Protect your investment
So you went out and grabbed yourself a proper bargain by getting a Kuro cheap off of ebay or an online forum...However, "all that shines is not always golden".
The amount of times I have received enquiries from the public with problems after one of these types of purchases. One chap, said he drove over 150 miles to pick up a Pioneer Kuro LX5090 for £200. He said the owner fully demonstrated the Kuro and the picture was awesome (naturally!!), and he inspected every inch of the TV with his flash light; the screen and bezel were totally scratch free. He was chuffed. He then loaded it into his car; upright (you know the rules!!) in the back seat, using the rear seat belts to secure it.
Now, when he got it back home, a few hours later. He went to plug it in, and...Nothing! Nada!
It would not turn on. No LEDs came on; not even the red standby LED. I told him to look through the vent holes in the back cover to see if he sees any lights on when he tries to power it on. He said there was nothing. He sounded like he was about to cry.
I said: "for £300 Kuroking will service and professionally refurbish it back to fully working order".
He said: "but I already paid out £200".
I said: "to spend £500 total for a professionally refurbished Pioneer Kuro LX5090 with no blue or red blink issues, and is guaranteed for a year, is a steal!! You should have contacted me before you went on an adventure! You can always take it back for a refund".
He said: "It was sold as seen, and I signed a receipt".
He was confused. He felt like he had been somehow cleverly cheated, but said that the seller didn't look like a con man because he lived in a mansion and had lots of luxury cars in his garage. (Like that means anything!!) He was naturally reluctant to spend anymore money (once bitten, twice shy)...
I pointed him towards the kuroking customer feedback, and afterwards he purchased one of our 60 inch professionally refurbished ones. buy one here
I told him that the Kuro is like a 12 years old supercar that is driven daily, but the owner has nether had it serviced, then one day it would not start.
Natural wear and tear is the cause. Over the years the Kuro has to cope with 420 to 510 watts (50 inch and 60 inch) of power through many of the hottest summers in recorded history without any assistance from the fans (the rear fans you can see through the vents at the top of the back cover, are for emergencies only and are activated at around 100 degrees; by then your plasma panel is toast anyway)
and unbeknownst to the consumer, it has had to fend off a few lightning strikes and all manner of power surges, that wack your electrical appliances from time to time. They don't always blow circuit boards but they will weaken and compromise certain components; like relays, resistors, capacitors, voltage regulators and certain areas between the chassis and plasma panel itself. The set can become temperamental and may disclose artifacts on the screen, strange noises, vertical/horizontal anomalies to the source image, shut down randomly, or do absolutely nothing; as in the case of the aforementioned enquiry.
MORAL OF THE STORY
The moral of the story is that the Kuro is a vintage high quality bit of kit, and after 12 years may require a service and/or be professionally refurbished to ensure its longevity for another 12 years of optimal performance.
Remember! The Kuro is a precision built TV; not a mass market 'throw away' device. It deserves to be cared for. If you pick one up cheap because the owner has decided to upgrade to an OLED because of FOMO on whatever is trending, plus a lack of knowledge of what they already possess, then it is more power to the new owner who will inherit the best made TV of all time, for cheap. (Original price £2500). All it requires is a service every 5-10 years, if you are planning to make it your main TV. Note! If all you are interested in is how black the bars are around your movie, then the Kuro is only a shade away from the 'complete blackness' of the top Oleds of today, which cost £1000's more than a 12/13 year old Kuro. Even the top Youtube TV blogger had to dig deep, like comparing the amount of sun rays that are visible in a particular scene in the last Mad Max movie. The 4k OLED should of had 4 times as much information than a 1k (1080p) Kuro. Instead, the difference was highly subjective. You had to study the image really closely with a magnifying glass to even see any difference at all. But I digress...