Are Plasma TV's On Their Way Out?

[m_a_simons]

Yeah I was shocked when I heard this on cnbc, then checked the net a bit, which narrowed it to below 50 inchers, which followed what I was told at CES.
So really this should be old news.

After seeing their concept plasmas for later on down the road, would find it hard to beleive they would be getting out of it.

[deacongreg]

Yeah Andrew I agree with you. 103 is pricey. But if you can do that, why not go for it all and get a projector!!

Back to your thread question, I believe people believe that anything they see that is flat mounted on a wall, or stand on furniture, is a Plasma.

[rex]

Nevertheless, the following statements from the CNBC article are significant:
"While it initially targeted sales of 720,000 units for the year ending March 31, it recently downgraded its sales projection to 480,000 units. The plasma TV operations are expected to incur an operating loss of more than 10 billion yen this fiscal year, leading to the major overhaul, the Nikkei said."
Even though manufacturers already expected LCD's to displace plasma market share, their forecasts were way off. Though LCD's have steadily gotten larger, they still aren't as price competitive in the larger sizes, which is where the demand for plasma remains. Even if LCD's continue to become larger and cheaper, I expect there will always remain a plasma market (though perhaps small) among true videophiles, at least until a superior technology comes along. Smaller-scale production and smaller market share may also mean slower price declines.

[m_a_simons]

Well gee, maybe it is true.

Pioneer to exit PDP manufacturing
http://www.digitaltvdesignline.com/s...leID=206901664

At least you'd think they would have had a press release to refute it by now.
Think I'd wait for a 50" OLED before I'd go with a LCD.
But maybe there will be some nice price drops on Kuro's.

[deacongreg]

Change is definitely constant. Especially in this industry.

[TheMoose]

Originally Posted by m_a_simons

Well gee, maybe it is true.

Pioneer to exit PDP manufacturing
http://www.digitaltvdesignline.com/s...leID=206901664

At least you'd think they would have had a press release to refute it by now.
Think I'd wait for a 50" OLED before I'd go with a LCD.
But maybe there will be some nice price drops on Kuro's.

It's not official yet!

The current press coverage was not released by Pioneer so it may be misleading and contains many inaccuracies.

The statement continues:

Pioneer reviews its display business strategy every year looking to maximize profitability and efficiency. At this time, the Company is not announcing any decisions with regards to manufacturing of any single component of its plasma displays. We will announce Pioneer's display strategy in detail at the information meeting in Japan to be held on March 7th and via press release to the rest of the world later that day.

I guess we'll find out for sure tomorrow!