E Unit

This is interesting. I know people swear to Pany plasma's, although I didn't really care for them. Happy with my LCD.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...92H00020130318

TOKYO | Sun Mar 17, 2013 8:02pm EDT
(Reuters) - Japan's Panasonic Corp is leaning towards withdrawing from plasma television operations as part of a downsizing of its television business over three years starting next fiscal year, the Nikkei newspaper said on Monday.

The troubled consumer electronics maker has already been selling assets, including real estate, to strengthen its financial position.

Panasonic's TV business, which generated sales of more than 1 trillion yen ($10.5 billion) during the peak in 2009/2010, is seen earning less than half of that amount in 2015/2016, the newspaper said without citing any sources.

"We are considering a number of options regarding our TV business. But nothing has been decided yet," a Panasonic spokesperson said.

Panasonic planned to end plasma TV panel production at its main plant in Amagaskai in western Japan around fiscal year 2014, the Nikkei said, adding that the company had already written off the value of production equipment there.

The Japanese firm has already halted new development of plasma TVs, and decided that handling both plasma and LCD models would be inefficient, especially in Japan, where the flat-TV market is shrinking, the newspaper said.

Spiky

Seems like they already have, can barely find them to purchase.

Sdallnct

Best image I've ever seen was on a plasma....course I never did end up buying one.

Recently bout a cheap LED for bar. It works for the bar, but wow does the pic suck. And yes, I understand it is because I bought a cheap Westinghouse not the fact it is a LED.

K&AJones

Find this somewhat shocking. Right now it's Samsung and Panny keeping Plasma alive. We've got a 55" GT30 and the picture is outstanding. I thought Panny actually put more plasmas out than LED's. Their sets has always garnered rave reviews.

PhantomStranger

The Japanese companies are getting slaughtered in recent years by the strength of the Yen. In pure business terms today, the plasma market is still relatively healthy. But the writing is on the wall in three or four years. The massive scale of investment in LCD/LED technologies, driven by computer use, will spur that technology forward and beyond the capabilities of plasma.

It's a shame, because plasmas have been at the vanguard of the upper end for some time. Panasonic has been churning out great plasmas for several years now, discounting the floating black level problem of the 2009 models.

chipmac

My girlfriend bought an LG plasma last year that has a fantastic picture. It has great controls for calibration without resorting to the service menus. We caught it on an open box special from Best Buy when we went there with the intention of getting a Panny plasma. After a side by side comparison we couldn't tell them apart. Does anyone know who makes the plasma panel on LG sets?

Mr. Salty

Looks like I'll be upgrading my Sony SXRD sooner than I'd planned.

soundman2

That is really a shame

I have a 42 Panny plasma in the bedroom and it is just beautiful.

WHen my 7 year living room HDTV - 50 inch is replaced in the future I was thinking of going Panny Plasma since there is nothing else I like out there.

I have recommnded plasma to many friends and they love it. The price/perfomance is unbeatable.

The problem is the average TV buying person has no idea what they are looking for in HDTV - I see them wandering in showrooms ( best buy etc) looking at those demos and just picking something. You see in homes very poorly caliberated TVs running at crazy brightness.

DVD Polizei

Have a 50" Panasonic Plasma and love it. Heavy compared to current televisions of the same size I suppose, but I'm going to hold on to it as long as I can. The amount of depreciation on televisions is insane. Buy a certain model today and you'll find it for free with 10 cereal box tops in a few years.

mrhan

I posted this in another thread and I am seriously thinking of getting the ZT60 when they go on closeout next year. I already own a 58", 50" and 42" Panny plasmas and they never let me down. Sad to see them getting phased out.

http://www.flatpanelshd.com/review.p...&id=1361272859

Ranger

42" Panny Plasma still going good. I think Plasmas have the best viewing angles.

I also like the Panasonic user interface. LG has a terrible UI that's too bright. Wish I got a Panny BR player.

I did get a cheap Hisense LED for the bedroom, very thin but VERY bad viewing analges up close, but from the bed, pic looks great. It was INSANELY bright when I first turned it on, had to cut it down to 20%, that seems typical for LEDs.

I hope Pansonic LEDs will be able to catch up with LG and Samsung.

Spiky

Not sure that's the situation. Panny's LCDs never suffered from onscreen lag, even when rated at 60Hz. They also have always had IPS or something giving better viewing angles compared to almost any other LCD TV.

I'd say Samsung and LG should continue catching up with Panny.

Ranger

I meant in market share, not performance.

nmr1723

If this is true, I may have to bite the bullet on the upcoming ZT60 and finally replace my Pioneer Kuro KRP-500M. Apparently the ZT60 is supposed to be equal to or better than the KRP line (Pioneer's last plasma). I'd love to go a little bigger than my current 50".

I'm a huge Plasma fan and have three in my house at the moment (1 Pioneer, 2 Pannys). This would be a big loss for people that care more about picture quality than anything else.

bdshort

54" Panasonic Plasma here - I've had it for 3-4 years. It's great, and I really don't plan on upgrading until I see where OLED displays end up. I'll also buy something larger when I get a new set. Plasma to me seemed like a no brainer at the time. Lower cost and better picture quality than LCD or LED.

The Void

I'm a Panasonic Plasma fan. I own a 65ST50 from last year and it is great. I hope it lasts me until something better like OLED is affordable and comes in a 65".

JeffTheAlpaca

But you don't get flashlighting or clouding during dark scenes with a Plasma.

I think Panasonic abandoned the dvd recorder market since I can't find any Panasonic DVD recorders anymore.

Spiky

Pretty much everyone abandoned the DVD market when people found they couldn't record HD to it, and on a computer they can.

JeffTheAlpaca

I don't know anybody that uses a computer to record and I doubt there is a demand for blu-ray recordable media and probably you could not record most programs in 1080i or 1080p since they are copy protected.

Spiky

Oh, people get around the copy protection. Piracy is still rampant. And some just want to set up HTPCs with ripped copies for instant access to their movies instead of sifting through DVD/BD boxes.

There doesn't seem to be as much demand for recording to BDs, but there certainly is for ripping them. Prices for flash memory and hard drives have continually dropped, so HDD tech has kept ahead of optical storage.

hanshotfirst1138

I've heard theirs' are the best there is, so this is interesting news... I was planning on getting one when I finally got the cash.

PhantomStranger

The advent of widespread DVRs destroyed the DVD Recorder market in the U.S. Hollywood also pressured the Asian manufacturers to keep Blu-ray recording out of our market.

JimRochester

Love my Panasonic Plasma. Was a close second to the Pioneer Elite while costing half the price. Think I got mine in 07 or 08?

hanshotfirst1138

I might need to get a DVD recorder, there is some stuff that's not on disc on my DVR, and I can't think of any other way to get rid of it, and it's filling up space.

JeffTheAlpaca

Blame Hollywood since they keep making the same tired movies and then they don't want to have blu-ray recorders.