Fujitsu to Cease Making HDTVs by End of March 2008

[Robinson_A]

Truthfully, I think plasma is on it's way out. When you think about it Pioneer is the ONLY company pushing the plasma envelope anymore. LCD's are becoming cheaper, larger and more feature packed with the onset of PC and Mac connectivity.

One only has to look at some of the press blasts I've gotten for CES '08 to see most companies are going LCD almost entirely in '08.

I have nothing against plasma but when you go to buy a flat screen TV the dispalys seem almost 3 to 1 (sometimes more) in LCD's favor.

[deacongreg]

That is a huge change. Especially since the mainstream public seems to love Plasma TV`s.

[Robinson_A]

I was discussing this very thing with Jerry earlier today. I'm not so sure the general public prefers Plasma TV's. I get people coming up to me all the time telling me that they just purchased a plasma TV for their home only to find out that they've bought an LCD TV. I may be wrong, but I think the word Plasma has become what Kleenex did for the tissue or Xerox for the copy machine. I think the word plasma has come to represent a flat pannel TV and not necessarily a plasma TV itself. Again, I could be wrong but even in my Hollywood day job many do not know the difference. I think people care about price, size and flat and to hell with LCD or plasma.

Samsung and Vizio are the two largest display companies out there today and both are going almost entirely LCD in the coming year. Whether you love plasma or LCD when the two biggest names in the business are going one way your options become somewhat limited. Sony too is also leaning more towards LCD from what I can see. That's your top three right there.

Plasma's biggest draw is size for the dollar however the large scale sets (60+ inches) aren't flying off the shelves quite the way the 42 or 50 inch sets are. And let's face it, a 103 inch plasma isn't in the cards for the average Joe.

[deacongreg]

You could be right. The public do seem to generalize everything. But, if these companies are making the move toward LCD, that is enough for me. I did not realize PLASMA has become like< I gotta make a Xerox!!

[Bob Walters]

Kenny,
I saw them at a trade show in NYC...VERY black especially next to the competition. I wanted to go into the service menu to see what THEIR settings were but NO GO!!!!!

[JerryDelColliano]

I agree that people think "plasma" when they mean "flat HDTV"

Plasma has become a generic term and may stay that way for a while.

j