A flat-panel TV price war coming later this year?

You may want to wait a few months before buying that new jumbo-sized flat-panel TV. Reuters reports that while prices for smaller TVs are probably going to go up later this year, that Sony, LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Pioneer, and other manufacturers are getting ready for a price war and are expected to drop prices on LCD and plasma TVs that are larger than 40-inches in size in order to grab more market share. We can't wait.

[Jazzay @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

YES! I can afford an HDTV! ive been wanting a good TV, but i never needed an HDTV, and didnt want to pay for the high res, cant get anything but HD or ED on a plasma, which i dont like those halflifes, when x360 and ps3 come out ill need a full res TV, cant wait either!

[John Ross @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

This is good news. Please build more big plasma/lcd factories for even better prices.

[Ian @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Plasma.... no thanks. Hopefully the price war won't only be seen on this old technology. It's LCD which I'm interested in.

[Junkmail @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

I've been looking forward to buying a LCD television for a year now and it really seems there's *absolutely* never the right time to get one.

If you bought a 32" LCD at the end of last year for 2400�, you could get about 1000� if you sold them now - that's 1400� price drop for you, in seven months time.

On the other hand, now that that new 32" LCD can be bought for 1200�, you'll pretty safe in that your investment won't drop more than 1200�.

[Monmin @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Ian, minor nit, plasma is much newer than LCD. LCD has been around forever.

[James @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Well while you wait for the price to drop a few �, I will be enjoying my fantastic new 42 incher. :D

[MajorDomo @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

So what's better? LCD or plasma?

[SK @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Monmin, Plasma is older than LCD. Maybe you can remeber those orange glowing letters on flat panel computer monitors 2 decades ago.
LCD is the way to go right know. High resolutions showing 1920x1080 pixel for HDTV is not possible with plasma.

[GunForHire @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Hopefully this means good HDTV's will become reasonably priced here in the UK before too long. I want a nice 42" LCD to hook my X360 up to.

[Permanent4 @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Whatever. I'm still waiting for the OLED displays.

[tvproducer @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

I just saw a beautiful new 37" Panasonic HDTV plasma at Best Buy yesterday for $2849...a good sign that prices are coming down.

[dhi @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

I just bought a 50" LCD HDTV from Fortress, a chain store in Hong Kong, for $HKD7999 - that's around $1000 USD.

Looks pretty damn good, PAL & NTSC, with DVI, VGA, S-Video, Component and Composite input.. etc... only missing NICAM - but otherwise pretty good... and not a single dead pixel.

It's a Rogers unit - an old British brand bought by a Hong Kong company in the early 1990s - so it is a good guess that the TV is made in China.

For a second TV this is perfect for my clients.... and the price is the best I've seen for the 50" LCD. If I wasn't so honest I'd be charging them $HKD20,000 for it! That's what a 50" went for 3 months ago.

I think that price war is coming to the US sooner rather than later.

[dhi @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Damn - that's 30" - typo - sorry...

[Andy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

I don't like plasmas' or LCDs' pictures compared to a CRT (black levels!), but if they were actually able to drop a 42" flat panel somewhere in the range of the mid to lower 1000 dollar level range, I'd probably bite just for the size convenience. However, it would also have to do real high definition and sport 1080i. It probably won't happen.

I hope CRT rear projections drop as well... those TVs have come a LONG ways, it'd be awesome to nab one for under a grand.

[Steve @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

A good LCD looks way better than any CRT. Eventually CRT's will go the way of the DoDo.

[JkEw @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

I hope the Pioneer elite plasmas come down in price :-)

[Monmin @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Just to set the record straight:

The first operational LCD was based on the Dynamic Scattering Mode (DSM) and was introduced in 1968 by a group at RCA headed by George Heilmeier.

No way is plasma older than LCD.

Also, its my opinion that black levels and color is far more important to picture quality than resolution. Once LCD can get a picture that looks as good as plasma then I might go for the higer resolution. Right now, I just don't like the looks of LCD. Watch a dark movie in a dimly lit room and you will see what I mean.

[RR @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

No way would I spend my money on a plasma if you can get a 37" LCD HDTV 1920x1080 for under $2000. I have two friends that bought a plasma from Pioneer and just after 2 years all colors look washed out and even worse certain spots have different shades. In my opinion the latest generation of LCDs offer a much better value even if the black is not 100% dark but at least you'll get true 1080i.

[Carl @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

OK,, time to define "Better"

Plasmas supposedly have a little bit better picture WHEN YOU BUY THEM, but as someone just posted; within 2 years your 2grand Plasma tv is now a 2grand giant peice of nonfunctional Tech-Art... (thats read u-s-e-l-e-s-s)

LCDs are nearly as good and dont die after a few years

[Monmin @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Come on now. Plasmas don't die after a few years. New plasmas have 60k hour half lives. Let me break it down for you. If you were to watch tv for 8 hours a day every day it would take more than 20 years to hit the half life.

