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As if the price of Pioneer plasmas wasn’t enough to keep them exclusive, now the company has added two new limited-edition screens. One — the KRP-500AW — is finished in ‘pure white’ and the other — known as the KRP-500ABG — is slathered in ‘beige grisé’.
The nuts and bolts of these fancy screens are exactly the same as the KRP-500 screens we looked at a while ago. That means these TVs are provided with a media box, which has a built-in Freeview receiver, as well as a high-definition satellite decoder — note this isn’t the same as freesat, but it will pick up BBC HD. You also get four HDMI inputs and a host of analogue connections.
The media receiver also features network connectivity and DLNA certification, which means you can stream media to your TV via Pioneer’s cunningly customised ‘home media gallery’. Handy if you’ve got network storage or a PC that’s DLNA-ready on your home network.
Both screens feature Pioneers ‘optimum mode’, which monitors lighting conditions in your living room and adjusts the picture accordingly. Don’t worry if you’re too cool for curtains, the Pioneer will just increase the brightness of the screen so you can watch The Wright Stuff without a problem. Because the TV’s sensor monitors the colour of the light falling on it, as well as the brightness, it’s also capable of adjusting the picture for any décor. Handy if you’re keen on blood-red walls or salmon-pink carpets.
Because these TVs are paper-thin and have the external media receiver — and just one connecting cable — Pioneer thinks you’ll want to wall-mount them. If that’s not your bag, matching stands and speakers will be available for these screens too.
The TVs will be available in November, and there will be just 1,000 of the beige model and 1,500 of the white version made available for the whole of Europe, so you’ll need to be quick on your toes to get one. No word on price yet, but we’ll take an educated guess and say ‘lots’.
