Panasonic leaving the Plasma business for real.

Godmachine

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http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/31/panasonic-quits-plasma/

The writing has been on the wall and with rumors previously it's not a big surprise. If you want a really amazing Plasma better act soon. Once late 2014 is upon us no more high end Plasmas to look forward to. Without Panasonic in the market I'm sure Samsung and LG will quickly follow suit.

Sad. I highly recommend the ST60 if you are in the market. Best deal on a TV in a very long time.
 
I never liked plasma screens to begin with, not a major loss IMO
 
I never liked plasma screens to begin with, not a major loss IMO

Translation: "I never liked the best image quality anyway."

If you ever laid your eyes upon a panasonic TCP-P50ST50 i don't know how you could say that....
 
I moved to projectors a few years ago and I don't think I'm ever going back to panels for my TV. I don't think I'll ever go with a screen under 100" again.
 
Honestly, the market is becoming saturated with display technologies, and plasma, being the weakest of the current display technologies, is on the chopping block.

Why is plasma the weakest? Compared to LED plasma does offer better picture performance, but that only matters to the enthusiast. And the combined enthusiast purchasing power is dwarfed by that of the larger population. Small niche companies can get by catering towards the enthusiast market, but TV manufacturers are monolithic giants of companies.

Instead we should look at the high-end and budget/mass markets. The high-end market left plasma some time ago, and OLED's introduction is the final nail in the coffin for plasma's share in this segment. As for the budget/mass market, plasma has traditionally been lower in cost for the same diagonal when compared to LED, but LED prices are coming down to the point where that tradition is no longer holding. And to the average consumer in a Best Buy, LED TVs DO look better on the shelf, even if they may fall short of plasma in one's living room.

Then there is 4K. While possible, it is far more difficult and costly to produce a 4K plasma than a LED set. The reason? Plasma's are inherently dimmer, and if you narrow the aperture light can pass through (a requirement for increasing pixel density) things get dimmer still.
 
Starting a post with, "I never liked..." without adding anything to back it up. Translation my comment is worthless and a waste of time.
 
IB the plasma fanbois get their panties wadded. Don't let the door hit you on the way out plasma.
 
I have a 60" st60 in my living room and it is the best tv I have ever owned.
I also have a 46" st30 I use with my computer.
 
so will there be 1 final 2014 plasma series in 2014 or are the 2013 models the end?
 
I like my plasma alot. But I'm ok with it going away. I would rather them focus on OLED.
 
04_Pioneer_KURO_PDP-LX508D.jpg


Bow to the king.
 

Panasonic has OWNED the Plasma market for years now. Samsung came close to producing a very competitive plasma just this year but the VT series still is better. LG can't hold a candle to either Panasonic or Samsung plasma.

Without the single largest manufacturer of the technology to keep pushing the technology envelope there is really very little to compete against in the plasma market. OLED's are going to take over , its a slow progression at this point but we will be seeing 4k OLED's in the marketplace at least by the end of next year. After about 5 or 6 more years they will be under $1000 and will over take LED-LCD's.

Plasma has really been pushed as far as it can be for the most part and its just not as profitable as LED-LCD's for manufacturers. Samsung probably makes some of the best LED-LCD's so they don't really have a reason anymore to keep making new plasma model lines. LG makes their nut with LED-LCD's as well. Again , competition was the only reason for Samsung/LG to participate. You don't see lots of off brand plasma TV's do you?

Its game over , the writing has been on the wall since Pioneer sold its patents to Panasonic and abandoned its plasma division.
 
I moved to projectors a few years ago and I don't think I'm ever going back to panels for my TV. I don't think I'll ever go with a screen under 100" again.

I would do so but a decent projector really starts around $3000. The lower end 1080p models are fine but they lack nice deep contrast and many are DLP and use color wheels which means I can't use them since I'm sensitive to the rainbow effect.

If it wasn't for the upfront cost and bulb replacement cost (I use my TV constantly , almost always on so I would burn through bulbs in no time).
 
Translation: "I never liked the best image quality anyway."

If you ever laid your eyes upon a panasonic TCP-P50ST50 i don't know how you could say that....
I had a Panasonic P50ST60, which earned C-Net's highest rating for any TV they've ever reviewed. If I only watched it after 7pm and for no more than 3-4 hours a day, then it would have been the best TV viewing experience I ever had. Sadly, if I watched it anytime during the day, the picture/colors were dull/washed out even after over 200 hours of break-in.

