any new news on LCDs, DLPs, Plasmas, etc?

[Eric Z]

do you guys think all of these different types of tvs will stick around for the long haul? i've heard rumors (not sure where) that plasmas were on their way out. is that true? it looks like the prices have dropped a decent amount; not sure what that means- technology is now more affordable or they are trying to be more competive or both or neither?

i know there is a lot of preference because of life of the tv, picture quality, etc. any front runners in your eyes?

when i make my bi-weekly trip to my audio/video shop, i really think the pictures look great on all the hdtvs.

thanks.
ez

[edtyct]

Five years ago, plasma was considered the be-all and end-all of modern displays. The idea was that when CRT eventually went the way of all analog technologies, everyone would own a plasma. However, a strange thing happened: A bunch of competing formats brought plasma down to earth. The general population may still perceive plasma as the holy of holies, but plasma is no longer the sine qua non among enthusiasts and cognoscenti. At this point, if any one display has inherited the mantle for high performance, it is LCoS in its various guises, though its potential still outstrips its reality. Nonetheless, flat screens continue to hold the public's imagination, and they may yet take over that world, in guises that we haven't necessarily seen yet, possibly rendering rear projection obsolete, regardless of performance issues. This conjecture is by no means intended to imply that current flat screens are unworthy or incapable of evolving. They keep getting better all the time.

[elapsed]

I see a future of LCD, OLED and to a lesser extent plasma. What to do with LCoS and DLP? They will still be in projectors. SED is unlikely to have any relevance after it is released. :)

[daviethek]

i know there is a lot of preference because of life of the tv, picture quality, etc. any front runners in your eyes?

when i make my bi-weekly trip to my audio/video shop, i really think the pictures look great on all the hdtvs.
]

Not me. I recon about every 12 weeks and to me the Panasonic and Pioneer plasma displays still rule the roost. Maybe just me or maybe the displays are not optimized in the stores. I did have chance to check out the Westinghouse units on recommendation from this site as being a top notch budget HDTV LCD and I agree with that for sure.

[wayner86]

SED is unlikely to have any relevance after it is released.

Can you explain this further?

How can you make assessments on a technology that has yet to be released?

Wayne

[elapsed]

Hi Wayne - Toshiba quality control has spun out of control over the past 18 months for televisions. They now outsource all CRT, LCD and Plasma to Orion (Sansui) in Thailand, and there have been huge recalls of their DLP's due to malfunctionning color wheels. FutureShop and Best Buy in Canada are pulling all Toshiba DLP's from their shelves as 1 in 3 were being returned.

SED has been delayed time and time again for the past few years. And when it does eventually get released I would expect prices to be well over $10,000.

I wouldn't count on Toshiba to deliver on SED. And if they do deliver, its likely to become irrelevant as customers will no longer have faith in Toshiba due to poor product experience, not to mention the enourmous cost.

That's my $0.02.. :)

[wayner86]

That really is too bad, from what i've read about SED made it seem like it would be a very promising technology, i was really interested to see how it was going to turn out, now perhaps we won't have the luxury of another technology to choose from. Hopefully Toshiba smartens up a little and gets the ball rolling. Thanks for the Info elapsed.

Wayne

[AVMASTER]

Elapsed;
i seem to recall SED development was/is a joint venture with Canon? If i'm correct what's the word on thier continued efforts, if any?

[edtyct]

Hi AVMASTER,

It is indeed a joint effort with Canon. They put a few prototypes on display again for the industry and announced a rollout at the end of 2007. I'll believe it when I see it, but I can never seem to muster the confidence that elapsed shows with prognostications and superlatives. I'll predict, just to make it interesting, that SED gets a little attention when it shows up. The quality-control snafu evades me. Hope all is well.

Ed