PIONEER cutting plasma models

[pixelthis]

Just heard over the news (CNBC) that Pioneer is cutting out some of its plasma models, amid slumping sales.
I beleive that is all they sell, one I heard was the 42" model
Not that it matters in the long run since plasma is, well...
you know

[Duds]

Correct. they cut out their 768p models.

they just came out with new 1080p models.

[Woochifer]

Old news, since Pioneer had indicated months ago that their new plasma lineup would be all 1080p and all 50" and above. That new lineup is now arriving in stores, and they long ago indicated that they'd stop making 42" 720p models after the current models' production run. Makes no sense for them to continue selling 720p 42" models for around $1,900, if Panasonic has already come out with 42" 1080p plasmas selling for less than $1,400.

[Rich-n-Texas]

Gee pix... seems you wasted your time with this thread, huh?

[pixelthis]

Gee pix... seems you wasted your time with this thread, huh?

not really.
My brother bought a Samsung 720p plasma for 900 bucks.
SALES ARE SLUMPING AT PIONEER , which I beleive only has plasma.
As more and more people have problems with this finiky type of
display, I beleive that will will leave Pioneer in a pickle as more and more switch to LCD.
Which they are doing.
Plasma has become the "cheap" form factor, which is important.
More want LCD

[Woochifer]

not really.
My brother bought a Samsung 720p plasma for 900 bucks.
SALES ARE SLUMPING AT PIONEER , which I beleive only has plasma.
As more and more people have problems with this finiky type of
display, I beleive that will will leave Pioneer in a pickle as more and more switch to LCD.
Which they are doing.
Plasma has become the "cheap" form factor, which is important.
More want LCD

Pioneer's problem is that their production process only allows them to cut one plasma panel from each glass sheet. Panasonic already cuts at least 8 panels per sheet, and they are selling second generation 42" 1080p plasmas for less than Pioneer sells their 42" 720p plasmas for. It's no wonder that Pioneer has already purportedly moved its KURO engineering team over to Panasonic in preparation for Panasonic's more efficient plants taking over the plasma panel manufacturing for Pioneer starting next year.

Pioneer does fine in the 50"+ market where they make 1080p panels that rank among the highest performing TVs on the market. No one can touch Pioneer's color accuracy and contrast, and their ISF calibration flexibility makes them very popular with high end installers. Pioneer's problems are in their inefficient plants, which cannot match the productivity that Samsung, Panasonic, and LG have achieved.

Pioneer's already set to introduce LCD sets this fall. No coincidence there, since Sharp recently bought an ownership stake in Pioneer and would basically rebadge a bunch of their AQUOS sets for Pio. In actuality, LCD has become the "cheap" technology in the smaller screen sizes. Plasmas aren't even made in sizes below 42".

[mbbuchanan]

with the economy like it is, I wonder if TV prices are going to fall to attract people who are reigning in their money for the storm, or if they will raise prices to help with slumping sales and increase profit margins. Any how I have heard that Pioneer makes a killer TV , I wonder how letting Panasonic make their LCD screens will effect quality, rather than if they made the screens them selves.

[pixelthis]

with the economy like it is, I wonder if TV prices are going to fall to attract people who are reigning in their money for the storm, or if they will raise prices to help with slumping sales and increase profit margins. Any how I have heard that Pioneer makes a killer TV , I wonder how letting Panasonic make their LCD screens will effect quality, rather than if they made the screens them selves.

Well, people are spoiled by low prices, you cant raise them much, if at all.
As for Panasonic panels, they are owned by Matshuhita, one of the largest companies on the planey, and panasonics quality is legendary.
LCD is just easier to make than plasma, and in the long run more reliable and cheaper.
Which is why I said a few months ago that plasma was d**d
(which pissed a lot of people off for some reason).
WHEN something loses its market "niche" it dies, and plasma has a niche of a crowd who thinks they are better than LCD for some reason.
Now the 720p models are rather cheap, another incentive to buy,
but some roumors are starting to go around as to reliability, as the form factor ages their relibility is becoming an issue.
No one is going to bother with a set that doesnt last long enough for the price.
And of course when OLED ramps up everything else will fade away

[Woochifer]

with the economy like it is, I wonder if TV prices are going to fall to attract people who are reigning in their money for the storm, or if they will raise prices to help with slumping sales and increase profit margins. Any how I have heard that Pioneer makes a killer TV , I wonder how letting Panasonic make their LCD screens will effect quality, rather than if they made the screens them selves.

The problem for Pioneer boils down to cost. They make a great TV, but their production process is far less efficient than competing plasma manufacturers. When Pioneer outsources their plasma panel manufacturing, they will still assemble the rest of the TV and continue to develop their own processing circuitry. Given that they've also developed a multitude of technologies that put their TVs right at or close to the top in most performance categories, they can afford to charge a premium for their sets, but they also have to bring their costs under control, given that they don't have the same economies of scale that Samsung, LG, and Panasonic do.

Pioneer had to get out of the 42" market because the margins have gotten squeezed at that screen size, and Pioneer was charging more for a 720p model than Panasonic was for their 1080p models. No matter how good their contrast and color accuracy are, there's just no getting around the fact that Panasonic was charging less for more real resolution.

The thing about Panasonic is that their plasmas' picture quality is already catching up to Pioneer, so I don't think that Pioneer TVs will see much of a dropoff in quality, especially if Pioneer's KURO engineers are already sharing their technology with Panasonic.

Right now, TV prices have fallen through the floor. Pioneer was never a high volume producer -- they always emphasized performance.

[diggity]

i believe pioneers problem is that they are in too many stores. if they limited their retail outlets they would have been much better served. every one liked the product, but when it is sat next to a lg people didnt want to part with the money. i used to sell aroumd 50 of these a month until the big box seller down the road got them in and of course hacked up the price. now i dont even carry them.

[pixelthis]

Thats too bad.
Kinda hard to compete with a mass market "big box" that sells TV sets like cheap beer.
I was at Walfart waiting for a prescription , they set down a palette
of 42" vizios stacked on their sides, one shopping cart after another came by, those suckers disapeared( about a grand each, I think)

[Duds]

I can only imagine what the prescription is for...

Thats too bad.
Kinda hard to compete with a mass market "big box" that sells TV sets like cheap beer.
I was at Walfart waiting for a prescription , they set down a palette
of 42" vizios stacked on their sides, one shopping cart after another came by, those suckers disapeared( about a grand each, I think)

[pixelthis]

I can only imagine what the prescription is for...

You probably could, crackhead.