Best Plasma, Pio, Panny...?

[Warpdrv]

I'm lookin in the 65" range... Curious if there is any evidence or rumors that Pioneer will reach out and make a bigger then 60" product, or if im limited to the Panasonic.... Don't get me wrong I have 2 panny's and they are great, but in the future I will need 1080p and a 65" or better screen....

I would love to try a Pioneer this next round...

[Warpdrv]

Zero news about larger products..? I hope someone can chime in if they heard something from CES about new size production units...

[eugovector]

Nothing that I saw, unless the 150" counts. I'm sure there will be some, but if you can, it will be massively more cost effective to go RP or PROJ.

[Warpdrv]

Thanks eugovector... I understand the cost, but my room is layed out in a funny manner, corner placement, and its huge, I'm not a big fan of the off angles on the rear projection. Now that I have a 50" in there, I would like to look to the future of 65" as thats the biggest available, but I could easily accomodate a 70" !!! That would be excellent..

[goodsound]

Without trying to be too vague, my recent reading has really pointed to the Pioneer elite "Kuro" (sp?) series as the cream of the crop. If I run across any articles, I'll try and remember to post it/them here.

[lcaillo]

The Pioneer is a better performer, but the best bang for the buck in PDPs is the Panasonic. In either case, I would recommend a professional calibration by someone with extensive experience, preferably with your model.

[aod]

Dunno, but I just bought a Pioneer two days ago (428)
Not recieved it yet.
Jag

[christos360]

Personaly I would go for a panasonic

[superchad]

Just a heads up, Pioneer is stopping all Plasma production and going with Sharp sourced LCD Panels, my dad has the 60' Top of the heap Plasma and it looks great, Pioneer edges it out but not by much and its alot more cash, now that they are dropping Plasma all together I am not sure I would go that route.

[lcaillo]

Where did you get the information that Pioneer is dropping PDP altogether? Reports that I have seen have them buying the glass from Panasonic to keep selling PDP.

[superchad]

Here is a portion of the article,

Pioneer is the world's fifth-largest plasma TV manufacturer and has constantly struggled for relevance against the larger Panasonic brand (Matsushita). Now, Pioneer will buy its panels from the competing brand and it will begin picking up LCD panels from... you guessed it - Sharp. This makes three major manufacturers who are backing Sharp panel production in the coming year (inclusive of both Toshiba and Sony Electronics). Our guess is that Sharp is going to be the first to market with the new line of super-thin LCD panels that fans such as myself have been dreaming about for some time.

Investors have long known that Pioneer was bleeding red ink over its plasma division having several years ago decided not to compete in the low-price market. "This is an excellent development," said Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management. "Pioneer could have chosen another way and stepped up its plasma investment despite the fact that the business is bleeding red ink, but it's a wise step to decide against that... a quicker decision would have been even better," he said.

This is no easy decision for the Japan-based manufacturer. Pioneer has spent nearly $1 billion (yes, with a 'b') on four plasma TV manufacturing plants and two additional plants it purchased from NEC.

According to the report, a Pioneer spokesman said the company would unveil its display business strategy when it announces company-wide business plans on Friday.

The only thing surprising about this announcement is its timing. Pioneer just last year launched its premier "Project Kuro" line which promised total black levels and was designed to give consumers a no-holds-barred choice for high-end plasma displays. Pioneer had repeatedly stated that the Kuro brand was gaining speed and 2008 would show that Pioneer had captured the high-end market. The problem is that Pioneer, while predicting several hundreds of thousands of plasma TV sales, was up against rival Panasonic who had a planned sales volume of more than 5 million units.

For those concerned, this doesn't mean that Pioneer will exit the plasma business. It simply means that they are, in the interim at least, looking to leave the plasma panel manufacturing business, opting instead to purchase their panels from a company like Matsushita (Panasonic).

As to what this means for plasma as a technology, we believe that, as predicted, this is the beginning of the end. It's longevity depends on a few factors now:

Marketing and consumer perspective of the technology
How quickly the new super-thin LCD TVs hit the consumer market (Hitachi is already releasing some)
The continuation of rapidly-dropping LCD panel prices
How much Matsushita invests in plasma versus its LCD manufacturing efforts in upcoming years
So there you have it. Plasma has begun its exit from the market as consolidation forces one of the largest proponents of the technology finally exits the manufacturing business and takes on LCD. We're sad to see it go, but it appeared to us at this year's CES that ultra-thin LCDs are going to hit the market much sooner than ultra-thin plasmas. When that happens there is going to be an incredible surge in popularity for the <1-inch thin displays that will push plasma technology further away. The same effect has happened to rear projection television, with manufacturers leaving those markets and technology in droves. Just this year, Sony decided to eschew all screen technologies save LCD and OLED - and it had a large stake in its LCoS-based SXRD line.

[lcaillo]

This specifically contradicts the statement that Pioneer is dropping PDP altogether. The article from Reuters which I posted on the matter says that they will be buying glass from Panasonic, as has been widely reported in other articles.

[superchad]

just pasting whats been posted elsewhere.

[lcaillo]

It would be more helpful to check your facts and read more carefully before making statements. When you say things like

"Just a heads up, Pioneer is stopping all Plasma production and going with Sharp sourced LCD Panels, my dad has the 60' Top of the heap Plasma and it looks great, Pioneer edges it out but not by much and its alot more cash, now that they are dropping Plasma all together I am not sure I would go that route."

you are giving an opinion that may lead others to poorly founded conclusions. It also makes you look less credible the next time someone who does know the facts reads your posts. It is perfectly OK to have an opinion, but when you state something as a fact, you should read more thoroughly before you post.

Please do not take this criticism too personally, nor as suggestion that your attempts to help are not appreciated. We just try to have high standards here so that people do not get confused nor mis-informed. Entire threads in other forums have gone on for hundreds of posts because someone got the wrong idea from this kind of post.

Raise the bar!

[superchad]

I see no reason for your lecture, this and most other forums are full of thousands of post just like mine, and I wonder exactly just what I did wrong............and anyone who would listen to just me, just you, or any one single person has more to worry about than a HDTV purchase.
I am a bit troubled that you would choose to lecture me in open forum for an opinion and your problem with my post is YOUR opinion, you have some weight around here and I dont question that but unless I break a rule which I have not these conversations can and should be done in private,

[superchad]

I would like to add that lcaillo contacted me in private and I appreciate it.

[lcaillo]

I may have been a bit strident in my comments above, and if it was taken that way, I apologize. I was just trying to be clear about what is factual and what is opinion and how we try to be careful at HTS about avoiding mixing the two up. superchad understands this and was just trying to be helpful.