CES 2008

True Black

Pioneer Kuro Elite Extreme Contrast

Pioneer aimed to silence the critics of plasma TVs with demonstrations of its design and engineering prowess. The Japanese company drew thousands of onlookers to its booth with a prototype, 9mm-thick Kuro Elite TV set that boasted a profile so thin it made an Apple (AAPL) iPhone look positively obese. But the truly jaw-dropping demo happened in a darkened room where Pioneer showed two sets—one from its current lineup and one with "extreme contrast" that became invisible when images went dark. Gearheads will have to wait, though, since the new technologies won't be available for at least a year.