Your friends tv that shows problems after 2 years is not normal.

[Andy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

18 is correct. I don't really like plasmas too much, and it is true that they burn out, but it is a common misconception that they go out that quickly.

And as 15 said, if you are gonna drop cash on these, you need to be comfortable with the fact that anything black on your screen is probably just going to look like a dark grey. If anyone has watched any sci-fi movies with space in the background on a laptop monitor, then you'll know what we're talking about. Stay away from cheap LCDs like the plague if this bothers you.

Supposedly, OLEDs will either address this or help to address it.

Ironically, the best picture that you can get is also the cheapest technology; rear-project CRT (rear-projection because there are no discernible pixels). If any of you are in the market for a large TV, check out Toshiba's cinema series or Hitachi's Ultravisions (the larger ones even do 1080p). They're only about 22" deep.

[ignosio @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

PC Connection is taking preorders for the 3G Technology OP-42TN2 42" Widescreen Plasma Television for $1,399.88, with free shipping. At 1024x768, I'd call that a bargain. Anyone had any experence with this brand?

[GTgadget @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

"Get your war on."

I for one welcome the large screen LCD overlords. Affordable high def LCDs in late '06. Oh yeah.

[Jazzay @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

when plasma starting picking up they were very expensive and did only last about 2 years, technology has improved now

[jdcbomb @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

#19 is correct.

with the current market...if you are seeking a screen larger than 37 inches it is a better value going with a plasma display

(although i suspect that LCD flat panel prices will soon be extremely competitive in the next couple months if this article proves to be accurate).

[dawggpie @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

A couple companies (Sony, Samsung) are releasing very high end LCD units that use LEDs for backlighting instead of the normal flourescent lighting. This allows the TV to dim the LEDs in dark scenes and create much better black levels. Once this technology comes down in price I don't think plasmas will have any advantage over LCD. After viewing my friend's 45" Aquos I do find the lacking black levels a little annoying, but overall the picture looks sharper, smoother and more vivid than plasmas that I've seen. Tough call.

[Johnny Astro @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Maybe the price war is in responce to the thin CRT's finally coming out. Here is a story about them...

http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000180020920/

[Ear @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

#16 "The first operational LCD was based on the Dynamic Scattering Mode (DSM) and was introduced in 1968..."

Let's set the record straighter...

The very first prototype for a plasma display monitor was invented in July 1964 at the University of Illinois by professors Donald Bitzer and Gene Slottow, and then graduate student Robert Willson.

[Jeff @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

CRT's are still really the way to go, IMO. They're not perfect, but then no HD technology is (yet). They've all got their issues. The one thing CRT has going for it over all the others? Price.

I just bought a 26" widescreen Samsung CRT to tide me over until the coming price wars really shake everything out. I paid $560 and I can do native 1080i, with 720p upconverted to that. Bought a cheap Radio Shack antenna yesterday and boom, I have HDTV. Picture quality is completely amazing - way better than anything I have seen in a store (you can't judge any TV in a store, but it really is even better than I was expecting).

I consider this a temporary set, until you can get a real high-def (at least true 720p) plasma or LCD in the 46" range for around $1,000, at which time this will probably become my bedroom TV. It'll happen eventually, and maybe faster than you think. But until then, I really think CRT's like the one I got are the way to go - cheap, amazing picture quality, with the only downside really being bulk.

[Earl @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

Re: LCD/Plasma vs. CRT - There is one very practical issue that can give the flat screen choices the edge, and that's simply that they're flat. I was trying to find a CRT shallow enough to fit on a dresser to replace a 27" TV that was 19" deep. Although I didn't want to go down a notch to 20" I considered it, but even those are 18 - 20" deep. (Per model, no difference than their 27" counterparts.) It pretty much demanded a move to either LCD or Plasma.

[Mike in Philly @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

I get a real kick out of the comments about CRT being obsolete....DUH...they still show the best picture quality as judged by many engineers and everyday folks, including myself...LCD is improving and an exciting technology, however if you want a real "blacK" area on your screen, nothing beats CRT, that is a technical fact...and you can also see the difference...that is just one area where CRT is still KING. The general public is going to be "wowed" by the small size of the plasma and lcd units, there is no question or debate about that---LOL....but the general public really doesn't care much about the best quality, especially if the other stuff is "good" enough...

[jeff @ Dec 19th 2005 12:16AM]

#31 and speaking for the general public i think CRT are better then any plasma or LCD another thing is plasma tvs do lose there colors and if you do play XBOX360 or playstation 3 dont leave the game on pause for long on a plasma cuz the image gets burned into them and doesnt come out haahahaha and LCD is much better but untill LCD prices drop im still going for the CRT cant beat that price