I spent three weeks trying to position the TV in some way to avoid excess light (natural or artificial), to no avail, and damn near threw it off my top floor balcony in frustration. Instead, I returned it, bought an LG GA7900 LED and couldn't be more pleased with its superb picture regardless of what time of day I watch it.

Long story, short... plasma is outstanding if watched in a room without excess light. Otherwise, GTFO of my house!
 
I had a Panasonic P50ST60, which earned C-Net's highest rating for any TV they've ever reviewed. If I only watched it after 7pm and for no more than 3-4 hours a day, then it would have been the best TV viewing experience I ever had. Sadly, if I watched it anytime during the day, the picture/colors were dull/washed out even after over 200 hours of break-in.

I spent three weeks trying to position the TV in some way to avoid excess light (natural or artificial), to no avail, and damn near threw it off my top floor balcony in frustration. Instead, I returned it, bought an LG GA7900 LED and couldn't be more pleased with its superb picture regardless of what time of day I watch it.

Long story, short... plasma is outstanding if watched in a room without excess light. Otherwise, GTFO of my house!

Same thing killed plasma sales as well. People walk by TV displays, see those LED TVs burning bright like the sun, and walk right past the plasma which looks like a mirror inside the store.

I am using a 50 inch plasma myself right now, the screen reflection is going to be gets it out of my living room soon. I am totally fine with the TV, it has amazing image quality and I keep the lights down. Unfortunately my kid doesn't get the whole "Just sit someone else so you aren't being blinded by a reflection" aspect of it. Thus I need to get something everyone in the family can easily live with :(
 
Plasmas were really advanced when they came out. But once the issues of screen burn, and thickness were coming out they lost footing. then LCDs and LEDS and even OLEDS came up with the brightness, thinness, even lightness they started going down hill. Plus the pricing of a plasma is a bit higher vs those $99 LCd Tvs.

Overall it became a really amazing screen after alot of product cycles, but was a victim of a market unwilling to wait, and compromise on pricing.

Sad to see it go
 
Plasmas were really advanced when they came out. But once the issues of screen burn, and thickness were coming out they lost footing. then LCDs and LEDS and even OLEDS came up with the brightness, thinness, even lightness they started going down hill. Plus the pricing of a plasma is a bit higher vs those $99 LCd Tvs.

Overall it became a really amazing screen after alot of product cycles, but was a victim of a market unwilling to wait, and compromise on pricing.

Sad to see it go

Thickness isn't an "issue", just something that stupid people perceive as inferior. A lot of fancy new edge lit LCD panels in TVs now are total shit, but people eat them up because the TV is thinner than a dick.
 
Thickness isn't an "issue", just something that stupid people perceive as inferior. A lot of fancy new edge lit LCD panels in TVs now are total shit, but people eat them up because the TV is thinner than a dick.

Only some dicks..

 
A lot of fancy new edge lit LCD panels in TVs now are total shit, but people eat them up because the TV is thinner than a dick.

correction: all edge lit LCD's suck...full array local dimming is the only LCD worth buying but those are crazy expensive
 
Thickness isn't an "issue", just something that stupid people perceive as inferior. A lot of fancy new edge lit LCD panels in TVs now are total shit, but people eat them up because the TV is thinner than a dick.

Thickness is an issue....thats why people prefer LCDs over Plasmas and kind threw Panasonic out of the biz... :confused:

If this was maybe a decade ago, Plasma thickness would be more of plus point than anything. However with the huge CRT tvs gone and rear projecting mitsuis almost gone, Plasma is the next to go out. I remember I went to sears and I was looking at the new Sammies Smart Tvs on the dispplay floor next to a Panasonic. I think 46" sammie, vs 50" pana. The size difference was night and day, and so was the price and feature set. But absolutely most people standing in front of the two tvs were astonished at how sleek the sammie was. So thickness is a pretty big factor.
 
As I said, it is something stupid people consider when making purchases.
 
As I said, it is something stupid people consider when making purchases.

So everyone who doesn't share your opinion is stupid? Some people care about how certain items look in their homes. Just because they value aesthetics/looks over function doesn't mean they are stupid, it just means they have different priorities. (I would take a thicker TV over a thinner one though because I personally don't care)
 
As I said, it is something stupid people consider when making purchases.

