LG considering withdrawal from plasma market
By Darren Murph 
posted Feb 26th 2009 12:58PM
posted Feb 26th 2009 12:58PM
[Via Whirlpool, thanks Stas]
posted Feb 26th 2009 12:58PM
The percentage of returned gadgets that have nothing wrong with them.
Of the $13.8 billion worth of returned products in 2007, only 5 percent were because gadgets were actually broken, according to a 2008 study.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
Dont forget Samsung as a plasma maker still committed to the technology.
Nope, sorry. Sammy does not manufacture PDP. Nor did Pioneer, in the end. Pretty sure that as LG goes, so does Samsung. Though, they may use Panny displays.
Yes, Pioneer does manufacturer their own plasma panels, don't know who told you otherwise. It is a shame that the industry has caved to LCD's based on years of misinformation about plasma. Superior quality is losing out.
Sammy does manufacture their own glass for plasma displays, as did Pioneer. They were going to outsource that job to Panasonic for 2009 but decided to get out of the TV business altogether.
http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/plasmatvreviews/whomakeswhat.html
Not a big loss really... Quality-wise.
yeah right, man. if you know and care about plasma as a tech, this is a huge kick in the pants. yeah LG had some pretty standard panels, but they also had 1 of the only 3 THX certified plasmas from last year (PG60). not to mention, LG is a huge manufacturer (#2 in TVs worldwide, if Im not mistaken) and them pulling out of plasma is not good at all...
I have a plasma LG and I love it, I'd be sad to see them go
As I just commented on the "death of Plasma" post:
Funny how when Ryan Block predicted this very state of affairs at the beginning of January, everybody jumped all over him, saying he was out of his mind. Now, it turns out he was spot on.
Good thing he is still a consultant for Engadget, I would listen to him when he starts viewing "around the corner".
This announcement will be burned into my mind!
There are only 2 companies that I care about when it comes to Plasma, Pioneer and Panasonic. What the rest do, honestly I couldn't care less. As long as Panny still makes a complete line of high end and value plasmas, I'm happy.
Yep aslong as Panasonic Continues to make them Im happy, no offense but LG really made some poor quality plasma's.
Maybe its just me, but I have never seen a LCD have a better picture , even at the same price point then a Plasma.
In this case I´m so happy to have managed to score my 60" Pioneer kuro plasma before it will go the way of the the dodo.
Before this I had a 50" LG plasma and it was a truly excellent monitor surely the best value for price available on european markets 3 years ago.
I was so sorry to sell it when I bought my Pioneer that still now I have a special fondness for LG plasmas ,and recently I spotted an LG 60" plasma for slightly more than 1500 euros so if LG will really stop making them I would be very tempted to bring it home and set up a second internet/entertrainement/media center in my house, because it seems that soon it will be next to impossible to buy a monitor bigger than 50" inches at a decent price anywhere
What is it with all those LCD freaks.....I do not understand why it is such a big issue that LG stops making Plasma - They did ever made a good Plasma? Did the Korean ever make a good car?
This shows WHY Panasonic is the nr. 1 leading technology manufactore in the world. And they do not only know how to make Plasma. There Bly-Ray, HDD recorderes and Cameras are amog the best in the world (Network anybody, SD anybody) Today I can take my SD card from my FULL HD camera and insert directly into my 58" Panasonic Plasma screen (thank god I still have the chance to buy Plasma) and it plays AVCHD directly from the SD slot....Sony made Memory stick...say what ?? LG dont know how to make a proper camera, and Samsung dont either....Panasonic Japan...I admire you so much, and I have also done that. Never had problems with any of their products ! Thanks panny..
LAST BUT NOT LEAST:
- When people buy a LCD TV, they buy a technologi developed around 1906 from Static images like watches, calculators etc. When they buy Plasma, the technology is about 60 years younger. (It was developed for the OL games in Nagano for fast moving realtime broadcast images)
Why all this LCD hype ?
/Jacob
Please do not low rank without reading....
Why I bought an LCD over Plasma television. About 5 months ago, my samsung rear projection finally bit the dust and since I had a 6 year service plan I was able to get a replacement or pay a bit more for a bigger better replacement.
I could have easily picked the 50a550 plasma over the 52a630 LCD which I ultimately ended up buying. I know all about the pros and cons of each. However, first off, my living room has tons of light. Be it from the windows or the lighting its just too much and the glare from the plasma would have killed it. I bought the 630 model because it has a semi-matte screen which doesn't glare.
Second, although permanent burn-in is misunderstood, I feel that plasma owners are exactly truthful themselves when they say its all but gone. My cousin owns a 50" panasonic not even 1 and a half years old and had hooked up a computer to it. Now he had the settings set to somewhat dynamic so he could have more "pop". Most knowledgeable plasma buyers will calibrate to 6500K settings but the average consumer doesn't. Suffice to say, after about 7 months, even with all the pixel-shifting, and anti-burn in technologies the set had. A faint image of the windows vista buttons on the ground were visible. As was the logo of a specialty satellite channel that used too bright a color.
