Plasma Coalition continues to invest in technology
Although the dominance of LCD's in the direct-view market seems unstoppable and RPTV's lead in price-to-size value, plasma displays definitely still have something to offer. We expect to see PDPs move into the high-performance, "image quality above all else" niche, especially in sizes larger than 50-inches. For its part, the Plasma Coalition (who knew they had a coalition?), comprised of Hitachi, LG, Panasonic and Pioneer, is touting continued confidence and investment in the technology. Up until now, the big push has been to get PDPs up to 1080p "Full HD" spec in order to compete with LCDs. Looking forward, expect to see further incremental improvements in the technology, like the more efficient light production we've heard about earlier. For our money, a quality PDP is still the display of choice for just the reasons the Plasma Coalition calls out: color, contrast, viewing angle and motion resolution.
