2012 Panasonic Plasmas??? - Page 14

Panasonic seems to have screwed up royally on ramping down too soon.

They are going to have 2-3 months of down sales because of a nearly empty channel.

Might be that because of the short supply now they'll try to ship the 2012 models sooner than they're now saying so that we can get some hands on reviews. I really want to get the 65" GT50 once the price comes down in the fall and hope it doesn't have any new flaws that weren't present in the GT30.

With the introductory msrp of the 65VT50 being lower than the 65VT30, does that mean the VT50 will be cheaper the end of this year than the VT30 was?

I saw a release date of tomorrow (2/20) posted somewhere for the ST50. Was there any validity to that?

Don't know if you've seen this but the planned MSRP on the 65VT50 has recently been reduced from the original $3,999 down to $3,699 now. The 65GT50 also dropped, but only by $200.

Great news on the VT. And thanks Sharp.

Guessing...........$3250 preorders

Put a pre-order in for a GT50 along with a calibration over at Value Electronics.

I've been very impressed with my parents GT30 and the moment I heard the GT50 is 50% brighter, I was sold on getting the new model. The one thing I liked about the 2011 Samsung plasma TV's was that they were much brighter than Panasonic's. Plus I'm liking this talk at CES of them being pretty burn resistant. Good for me as I do plan to use this set for gaming.

VE wont accept a best buy gift card as payment would they

All joking aside, that'd be sweet if they did. I'd really like to get the VT calibrated by a pro, but instead i'll end up buying my own equipment and calibrating it myself. I trust myself calibrating over a BB tech.

Where and what have you heard about them being more image retention resistant?

Let me know when you find one of those.

Okay maybe a tad optimistic (that said, I think it could be had for that before long).

But you know what? This race to the bottom (thanks Sharp!) is a wave I'm happy to ride. It may not end well for the industry in the very long term, but I wouldn't be surprised if Panny isn't the only company to lower msrps before their sets actually ship.

I suspect you're correct on all counts. What we don't know about Sharp is whether their large-screen business is really losing all this money at the prices they are charging or whether it's more or less every other part of their business. I guess we'll see in a year as they keep adjusting the mix away from the middle-size screens.

The industry is absolutely screwed, but since demand for 200+ milllion TVs is going to exist for the foreseeable future, I imagine someone will be in business to fill said demand.

Look at page 5 from somebody who talked to Panasonic at CES. The reps stated that you're going to have to really try to burn something in the screen. A friend of mine who setup a booth right by Panasonic also heard similar things.

Whoa, is the ST50 out? Am I missing something here? http://shop.panasonic.com/shop/model/TC-P50ST50

"Ships in 2 - 4 business days"

Hoping not to pay MSRP, but does this mean they'll be showing up in stores imminently as well?

This is why we have quality control issues and production problems and inferior workmanship. Everyone says that they are willing to pay for quality, but the reality is that very few really are. So all the manufacturers race to the bottom in price, sacrificing what they can to get there and stay in business.

Looks like the 55 inch ST is available there too.

http://shop.panasonic.com/shop/model/TC-P55ST50

It looks like the 55ST50 and 50UT50 also can be added to your cart and ships in 2-4 days.

Best Buy is said to be aquiring their first skews after mid-March, a few weeks later than last year. The delay is BB's fault, not Panasonic's. Last year, BB got their first ST30s in the first week of March.

One can almost sorta kinda envision a world where there is really only one panel mfr left standing, and everyone else has either exited entirely, or simply buys panels from the sole provider and does what they can to differentiate via electronics (and marketing...)

Is Sharp's 12G fab the only one? Who is going to spend twenty bazillion dollars building another at this point when they seem to make peanuts on each panel if they're lucky.

Sorry to go OT here. Really interested to see if Panny really has managed to materially improve the brightness on the VT50. And hoping for more solid word of a 70"...

So who's going to purchase the ST50 first and give us a review ? I checked my employee purchase plan through work and see that they have it on there...

It's a 10G fab (which logistics-wise is about as big as the world is likely to see, bigger motherglass is very difficult to handle), and, yes, it's the only one on earth currently in existence. No others are even planned. It's a big plant, but could only make about 5 million 70" panels per year. While that's plenty for now, in theory that wouldn't satisfy the industry sometime down the road, for example.

Anyway, I don't see this all consolidating to one manufacturer, but I do see people exiting / merging. Flat panels are not unlike hard drives: There's a huge market, but no one has really ever made money selling the underlying component.

Right now, I am thinking I will probably be one of the first, at least

Just waiting for the tax refund, and for the TV to be available somewhere that doesn't charge MSRP, and where I can at least see it in person first.

Not that my review would be all that technical. But I'm pretty picky when it comes to picture quality. I actually looked at an ST30 again the other day at Target (saw one previously at BB) and I didn't see any of the motion artifacting I previously saw, so now I do think BB just had a particularly bad setup. Assuming they really don't screw anything obvious up, I'm pretty sure this is gonna be my TV.

Hmm, is it Best Buy's fault when they try and negotiate a lower starting price then last years?

I don't think so.

Panasonic's fault for trying to maintain pricing Best Buy knows is to high.

Its nice to live in a world where everything is unicorns and rainbows.

I read somewhere that the 50% claimed brightness improvement is only for low APL scenes (say 20% or lower). It's also probably in an uncalibrated torch mode that few here would actually use. We'll have to see how bright it is in a decent movie-mode setup.

Many scenes will only have about 20% average brightness. Few scenes will reach higher than 50% average brightness.

Hmm I wonder if they'll be as bright as Samsung plasmas?

Hi all,
I see some stores offering the TC-P55VT50 as a pre-order, for within the next two weeks (although this may be a tad optimistic.)
Are any of the following reputable companies? I don't know any of them (I normally use Amazon; Vann; Abt; or Abe's of Maine for electronics.) Do they have good return policies in case of a problem, good customer service ?

Neobits.com
Seaboom.com
Provantage.com

Value Electronics


I am returning a Samsung I got through Amazon (I didn't like its black shadow details), and would like to try this new line from Panasonic. from what I read, this is an area where a Panny should be a bit better (or so I hope.)
Any comments would be appreciated.

Ok, the last one that has been crossed out (I guess we are not supposed to include links), is '****************', mentioned by someone on this thread.
Thanks,
C.

I am unsure about the other two companies you listed, but I have purchased many things from Provantage. They are a large, good, and reputable company to deal with. Great customer service when I needed to return something also. Check to make sure what their return policies are for that particular item. As with any company it can vary depending on what the item is. (I believe Value Electronics should also be good, although I have never used them personally.)