The Pioneer KURO KRF-9000 FD is a Full HD, D-ILA projector. On the market since spring 2008, this contrast-master currently sells for around 3,000 GBP online.

Florian Friedrich, tested on December 21, 2009

Outstanding contrast.
Judder-free 24p.
Flexible positioning.
YUV input accepts Scart-RGB signals.

Rough scaling of HDMI-576i.
Slight convergence errors.
Awkward operation for zoom and focus.

This is one of the most contrast-rich projectors we’ve ever tested, and will perform excellently in the dark, home-cinema environment. De-interlacing is better here than on the JVC HD 100, on which the Pioneer KRF-9000 FD was based, and the video processing has been tailored to produce extremely deep blacks, although these come at the cost of some brightness — and some points in the final score. Given the price, however, this is an extremely attractive model for buyers that want a stunning movie picture.

Most important connections:

2x 1x 1x

Features

You get plenty of connectivity on the Pioneer, whose YUV input will also accept Scart-RGB signals.

The large zoom factor of 2:1 and the 2D lens-shift provide versatile positioning. Since this is a D-ILA projector, it offers digital convergence adjustment for the three reflective chips (R, G, and B), allowing the user to compensate for physical errors in the colour alignment. On the Pioneer, convergence errors only appeared in the far corners of the image — but such errors can easily worsen the picture’s detail resolution. The three-chip principle means there are no colour-filter artefacts here, such as the rainbow effect seen with DLP projectors. Furthermore, the distance between the individual pixels is lower than in an LCD projector, making the picture look more uniform and cinema-like.

Operation

The remote control lacks buttons for direct adjustment of focus and zoom. On the plus side, its backlit keypad makes for easy mid-movie operation.

With two small adjustment dials on the front of the unit, you can shift the image up to 80 percent upwards or downwards, and up to 34 percent to each side. Focus and zoom adjustment are awkward to use via the remote control, since these controls only work if you first bring up the “crosshatch” test pattern and hold down the left cursor button for one second. During playback, no adjustment is possible.

Colours and Contrast

Colours are excellent overall, despite the extended colour space. The white triangle in this CIE diagram represents the device’s gamut; the black triangle indicates the ideal values.

The contrast of D-ILA pictures remains unequalled. Many LCD projectors advertise contrast ratios of more than 10,000:1, but they actually only achieve such values using adaptive iris adjustment in dark images. In our laboratory, on the other hand, the Pioneer displayed a maximum contrast of over 23,000:1, with no tricks, which makes it the one of top models in this discipline.

The ANSI contrast, measured using a checkerboard pattern of eight white and eight black fields, wasn’t quite as revolutionary, but at 320:1 is easily enough to compete with many DLP projectors — the best models, however, reach values of up to 600:1. In practice, the unspectacular ANSI contrast means that fully dark scenes appear as black as night, but that the whole picture become less dark if a bright object appears. You’ll only be able to see this effect, however, if you’re watching in total darkness. Despite the enormous contrast, the colours remain correct — the colour temperature lies almost exactly at the ideal value of 6,500 Kelvin.

The gamma adjustment deserves particular praise: There are nine presets to choose from, between 1.8 and 2.6, and you can adjust the values of twelve points on the gamma curve for both white and primary colours (red, green, and blue) — this is a picture-perfectionist’s heaven! Like that of the JVC HD 100, the Pioneer’s colour space is slightly extended towards red and green, making some primary colours appear very intense — and there’s no colour management system to help alleviate the problem.

Picture Quality of Standard Signals

Whereas the JVC HD 100 occasionally produced unpleasant comb effects due to bad de-interlacing, the Pioneer displays images accurately and with no flicker, although it shares the JVC’s problem of coarse horizontal scaling of HDMI-576i signals. With progressive (576p) signals, the same error doesn’t occur, and video up-scaled to HDTV resolution and delivered via HDMI also impresses. Unfortunately, however, no picture-format settings are available for 4:3- or letterbox-format signals up-scaled to HD. If, therefore, your set-top box can’t convert between aspect ratios at HDTV resolution, you’ll be powerless to correct the distorted geometry of the picture.

Blur on the composite and S-Video inputs disappoints — to get the best quality from analogue SDTV signals, you should use the YUV connection, which can also be configured to accept Scart-RGB signals. This interface delivers sharp pictures with excellent colour resolution. Thanks to attractive horizontal scaling, a complete set of picture-format controls, and adjustable picture-cropping (overscan), the results are nearly perfect. Finally, even fast vertical motion in sports broadcasts isn’t enough to trip up the video processor and projection chips.

Picture Quality of HDTV Signals

The Pioneer produces top-quality pictures for all types of HDTV input signal — you get flicker-free de-interlacing of 1080i material, and 1080p with correct 24p reproduction. Judder-free playback combines with the sensational contrast ratio to provide cinematic images with fantastic sharpness and depth — and the picture remains well-balanced in camera pans and tracking shots.

Thanks to the D-ILA technology, colours look vivid even in bright surroundings. We see particularly impressive results in the tricky black-and-white scene at the beginning of “Casino Royale” — blacks are rich and the greyscales take on no colouration. In the opening credits, however, the blood seeping down the screen looks almost too red — the colours could have been a touch more natural, like those we’re used to seeing in Pioneer’s plasma TVs, for example.

In dynamic, brighter scenes, the effects of the Pioneer’s slightly limited 320:1 contrast ratio become clear. The white columns in front of the Casino Royale itself gleam brightly, but slight convergence errors are visible in the edges of the picture. Here, and in the sharp text of the end credits, the Pioneer doesn’t quite produce the same crisp details as the best single-chip DLP projectors.

Dark scenes, on the other hand, are where the Pioneer really shines: There’s barely any residual illumination, for example, in the letterbox bars on Cinemascope films (almost all blockbusters), and the differentiation in dark night-time scenes captivates the viewer’s eye. In the pitch-black sequence in Montenegro in “Casino Royale”, trees and bushes by the train tracks are clearly visible — even some of the best DLP projectors cannot match this kind of performance. Motion depiction also leaves little room for improvement — content at 60 frames per second, such as “Antarctica Dreaming”, shows excellent sharpness even during fast camera pans.

Ideal Settings

AV Selection: Movie

Contrast: -3

Brightness: 0

Colour: -4

Sharpness: 0

DNR: 0

Colour Temp.: Low

Gamma: Standard

Lamp Power: High

* These settings apply to realistic playback of HDTV/Blu-ray material through the HDMI interface in a darkened environment. Manufacturing and HDMI playback device deviations might necessitate slight adjustment.