What does plasma's future hold?
By Matt Burns 
posted August 15th 2007 10:26AM
posted August 15th 2007 10:26AM
Remember back at the turn of century when the bubble was bulging and flat panels were something found only on Cribs. This was back when plasmas had a bad rap due to rumors were flying around about refilling the gases and HAZMAT accidents, but still, everyone wanted one - except their five digit price tag. Times sure have changed and now the future of plasmas is questionable. Every manufacturer, except Matsushita (Panasonic), is scaling back production due to the increase in demand for plasma's arch-rival, LCD. This is according to iSuppli who also states that Matsushita might not be cutting back since they have more at stake in the PDP market than others. So far, Matsushita has the biggest plasma market share and they should, they spend the most on the technology. Their fifth facility opens up this year with the construction tally reaching $2.4 billion. We just wonder if there is room in the flat panel world for both plasma and LCD. One thing is for sure though, as long as consumers shop for the best picture, the future of plasma should stay bright.
that 103-incha plasma of theirs is my dream and goal in this life and I hope they don't cease production of it anytime soon... I plan to get one a few months after I get married next year :D
You're right about picture quality. When I was shopping for HDTVs back in October I was set on LCD until I actually went to the store and saw a Samsung plasma right next to its Samsung LCD sibling. There was really no comparison. The picture on the plasma was just so much better. The quality of the colors, performance in dark and bright environments, etc. And, it was a bit less expensive. My only regret about my on-the-spot switch from an LCD I had researched to a plasma I had not is that the plasma is 1024x768, so hooking up my Mac to it is pretty useless. Using xorg and forcing 1366x768 over VGA actually looks really good though.
Example: http://linked.mroach.com/flaps_2.jpg
No doubt about it. Plasma has the best picture quality between it and LCD. Burn in issues? Pretty much gone. Anyone who researches their products carefully will know that plasma is the way to go.
It's sad, but baseless rumors kill plasmas more than anything. I sell TVs, and people come in unwilling to even talk about plasmas. Sometimes its due to glare issues, but 90% of the time its nonsense like "Burn-in" or "recharging". People actually think an hour of CNN's ticker will kill their $2,000 TV.
My favorite is the people who buy a DLP because they think they have to "recharge" plasmas every 5 years. Hope they can get that lamp replacement quickly enough...
While I like LCDs a lot, I hope that Panasonic carves out a great niche market for Plasmas. Their quality of picture is tough to beat (except maybe by Pioneer's plasmas), and that new glare-proof glass is very nice.
I just don't understand the big hoo ha over lcd. We have been shopping both as we are about to purchase a 63 Samsung 1080p plasma. The picture quality is by far better than the lcd. The only one that came close is the new sharp 65" and at 10,000 clams....it will stay on the store shelf.
OMG....Randy?!?! Poteau Randy???? WTF is that you!??!?!?!
I have a plasma (EDTV, actually), an LCD, and a DLP in my house. I think the plasma has a fantastic picture, and it's nearly 4 years old now. The bulb on the DLP just burned out after just a couple years, now I need to spend over $150 on a new bulb. I wouldn't hesitate to get another plasma, if I needed another HDTV.
In my experience, not all the knocks against plasma are baseless. I have seen burn-in first hand, and also know of an inexpensive set that started to emit a very loud squeal not long after they went out of warranty. I think the problems with PDPs at high altitude were also very real, though I believe theyve mostly been corrected now.
I just bought a new Toshiba 42 1080p for $1500, Vista MC looks great at 1920x1080 1:1 native on it. I dont think I could achive the same with a PDP at any cost.
in our store we had one of the 65-inch Marantz(if I remember correctly) which were the new 103-inchers of four years ago. The boss left the pearl harbor DVD on menu all night... when we came back next morning, you could unplug the plasma from the electric source, and the image of the menu would still be seen, mostly, without power!!
it was amazing and it also was really hard for us to loose a $25,000 plasma, but it was back to normal in no time, sooooo, I think those issues must be resolved by now, if it wasn't such a problem 4 years ago.
Calification: the Toshiba I just bought is an LCD (42HL167, $1499 @ CC)
LCD is catching up and the big difference between plasma and LCD in picture quality has mainly been down to contrast ratios and backlight issues (i.e. washing out blacks). Many people comparing plasma and LCD in stores are often looking at LCDs that are a generation or two behind the new models.
Once LCDs get backlighting that's akin to the way plasmas light individual pixel/cells (thus eliminating the black level issues) then there's really no need for plasma especially when LCD is so much cheaper to produce.
Negative point with plasma for me though is 1080p is either non-existent or too expensive, they're too heavy, and I've yet to see one where the image is as pin sharp as an LCD (but yeah I've probably not seen one set up right, etc).
plasmas tend to suck in bright rooms and burn a lot more juice too, for those people that don't like their already large utility bills.
My panny plasma is fantastic, in a bright room it looks better than LCD hands down. I have never had an issue with not being able to see it, or having a washed out image. The sony LCD downstairs on the otherhand, gets washed out more than Lisa Lampanelli's p****. I would love for someone to show me a LCD that even closely compares to a Pioneer Elite...
Have a look at G8 1080p Pinoneer plasmas. Without question better quality than LCD but it costs.
All this talk about scaling back on Plasma production is because they can not compete on price with LCDs and for the average consumer LCD is "flat enough".
So many of them connect their Composite video to their LCD anyways and would not notice the difference in PQ in a plasma.
I could probably wrap my head around the fact that burn-in is over-hyped even in the age of TiVo pausing for minutes on end. However, in the >50" 1080p plasma market, the selections is meager and the prices are often the same or higher than comparably spec'd LCDs. A few of the only options that currently come to mind are the Panny TH-58PZ700U 58" and Samsung FPT6374 63".
Pioneer Elites are nice but you could buy a decent LCD every other year several times for the same cost. We all now the difference in quality (and features) of displays now and a year ago much less 2 years ago. The glass on plasmas used to really suck in bright rooms giving a bad glare. I haven't seen newer ones so maybe they have improved.
Enjoy your run plasma, cause in 1 month when the smasungs 81 series lcd rolls out and other brands follow later, its all over. Thats because the new lcd backlighting, trumps the plasmas quality. Only thing plasma still has going for it is price (cheaper). But that will change soon enough too.
personally I would buy a plasma, but i cant because of burn in. Claim all you want, but im a gamer, and when i accidently leave a console on for 8 hours and come back (yes this has happened to me before) or fall asleep while playing games, I dont want to see my purchase ruined
I'm sorry we could have this argument all day, You all can keep your LCD's because its just no comparison with contrast ratio and true colors. Plasma's just have richer, deeper, true-er color. Black levels are better represented as what they should be...black, not charcoal or a midnight shade of black, but black. Correct black levels will make all other colors more rich and vibrant, deep crimson reds and royal blues. Its just no comparison. Granted LCD has its upsides, but from purely an HD picture standpoint, plasma is superior. Which is sad because daily people are getting duped into buying more expensive LCD's which I believe are about 2-3 years away from actually producing the same quality picture as a high end Plasma.
Professional opinion:
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-10166_7-6677890-1.html
And that's why I bought a JVC UltaTHIN 58" HD-ILA. Better picture then Plasma or LCD, No burn-in issues with LCoS technology, 130 degree horizontal viewing angle, under 11" deep, cheaper then plasma or LCD in the 58"ish size, and no gigantic bezel around the screen.
LCD is getting there, but it's certainly not there yet.
If you can live with 10.6" inches deep instead of 6" deep, then HD-ILA is definitely a hard to beat choice.