Consumer Reviews > Pioneer PRO 111FD - 50" Elite KURO plasma TV with built-in network media player - widescreen - 1080p (FullHD) - HDTV

The picture is amazing! I was blown away with the pictures quality. My Sony Bravia XBR was one of the best when I bought that 2 years ago. This Pioneer makes the Sony look very average. I have read alot of articles naming this tv one of the best on the market and from what I have seen there is alot backing it up.

The picture looks great straight out of the box. No picture or color adjustment required like some of my past TVs. The TV is also surprising slim for such a big set.

One thing I do wish was better is the look of the menus. The layout is fine but the look of it is a little dull and plain. I think for the price point of this they should have something a little fancier. The Network media player is not compatible with Mac iTunes. It only work with LDNA compliant equipment.

Owned for a year now and haven't seen any plasma come close under 10k. If your debating with any other plasma stop looking cause this one is amazing!

The pro-111fd makes such an awesome PC monitor. way better then the Samsung plasma 650. The Samsung did not overscan though. The Samsung was top rated by consumer reports. geesh- its not even in the same league!!
After I saw the elite, the Samsung went right back to Amazon. Amazon took the Samsung back, and refunded my money, in full, including shipping both ways. Amazon gets 5 very solid stars.

The Pioneer seems to run cooler than the Samsung-even with the power save function turned off on the pioneer.

There are annoyances with the pioneer but I still have no regrets.

The Samsung had better HDMI control functionality:
If you turned on the blu-ray player, the Samsung would automatically turn on and the change input to the player! I miss that.

The Samsung allows HDMI control for EACH HDMI input. With the Pioneer, you have to go to setup and choose a SINGLE input.
The pioneer HDMI control is really lame. The HDMI control worked fine with my Panasonic blu ray and the Samsung (except the pause button.) It is flaky and thus unusable with the Pioneer. Tech support said that HDMI is flaky and not a good standard. geesh. Pass the buck!

I miss the swivel stand too.

The Samsung remote was bigger and more usable in darkness.
The pioneer remote is difficult in darkness.

The Home Media Gallery is not much more than a curiosity to me, even after I setup a freeware DNA server for it.
Just too inflexible and I am spoiled by having an XP box plugged in to it with Bluetooth mouse and keyboard. I would have traded the HMG for the swivel stand.

The included speakers are awesome for tv speakers-too bad I am not using them.

I am just whining because the picture quality more than makes up for the relatively petty grievances.



Turning off the orbiter to avoid the over scan is scary, especially when connecting to the PC.

So here is what I did to the:

1. Auto hide task bar.
2. Set screen saver to 2 minutes.
3. Set desktop to Grey (18% or so)


I hope this is sufficient.
I like to view my photos on it.


BTW, the person complaining about the grey bars on the side during 4:3 viewing should know that you can turn them off or darken them a little. It is in the menu under setup or options.

I recently upgraded from a Samsung 61" LED DLP which wasn't too shabby. I spent a good 3 or 4 months crawling around various electronic stores in Manhattan comparing models and was finally able to hunt down a Pioneer Elite Kuro PRO-111FD at an insanely low price ($2499). I've spent a little over a week with the TV and have to say that it really lives up to all the lofty praise it has received over the past year. The blacks, in a single word, are stunning and the colors are equally impressive. Last weekend I fired up my PS3 and watched the Criterion Collection version of Chung King Express and was blown away by the clarity and color depth. HDTV, especially programs broadcast in 1080i, are also excellent. I have mixed opinions about SD content on the TV (sometimes it looks great, other times not at all) but I can't offer an objective opinion because my AVR (Pioneer Elite SC-05) handles the processing and upconversion for those signals.

I still have a lot to explore (namely the 24p 72hz film mode) but can safely say that this is the best TV on the market. But keep in mind that there are plenty of other options that are just as drool-worthy. Namely the LED backlit Samsungs (A950 series) and the Sony XBR8s. And in terms of aesthetics, the new LED edge-lit Samsungs are beyond chic...you deserve to see how slim they are in person. The new Panasonic G10s also look great and couldn't have a more seductive price. It truly is a great time to be a TV buyer.

The best TV I have every owned. There is nothing bad about this TV. Working with Digital Plaza and Manna shipping was grate. The driver who dropped off the TV was a great help. Superb picture detail, incredible accuracy and the deep blacks and perfect whites all combine to produce as perfect a picture as current technology permits. Everything simply looks better on this set. I still have a lot to learn about this Pioneer TV it come with a lot of features. I was very scared to buy my first big TV on line. I always like to see the TV in the store to compare and see how pitcher looks. The stores only carry the low brand names with very few features. I am very happy I purchased this Pioneer TV. Now I have to upgrade my dish dvr and get a good Blu-ray player.