Pioneer to Stop Making 42" Plasma Screens

[Woochifer]

Pioneer has long been one of the more acclaimed plasma HDTV brands. Apparently, they've now decided to stop producing 42" plasma sets and focus on sets 50" and larger. They will continue to market smaller plasma sets, but those will be manufactured by Panasonic. In addition, Pioneer is looking to sell the plasma production facility that they bought from NEC.

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/busin...r=1&oref=login

Pioneer sets are known for their color accuracy and deep blacks. In addition, their Elite line-up is the only brand that allow for ISF calibration controls, without having to go into the service menus (which would invalidate the warranty).

As well regarded as their plasma sets are, like other plasma manufacturers, they fell behind on the spec sheets when LCD and RPTV manufacturers quickly upgraded to 1080p and plasmas got stuck at 720p for more than a year. Pioneer was the first manufacturer to introduce a 1080p plasma, but those sets were initially priced at nearly $10,000 and limited to the larger screen sizes above 50".

Last year, Panasonic added a full lineup of 1080p plasma HDTVs, while most of Pioneer's lineup, and its entirely 42" lineup, remained at 720p resolution. Their 1080p offerings remained significantly more expensive than competing models, and even the 720p models were priced higher than competing 1080p models. My understanding is that while plasma has been losing market share to LCD, Pioneer in particular has been losing market share even faster.

I think Pioneer fell behind in the market when they failed to develop a 42" 1080p plasma, while segment leader Panasonic did. No question that their sets look great, but not having a 1080p set at the 42" size really hurt them, particularly as their 720p sets remained more expensive.

This article seems to point to further consolidation in the flat panel TV market as fewer and fewer companies make their own panels.

[diggity]

this goes to show two things. first the average screen size the consumer is buying is getting bigger, and secondly, i dont know about usa but in oz the price pioneer wanted for the 42' 720p plasma was a full $1500aud higher than panasonic 1080p model.

cheers: dazza

[bobsticks]

That's too bad. I really hope that there's room enough in the inn for both LCD and Plasma technologies.Everyone has an opinion, and that's fine, but mine is that even a mediocre plasma beats a good LCD for fleshing out dimension and fluidity in motion. Yes the LCD has it's advantages, which is why I own one, but I much prefer movie-watching on the heat magnet.

That said, the elimination of the 42 inch is probably not a good sign. Evidently Pioneer is going to milk the niche/specialty/hi-dollar market as long as possible but one less competent performer at the lesser size can't be a good thing. In fairness, the plasma factions have not been good at publicly addressing corrective steps taken on the issues the medium faced at its inception.

Hey Woochie, a coupla discs came out on Tuesday you might dig: Inland Knights & Oliver Desmet's San Fransisco Sessions and OM:Chilled. Both rank high on the funky, hippy-dippy Nu-Jazz pseudosample quotient.

--sticks

[elapsed]

So let's recap... Fujitsu is dead... Pioneer/NEC will now concentrate on 50" and larger, outsourcing all smaller sets to Panasonic, so it's looking like Pioneer are now scrambling.

And so there were three. Panasonic, Samsung, and LG. Plasma is on its last breath. RPTV is dying. Looks like LCD will outlive them all. Long live the lowest common denomenator!

[pixelthis]

So let's recap... Fujitsu is dead... Pioneer/NEC will now concentrate on 50" and larger, outsourcing all smaller sets to Panasonic, so it's looking like Pioneer are now scrambling.

And so there were three. Panasonic, Samsung, and LG. Plasma is on its last breath. RPTV is dying. Looks like LCD will outlive them all. Long live the lowest common denomenator!

Which is what I have been saying

But cheer up, its only temporary.
OLED is already on the market, with its near perfect black level and .17 deep screen,
that is flexible in some cases, it will be the screen of the future.
The ONLY reason plasma ever got started really was that everybody wanted a "flat" screen
and after decades of empty promises the companies had to come up with SOMETHING.
IF they had known about the phenomenal sucess of LCD they wouldn't have even bothered.
Now they just need to try and get their investment paid for.
And they have a few years until OLED starts taking over.
BUT UNTIL the price comes down it will be LCD, which is why they need to concentrate on improving the breed