Are Plasma HDTVs On Their Way Out the Door?

[tc4all]

I have not seen all, but installers I know say the plasmas are still far better. I am told it is like solid state vs tube in audio. Most people like tube when they hear good tube equipment because it has a more real aspect to it. As for me, I have seen a lot of various flat panel LCDs as have most people. Some are better then others but almost all need calibrating, in at least a minor way, to look their best. I can say this, I recently was looking at a 50" or so flat panel in a friend's house and marveling at how good it looked. I "got it" and turned to the owner and said, "It is a plasma, isn't it?" It was a Runco plasma. The picture put all other sets I had seen to shame. Now I have seen a lot of Runco LCDs and never saw any artifact or motion problems in them and really liked the pictures, especially on a new 50 some odd inch one I saw just a few days ago, but the Runco plasma is a good arguement for plasma's not going away.

[rex]

Originally Posted by Kevin Miller

Hi All,

Let's face it Plasma isn't going away anytime soon. Panasonic's new 800 and 850 series sets are awesome, and nipping at the heals of the Pioneer Kuros in PQ for much less money.

I have heard that the new Panny's 1080/24p mode (which is actually 48 Hz unlike the Pioneer's 72Hz) is unwatchably jerky. Too bad.
Still, Sony's new locally dimmable triluminos XBR8 series of LCDs may finally signal the demise of plasmas.

[JerryDelColliano]

I was just at a Panasonic press event in LA on Wends that showed their REALLY bitchen 50 inch plasmas complete with Viera-cast Internet functionality. While not wireless, it allows you the depression of watching your stocks go down every day from Bloomberg. Or you can see your photoslide shows from an online provider.

BTW: the image was IMPRESSIVE! On Cars, the set looked very good.

The Panasonic plasmas also had quite a few preset calibration modes that could help the average user get more from the set without an ISF guy coming out. I HIGHLY recommend and ISF calibration for EVERYONE with an HDTV but this is a nice fix in the short term.

I don't think Plasma is dead.

[deacongreg]

Certainly the future is bright in this marketplace, until we see down the road what OLED will do. But Plasmas have been embraced by both the videophile, and general consumers as well. I don`t see them moving out that fast.

[Robinson_A]

While I agree that Plasma isn't dead yet, I don't believe it will be with us in the near future. Pioneer's Kuro line was brilliant (and can now be had for CHEAP) and there are some manufacturers still pushing plasma but I think the future is in LCD, LED and OLED. One product that does puzzle me a bit but looks great for the money is Vizio's new 36-inch and smaller plasma line. They've killed their 60-inch giant and gone small with their plasma offerings but the price points they're able to hit are once again astounding. Is plasma's future in smaller sets? Is plasma to become the new CRT of the flat panel marketplace?