As we predicted several years ago, plasma technology is on its way out. Putting one of the nails in the lengthy coffin is Pioneer Corp, who is stopping ALL production of plasma display panels. Last week we reported that they had decided to stop all 42-inch panel production, however that has now been expanded to its entire plasma line. This comes via an industry source briefed on the plan and quoted by Reuters in an article released today. Rather than panic, Pioneer shares immediately jumped to a four-month high following the report - up 11.2 percent.

You heard it here first: Plasma TV is dead.

Pioneer is the world's fifth-largest plasma TV manufacturer and has constantly struggled for relevance against the larger Panasonic brand (Matsushita). Now, Pioneer will buy its panels from the competing brand and it will begin picking up LCD panels from... you guessed it - Sharp. This makes three major manufacturers who are backing Sharp panel production in the coming year (inclusive of both Toshiba and Sony Electronics). Our guess is that Sharp is going to be the first to market with the new line of super-thin LCD panels that fans such as myself have been dreaming about for some time.

Investors have long known that Pioneer was bleeding red ink over its plasma division having several years ago decided not to compete in the low-price market. "This is an excellent development," said Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management. "Pioneer could have chosen another way and stepped up its plasma investment despite the fact that the business is bleeding red ink, but it's a wise step to decide against that... a quicker decision would have been even better," he said.

This is no easy decision for the Japan-based manufacturer. Pioneer has spent nearly $1 billion (yes, with a 'b') on four plasma TV manufacturing plants and two additional plants it purchased from NEC.

According to the report, a Pioneer spokesman said the company would unveil its display business strategy when it announces company-wide business plans on Friday.

The only thing surprising about this announcement is its timing. Pioneer just last year launched its premier "Project Kuro" line which promised total black levels and was designed to give consumers a no-holds-barred choice for high-end plasma displays. Pioneer had repeatedly stated that the Kuro brand was gaining speed and 2008 would show that Pioneer had captured the high-end market. The problem is that Pioneer, while predicting several hundreds of thousands of plasma TV sales, was up against rival Panasonic who had a planned sales volume of more than 5 million units.

For those concerned, this doesn't mean that Pioneer will exit the plasma business. It simply means that they are, in the interim at least, looking to leave the plasma panel manufacturing business, opting instead to purchase their panels from a company like Matsushita (Panasonic).

As to what this means for plasma as a technology, we believe that, as predicted, this is the beginning of the end. It's longevity depends on a few factors now:

* Marketing and consumer perspective of the technology
* How quickly the new super-thin LCD TVs hit the consumer market (Hitachi is already releasing some)
* The continuation of rapidly-dropping LCD panel prices
* How much Matsushita invests in plasma versus its LCD manufacturing efforts in upcoming years

So there you have it. Plasma has begun its exit from the market as consolidation forces one of the largest proponents of the technology finally exits the manufacturing business and takes on LCD. We're sad to see it go, but it appeared to us at this year's CES that ultra-thin LCDs are going to hit the market much sooner than ultra-thin plasmas. When that happens there is going to be an incredible surge in popularity for the <1-inch thin displays that will push plasma technology further away. The same effect has happened to rear projection television, with manufacturers leaving those markets and technology in droves. Just this year, Sony decided to eschew all screen technologies save LCD and OLED - and it had a large stake in its LCoS-based SXRD line.

The future looks bright. We can't wait to see what happens next.

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This is going to sound newbie but what exactly seperates a Plasma from a LCD? What is a plasma capable of doing that a LCD isn't?

very important issue mtechfan thanks for the info rep++ for you

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That's great news. Now, the pain on choosing between LCD and Plasma is over, particularly those people at home.
The latest Home Theater Sytem will have an HD LCD TV and Blu-Ray player as standards.
+rep added after MSSR is gone.

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......... cabanerofr .........

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PLS PUT REP+++ RATHER THAN THX......
JUST A MEMBER IN NOEMAN...LOLZ

Plasma TV Overview

Plasma television technology is based loosely on the fluorescent light bulb. The display itself consists of cells. Within each cell two glass panels are separated by a narrow gap in which neon-xenon gas is injected and sealed in plasma form during the manufacturing process. The gas is electrically charged at specific intervals when the Plasma set is in use. The charged gas then strikes red, green, and blue phosphors, thus creating a television image. Each group of red, green, and blue phosphors is called a pixel (picture element).

Although Plasma television technology eliminate the need for the bulky picture tube and electron beam scanning of traditional televisions, because it still employs the burning of phosphors to generate an image, Plasma televisions still suffer from some of the drawbacks of traditional televisions, such as heat generation and screen-burn of static images.

LCD TV Overview

LCD televisions, on the other hand, use a different technology.

Basically, LCD panels are made of two layers of transparent material, which are polarized, and are "glued" together. One of the layers is coated with a special polymer that holds the individual liquid crystals. Current is then passed through individual crystals, which allow the crystals to pass or block light to create images. LCD crystals do not produce their own light, so an external light source, such as florescent bulb is needed for the image created by the LCD to become visible to the viewer.

Unlike standard CRT and Plasma televisions, since there are no phosphors that light up, less power is need for operation and the light source in an LCD television generates less heat than a Plasma or traditional television. Also, because of the nature of LCD technology, there is no radiation emitted from the screen itself.

Plasma vs LCD

The ADVANTAGES of Plasma over LCD are:

1. Larger screen size availability.

2. Better contrast ratio and ability to render deeper blacks.

3. Better color accuracy and saturation.

4. Better motion tracking (little or no motion lag in fast moving images).

The DISADVANTAGES of Plasma vs LCD include:

1. Plasma TVs are more susceptible to burn-in of static images.

2. Plasma TVs generate more heat than LCDs, due to the need to light of phosphors to create the images.

3. Does not perform as well at higher altitudes.

4. Shorter display life span (about 30,000 hours or 8 hrs of viewing a day for 9 years) than LCD. However, screen life span is improving to as high as 60,000 hours. due to technology improvements.

LCD television ADVANTAGES over Plasma include:

1. No burn-in of static images.

2. Cooler running temperature.

3. No high altitude use issues.

4. Increased image brightness over Plasma.

5. Longer display life (about 60,000 hours - at which time all you may need to do is replace the light source, not the entire set). This can vary according other environmental and use factors.

6. Lighter weight (when comparing same screen sizes) than Plasma counterparts.

DISADVANTAGES of LCD vs Plasma televisions include:

1. Lower contrast ratio, not as good rendering deep blacks.

2. Not as good at tracking motion (fast moving objects may exhibit lag artifacts) - However, this is improving.

3. Not as common in large screen sizes above 42-inches as Plasma. However, the number is growing fast, with some LCD sets having a screen size as large as 65-inches now available to the general public.

4. Although LCD televisions do not suffer from burn-in susceptibility, it is possible that individual pixels on an LCD televisions can burn out, causing small, visible, black or white dots to appear on the screen. Individual pixels cannot be repaired, the whole screen would need to be replaced at that point, if the individual pixel burnout becomes annoying to you.
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Hope this answers your question, got this info via Google.

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Thanks alot and I know what you mean about the dead pixels, I have about 2 in my DS's top screen >.>

I'm in love with my panasonic 52" plasma :P

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