Panasonic Z1 Is Ultra Thin.. Ultra Expensive

The one thing that was going through my mind when I saw this was ‘Didn’t Panasonic see what happened to Pioneer and their Plasmas?’ The price point was just released on this hot little number, and your wallet will be just as thin as the new ‘Z1’ Panasonic Plasma is. The new flagship in only 1-inch thick and has a MSRP of $5,999. That’s a little rich considering that most high end LCD’s offer just as good if not better picture at less than half the price.

This is due out in June for all you ballers who the recession hasn’t hit yet.

[Crunchgear]

Pioneer Getting Out Of The TV Business

The makers of the greatest Plasma TV's has decided to call it quits as of March 2010. Pioneer has made it official that they will exit the TV business. Pioneer had originally stated that they would move their manufacturing of the plasma sets to the new Panasonic factory that was scheduled for construction. But with the had economic times Panasonic has put the factory on hold for now, forcing Pioneer to end its best-in-class plasma display Kuro line production.

Pioneer makes some of the sweetest HDTV's out there, but most people can't afford the 4 to 5 thousand dollar price tag that comes with it. This has forced many consumers to look at LCD as a better choice, and considering that the displays are almost equal to plasma, it has become a no brainer.

[Cnet]

Pioneer Announces 500GB Blu-Ray Discs

Boy Pioneer is doing their best to make Blu-Ray a viable commodity, by announcing plans for a 500GB 16 layer optical disc that's Blu-Ray compatible. The discs are still under development, and Pioneer says that it could be up to 4 years before the 500GB units are available.

Check the quote from Brendan Sheridan, who is the division product manager at Pioneer:

"While Blu-ray discs, offering both 25GB and 50GB, are sufficient for users’ current demands, we envision the need for a technology that can support far greater capacities as HD streaming in particular becomes commonplace and users build larger files of digital content. The multi-layered method is compatible with Blu-ray devices providing a long term future for the technology and is more easily produced when compared to competing technologies such as holographic storage."

Perhaps I will get some use out of mt PS3 after all.

[Crunchgear]

Pioneer SE-CLX9: One Headset To Rule Them All

If you're a music nut but can't seem to find the right kind of headsets for your ipod or Zune, Pioneer was thinking of you. The SE-CLX9 is made from aluminum and comes with 5 different types of in-ear combinations. You want more bass? Just change ear-buds. Want more treble? Try a different bud.

It's a little to much work for my taste, I prefer a all-in-one headset. But I could see this being big with music producers and all around music snobs. I just wish Apple would just put in a decent pair of headsets in with their products.

That would've solved my problem from day 1.

SE-CLX9, the ultimate canal type headphone from Pioneer [Akihabara News via Crunchgear]

Pioneer's BDP-95FD Blu-Ray Player: Works With Next-Gen Audio

Pioneer introduced their latest high-end Blu-Ray player at the CEDIA trade show, the BDP-95FD. This one is truly built around the audio side of the home theater, as this unit can work with all four audio formats.

The BDP-95FD is compatible with next-gen sound formats such as the Dolby TruHD, Dolby Digital+, DTS-HD High Resolution and DTS-HD Master Audio. It has a HDMI 1.3 port and comes in at the low price of $1,000, which if your sound is that important, is a small price to pay.

The unit will be available next month.

Pioneer launches “Elite” BDP-95FD Blu-ray player [Pocket-link via Crunchgear]

Pioneer Rocks new Amps: Home theaters beware!!!

After Pioneer rolled out its 'Elite' (Expensive) line of receivers with the latest HDMI 1.3a connections, they have come out with 'Mid-line' (for normal people) units to fill in the midrange of its AV amplifier line.

And they look very nice!!!

The units can pump out Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio for some Awesome 7.1 sounds.
Yeah, that's going to work well with HD DVD and Blu-ray discs.

What else can they do? Check it out after the jump. [Pioneer]

Pioneer's 8th Gen Plasma HDTVs

Pioneer just unveiled details on their 8th generation HDTV today.

But the most important detail is the "new deep encased cell structure, crystal emissive layer and first surface colour filter." What that means is the new sets, part of Project Kuro have a black level 80% deeper than 7th generation Pioneer plasma.

They have 60 and 50 inch 1080p display, with the 20,000:1 contrast ratio, "Digital Colour Filter III Plus" for the "most accurate colour reproduction in commercially available flat screen TVs" and a street date of September.