PIONEER:

Is it REALLY EXPENSIVE to manufacture a PLASMA TV, as opposed to LCD? If this holds water, PIONEER is giving up on PLASMA's... and will mainly concentrate production on LCD.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/04/pioneer-reviewing-plasma-business/

Somewhere in the ethereal plains of pixeldom.... Hendrix has a nosebleed, & going APE-$H!T.

Of course, the rumor will be justified (or proven FALSE) this coming Friday. I joke, but my question is.... IS IT BECAUSE OF GAS?

[Post edited by xplaytendo on Mar 4, 2008]

I have no doubt that they will start making LCDs since Sharp recently bought a piece of the company.

However, leaving the Plasma business all together is another story.

Their plasmas are absolutely stunning so this will be a great loss.

I do HOPE that the OTHER reason for their plasma departure (should it become official) is not only DUE TO COST-CUTTING procedures... but also A POSSIBILITY of better technology, to adopt DEEPER BLACKS & less motion blur -on the LCD format. They may also adopt the 120hz feature, now populating the Samsung, Sony, & Mitsubishi line of LCD's.

Quote:
Somewhere in the ethereal plains of pixeldom.... Hendrix has a nosebleed, & going APE-$H!T.

I'll pay big bucks to see that

I like the picture on a Plasma vs. LCD. When my current LCD blows up I will replace it with a Plasma so I would then have 2 plasma TV's.

My Sammy Plasma is a nice TV and cannot wait for my FIOS connection to come get hooked up.

[Post edited by DjfunkmasterG on Mar 4, 2008]

I love my new Panasonic 58" 1080P Viera plasma....but I have to admit, the Kuro series from Pioneer are the best TV's you can buy. It will be unfortunate if Pioneer gets out of the plasma manufacturing business, the competition with Panasonic helped create the Kuro line...

[Post edited by Bosshog7 on Mar 4, 2008]

xplaytendo... as you know, I purchased a NEW Pioneer KURO 50" plasma in December, and based on industry tech specs, this plasma should last me a minimum of about 20 years(!) before reaching 'half-brightness'... should I continue to use it that long. So, NO - I don't have a 'nosebleed' over Pioneer's announcement.

From what I've read, Pioneer may not be completely exiting the plasma business, but rather may no longer keep making their own panels, and instead buy the panels direct from leading industry provider, Panasonic, and then couple them with Pioneer's own proprietary TV/plasma technology. Would help lower their costs, and still remain competitive against the other large plasma companies - LG, Samsung, Hitachi, and #1 Panasonic (among others).

I love plasma, and would never go back to LCD for my HT. I believe the only tech being developed now that might rival plasma's quality is OLED, which is not yet available in large screens (and who's 'life-span' is still in doubt, and is one area where more testing is being done right now).

By the way, Plasma doesn't need the LCD "120hz refresh" pixel tech! You should have already known this, but plasma's phospher-based pixels (similar to CRTube) move extremely fast (beyond the refresh rate of LCD), and do not suffer from the inherent 'blurring/smearing' effects of LCD's "sample/hold" tech.

In 'fast-motion resolution' tests (of 1080 content), plasma TVs provide between 800-900 lines of resolution, Rear-proj sets (like DLP) provide around 600-700 lines, and LCD is last with 400-550 lines of resolution, although a few of the "120hz" sets can provide about 550-650 lines of resolution (Sony, Samsung).

-JIMI (the Voodoo Child)

[Post edited by Love Hendrix! on Mar 4, 2008]

Quote:
By the way, Plasma doesn't need the LCD "120hz refresh" pixel tech!

Yes, I know that. I was referring to Pioneer's FUTURE LCD models, providing that feature. As for DEEPER BLACK in LCD models.... I hope Pioneer have an answer to this one.

from my talks with the pioneer reps, they will make 42" lcd tv but the 50's will remain plasma

xplaytendo said -

Quote:
"As for DEEPER BLACK in LCD models.... I hope Pioneer have an answer to this one."

Well, even with LCDs offering LED backlighting, you cannot achieve the 'DEEP BLACKS' and higher contrast as seen in Pioneer's KURO line of plasma. The only tech that is possibly capable of rivaling the KURO plasma line is - (1) OLED (being developed now, with more screen sizes forthcoming), -and- (2) SED (unfortunately NOT being developed now, on hiatus, although it's possible that Canon will one day move it forward), -and- (3) LaserTV (being developed now by Mitsubishi).

-JIMI (the Voodoo Child)