LCD sales holding strong, plasma sales sinking lower

Even though Matsushita joined forces with Hitachi to take on the less-than-favorable plasma market, things (still) aren't looking good in terms of sales figures. According to recent reports, PDP makers on the whole "are likely to report weak results, having lost dominance of the market for large TVs to the more popular LCD." Additionally, Samsung already posted a "worse-than-expected quarterly net loss, hurt by tumbling prices of its television screens." On the flip side, LCD producers are more likely to be holding their heads high, as sales of these sets has continued to be strong regardless of how far the prices are falling. If you're scratching your head because you thought that people preferred plasmas over LCDs, we can only assume that regardless of predilection, money talks.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 24th 2007 11:35PM]

Hell, I'd prefer an Aston Martin to a Hyundai... but only one of them is in my price range, and that's the problem.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 25th 2007 3:56AM]

People (geeks, monday morning quarterbacks with huge honkin' SUVs) like to spout numbers like screen resolution. Unfortunately, it's tough to quantify picture quality. So they get an lcd... they can say it's 1080p.

A lot of people I know buy an lcd because it is flat and cheap. Which somehow means to them state of the art. It's really all about the bling factor. Who cares if the pq is crap, it's hanging on the wall!

That, coupled with the inherent absurd confusion of HDTV (I'm pretty knowledgeable, and I still get confused), and it's easy to see why LCD is winning.

Personally, I'd really like to get a plasma. But I need a 56" or bigger... so it probably won't happen. And plasmas suck energy like there's no tomorrow... not too happy with the idea of paying an extra 20/month in electricity.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 25th 2007 9:49AM]

I think that a plasma screen has a better picture in the ideal conditions, but how many people have a home theater that blocks out all light? My living room has a lot of windows, so LCD made sense because of the matte screen.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 25th 2007 1:37PM]

It really boils down to size. With an anticipated 50 million HD displays in homes by the end of 2008 it can be assumed that the majority will be for home theater use. To me this means 50+ and in this area LCD is not only lacking in quantity but also remains very costly for the majority. Right now 52" seems to be the limit and many will desire something bigger. Even though Vizio will be offering a 52" for $2K street price there is a huge market for the 55"+ and plasmas are the only game in town for flat panels.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 25th 2007 11:51PM]

This is proof positive that consumers don't buy based on what they see, but what they read. LCD is touted online and in magazines as the latest and greatest in video display technology. There was a study written about on this site where people overwhelmingly chose the picture quality of plasma over LCD when side by side.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 28th 2007 6:12PM]

if you need some data backing up this - look at the 42" level price trend comparison between LCDs and Plasmas