It's not temporary its permanent. He hasn't changed his viewing habits and due to the image-shifting or whatever, its gone to a sort of visible garbled logo in the corner. I have my computer hooked up and use it for hours on end and would like to avoid this.
Also, I have my couch and chairs set in a way that most anyone who sits in the room is only off by about 40 degrees and the picture is fine. The 120 hz technology also helps a bit.
Now im not speaking for anyone and everyones circumstances are different, but for me LCD was the way to
That sounds like abuse to me. Screensavers were invented for a reason. Any technology is suceptible to burn in. Open up your samsung LCD manual they state in there not to leave an image on there lcds for more than 2 hours. Go to any airport, all of the lcds are burned in. Also, plasmas may have some glare (nowhere near the amount of tube or high-end super clear led/lcds) but lcds wash out in heavy lighted rooms...I have pictures! People are all gung go about oled too and I promise all of those screens will be glossy.
Circumstances... light is too much in my room, and since I sit dead center, it would be really frustrating having windows and lighting showing through. I agree that my cousins situation is one of the more extreme ones, but I have used my bedroom 32" LCD non-stop as a computer monitor and gaming system for countless hours and never had any image retention. Not even temporary.
Although its written in the manual they are susceptible to burn-in, there are a million other things that they also warn against. Such as cold temperatures, etc...
Please dont get me wrong, I love Plasma. Its a great technology. But most people who buy LCD's buy more because they've been using computer monitor LCD's, smaller 26-37" LCD's for their room and see no reason to dump the technology.
I'm definitely going to have to pick up one of the THX Certified Panasonic Plasmas this year. I've got a crappy Westinghouse LCD I just can't stand anymore.
hurry up and drop dead plasma,..i predicted you'd lose. i also predicted blu ray's win,..i need to start betting on these things!
Lose? How do you lose? This isn't the same as the format war jackass. The same companies are making the LCD's and the Plasma's... explain to me how one loses?
Cmon engadget pioneer is big news. Vizio makes crappy tvs and lg had about 1% of the plasma market. That's like saying dynex calls it quits
Actually the last Plasma Vizio made (VP505XVT) was one of the best plasma's on the market. It rivaled the Kuro and Panny's. It acomplished this by using Panny Glass and HQV Video Processing...
http://ultimateavmag.com/flatpaneldisplays/vizio_vp505xvt_plasma_tv/
http://reviews.cnet.com/flat-panel-tvs/vizio-vp505xvt/4505-6482_7-33248748.html
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2339097,00.asp
Hitachi is out of Canada and Australia. I suspect they may not be in the US for much longer either. Pionneer definitly made a great set, however they never offered a value branded piece everything was high end to very high end. This I fear was their demise, those pieces are great but they aren't the ones that sell in volume.
LG leaving the technology wouldn't surprise me. Samsung I think will stick around a little longer because of their deep pockets and simply to get a piece of whatever pie is left. I'm sure the pionneer and Vizio announcements had Pana shaking in their boots.
I wouldn't be surprised if we finally see some big lcd panels at cedia this year from Pana.
Plasma is a great technology but the stigma that follows it ie.: reliability,power consumption burn in and glare have ultimately been its demise.
Sony and Toshiba were the smart ones to get out of it when they did and focus on LCD
It is but natural.. with the impending growth of AMOLED displays, superior than plasmas in quality, cheaper to the consumer in the long run with reduced popwer consumption, the death of plasma..and eventually LCDs is inevitable! I hope all major T manufacturers just drops out all their R&D for these obsolete technologies and just concentrate it all on OLED displays so all of us can bath in its visual glory as soon as humanly possible.
quobetah,
AMOLED displays are very cool however the problem is the cost to manufacture and the reliability has not been very good. Panel yields are poor and the arrival of thin LCD panels will make it hard for OLED to show an Advantage over LCD. Biggest sizes available are 40 inch so far and the cost is astronomical. Not to mention OLED panel life is only 20 to 30 thousand hours.
Samsung was showcasing OLED at CES front and center of their booth, however the monday after CES they announced that they were halting all production of OLED large size consumer panels. This was do to costs and reliability. As cool as OLED is I don't think it will fly
Plasma is dead, period !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That kinda blows to be honest. Uninformed consumes are always gung-ho about LCD because of what they hear from other people, and they look better in the stores. They don't realize plasma's handle blacks, brights and motion much better than LCD's. I hope there's still someone making plasmas by time i grab my next set because unless i want to spring for a 120 MHZ i wont be buying an LCD.
I think their is a bigger story that most are missing.
As a consumer who loves tvs, im pissed, Kuro gone, LG gone, everyone else dropping plasmas, i think samsung will follow... which I think means that though its different than blu vs hd, its almost the same. tv manufactors are thinking lets go one way and try to make the best tv.. more bought lcd and so they went that way.
I think all tv companies want to put all their eggs in one basket, and put it in the basket that sells the most. LCD.
Which I think sucks. But I don't own a tv company.
I just notcied my spelling error, but I think its pretty funny... manufactors makes for a good word.