The electronics maker Pioneer has added today a new acronym to our tech dictionaries. Forget all about your LCD TVs because Pioneer has a whole new concept, the extreme contrast concept, codenamed “Project KURO”.

The company claims that the extreme contrast concept will challenge the contrast ratio debate by producing the industry’s first plasma that is absolute black with no measurable light emitting from the television.

To put this into perspective, consumers need to understand the contrast ratio debate. Contrast ratio is defined as the ratio of the luminosity of the brightest color (white) to that of the darkest color (black). While manufacturers all measure this differently, they agree that a high contrast ratio is desirable to recreate ideal picture quality. In televisions, the truer the black, the more accurate the color.

Black encompasses the entire color spectrum and is produced in the absence of light. By nature, televisions produce luminance (light) and this dilutes black and color. That is why it is so important that Pioneer can achieve absolute black in the Project KURO extreme contrast concept. The display is so black that even when it is on with no image displayed, the television is invisible when you walk into a completely dark room

“Thanks to the self emitting principle of plasma, we were able to crack the code on plasma luminance. Pioneer technology has advanced to the point where we have achieved virtually zero idling luminance in more than six million cells, previously thought to be impossible. The result is, in essence, absolute black with no measurable light coming from the television. For consumers, this creates the experience that the image is floating in space, with a picture that has exceptional detail and vivid color. Ultimately, our goal is focused on bringing to market a new KURO that unifies the extreme contrast and advanced design concepts to transcend anything currently possible in home entertainment. We feel that this will not only surpass our previous best, it will completely change the playing field,” explained Yoichi Sato, senior executive officer and chief technology executive at Pioneer Corporation. You can expect to see in stores plasma TVs based on Pioneer’s new concept no later than 2009.

Pioneer will showcase at CES 2008 its world’s thinnest 50-inch flat panel display, based on KURO technology. At only nine millimeters (mm) thin, this groundbreaking Project KURO technology results in a picture that appears to be floating on a wall, creating an experience for consumers where the television becomes simply a canvas for great entertainment.