Said the CEO of the now-defunct Plasma department at Panasonic:D

If you consider the consumer, who has money that can fund or defund a company "stupid" this is what happens lol
 
The problem with plasma was that Panasonic didn't leave enough profit margin in it and educate consumers. So the best buys had no reason to sell it. Seriously the VT / ZT are suppose to be the best TV ever made and they don't even have one in my best buy. Basically it was all a marketing failure. They should have tried to sell a TV to apple or bose and let them market, they would have fixed that no problem. People would fear manger about power usage, ya because what amounts to one extra light bulb worth of power was really going to bankrupt you. Same with being thin, I can count on 1 hand how many people actually even mount a TV to take advantage of it being thin. Looks are similar, a giant thing with a small black edge which is not any different than all the other LCDs does not work in you décor nor will it ever. Its not like LCDs had options like stainless steel and that was what was killing plasmas. You go into best buy and the TVs moving lots of units from a looks standpoint are not any different than a plasma. What was killing them was that there just wasn't enough profit so their was no reason for salesmen to educate people on plasmas.
 
so will there be 1 final 2014 plasma series in 2014 or are the 2013 models the end?

A few weeks ago I read an interview with the CEO and he said that panasonic is ceasing R&D and production will continue through 2014. However, articles from the last week have lead me to believe that 2013 is the last model year.
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Personally, I am extremely upset by the news. I was really looking forward to picking up a ZT60 to put in our new apartment but its just not in the money right now. I am really unsure what to do and I feel i'll be missing out on amazing quality for a long time; at least until OLED is affordable.
 
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Same here my plans were to get another year or 2 out of the existing plasma and hope for 4K or something. Now I am probably going to have to spend money early to buy a vt or zt60 I know if I don't this is going to end up like the FW900s or Kuro where years will pass with no good replacement. In the case of the FW900 it was what over a decade?

The only other hope we have is that some other plasma maker or maybe even some Chinese company will buy up the IP and engineers and try to take over and keep going like Panasonic did to the pioneer guys.
 
I got the 50-inch GT50 in early Jan. 2013, knowing that the ZT60/VT60/ST60 series was coming out this year. Back then, a couple of other stores in my area were still demanding $1700+, but I got mine from Best Buy for $1150. :D Lovely TV. I don't watch TV in the daytime, so excess light is not an issue for me.
 
So everyone who doesn't share your opinion is stupid? Some people care about how certain items look in their homes. Just because they value aesthetics/looks over function doesn't mean they are stupid, it just means they have different priorities. (I would take a thicker TV over a thinner one though because I personally don't care)

I'm sorry but if the thickness of a TV by a matter of centimeters matters to you then you obviously are focusing way to much time on trivial shit.

I mean I get the whole idea of "bringing" the room together with your own touch but the thickness of a TV? I guess I just don't get that. Your TV never moves and you only watch one part of it 99.9999 percent of the time. Its the least fashion required item in your home. I get placement , I understand perhaps the stand it uses ..but paying an extra $600-800 for have a thinner panel is a waste of fucking money.

Anyone that spends twice as much money on an LED-LCD over a much higher quality Plasma is basically burning away their money.
 
Well you may error on the side of politically correct to say its not stupid but it certainly is not smart to focus on the looks of a TV. I have seen all the TVs a place like best buy has to offer, I have seen TVs in tons of homes and I can say without a doubt that I have not been in 1 single home so far where the TVs look was complementary to the home. The only place I have ever seen that is in advertisements for TVs where the company built a room around a TV lol.

The vast majority of all TVs in best buy are black rectangles and the vast majority of peoples homes do not have black as an important part of the décor. And even if they did the specific style of the TV will not match their other black items. What are you going to do when your white wii clashes with your black xbox?

Now there are obviously exceptions but no one can rationally say that the look of plasmas being the same black rectangles that LCDs were was a serious problem in the décor of the mass consumers homes. Most of them cant even get their furniture to match the TV itself simply cant look good.

The other irony about thin is how few people mount them on walls to take advantage of that where it would really matter.
 
I'm glad that OLED is inherently thinner than LCD, which will glamorize the technology and help it succeed.

The thing that is going to bother me about OLED taking off is that nobody will know or care how much of an improvement the technology is. People will gloat about its thinness when the amazing contrast ratio and motion response will go right over their heads.
 
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