What can we expect from 2013 Panasonic Plasmas? - Page 6

Yea, I meant 9th gen (pre-500M). The 500M is of course a 50" panel. If the 65" panel matches that of the 151FD, then that will be the official dethroning. I hope they're still around in 2014 to debut that new stuff, but prototypes have a way of playing a vanishing act.

Yes, they have a ton of great patents from Pioneer that are wasting away.

But they also have a ton of former Pioneer engineers that have integrated well with the Panasonic engineers to create the first non-Pioneer displays that approach, equal, and in some categories even surpass the 9G Kuros. The Kuro IP was not compatible with Panasonic's but within a few years they found a way to make their TVs perform similar to the Kuro. My GT50's picture looks very much like my friends' 5020 and 6020 and the family resemblance is obvious, and i could not say that about previous generations of Panasonics even after they bought the IP. But 2012 was a turning point.

And Panasonic kept the secret sauce from falling into the hands of the Koreans so that accounts for something too

Its been said time and time again that some of this tech would not mesh with the panasonic tech, and that they had their own direction. One being a green company.

Say what you want about the kuro, but the VT30 and VT50 have been great sets.

So, is this new tech prototype for 2014 not related to plasma?

It is.

5 lm/W plasma cell efficacy tech was introduced to world with NeoPDP design.

Panasonic PDP is already at 10 lumen tech and as now 2012 probably beyond that, otherwise we wouldn't have 100-120 watt/h (average, not rated) consumption with 42'' Full HD Display, though with 150cd/m2 (TX-P42ST50 for instance). Remember the white paper " The Future Still Looks Bright For Plasma TV" ? They were explaining how the 5 and 10 lumen tech will help to achieve the 500 and even 1000cd/m2 panel brightness. But we simply can't overlook the fact that they were refering about ability to achieve that kind of panel brightness ''no matter what the power consuption will be'', or better said keep the the power consuptiom at the same level and boost the brightness. Times moved on however and power consuption is more important than brightness level so that's why we see these levels of light output from the panels which is simply a tradeoff for to be ''green''. Hence u simply can't have the low power consumption while surpassing the brightness level found on LED based LCDs with 10lm/W plasma panel cell efficacy. I'm not saying it's impossible, but we would need somethin' like 20/30lumen/Watt efficiency to get there. Couple of years ago there was a prototype from APDC with 12 - 15 lm/W efficacy in green phosphor and other similar achievements from KAIST and SDI. Another thing that proves this tech in use is that u can greatly reduce and simplify electronic circuitry and on board logic or omit the fans which comes handy if u wanna make the tv more streamlined and slimmer which is the case we can see right now in shops. Remember thouse bulky chassis? Look at them now, they're thinner than LCDs with CCFL backlighting used to be.

When typically do the new models come out? March/April?

^^^March-April, usually higher end models a little later.

Could someone briefly sum up the status of plasma? Is Panasonic getting into OLED and are they phasing out plasma? Anything official yet?

Sooo I am at a dilemma i have a SONY KDL 60EX700 got for free after my 60" SXRD XBR2 turned to crap .. Anyhow What would be my Best option .. Buy the 65" VT50 , or the lesser GT or ST , or wait for the 2013 models .. i have the Fever and cant get this off my head lol ... Just set up my Onkyo TX-NR5010 and Oppo BDP 103 to replace older models and am looking to upgrade my TV


What would you guys do ?

Thanks : )

The st/gt/vt-50s were significant improvements over last years models. I wouldn't expect another such "leap" just one model year later. since you seem to have little price concern given the level of your other new equipment I'd say get the VT-50 now.

New guy here, WAVE!!.. OLED is not worth the wait IMHO, Plasma technology has literally reached the point where advancements in picture quality will yield minimal results, with videophile performance already coming from the ST50 series and the advanced GT50/VT50 series going above and beyond videophile performance i am sure ultimate happiness would be found with the UT50 as i am certainly no videophile and would not know the difference between infinite black and a black hole, black is black and that's where it's at. The fact is if i didn't see something that looked better i would be perfectly content and comparing 2 different sets side by side is a moog point, anything will be better than my current and soon to be replaced 6.5 yr old Sanyo 720i LCD HDTV, i am SO tempted to pickup the P50UT50 with 3D Bluray Player for $800.99 but i am hung up on the bigger is better thing, typical male. 2013 will be a better time to buy last years (this years) model and save a bunch of money on an already proven excellent HDTV but i have already decided to wait until the day after Christmas for a good (better) deal on the P60UT50, it's at $1300 now (cyber monday) and have a feeling it will dip below $1100 before the year is over simply because it's being overshadowed by the ST50, the only thing the UT50 doesn't have is the NeoPlamsa Infinite Black Screen and some adjustability features but for the average Joe (+/-95%) this is just fine. I can't see waiting for something better when the current technology is already beyond comparison. Everybody is talking about the ST50 and for good reason but i just don't think it's worth the increase in price over the UT50, at least not for me. NeoPlasma and Infinite Black are just gimmicks that manufacturers use to substantiate a major price increase, the folks down there at ABC and the BCC can have their Blacker than Black Dark Black Screen with Black Trim and i will settle for the plain old fashioned Black one. I sit here and look at the Black screen on my Sanyo and ask myself what Black must really look like, just my $.02
Update: Returned the P60U50 and traded for the P55UT50, what a difference in PQ stepping up from the U50 to the UT50
Edited by 5thdimension - 11/29/12 at 9:38am

^^^Agree with most of this except waiting for after Christmas sale--there's no such thing as far as actual pricing goes--in reality prices rise a bit and inventory is at it's lowest so it's hard to get the set you want. Panny is also being very careful not to overproduce this year--many models are available by order only even now--so waiting for the new models to snag a deal on a '12 model may not pan out.

Pioneer demonstrated what infinite black can do back in 2008. Four years later, we're still waiting, but I would not put much weight on your Sanyo holding up to scrutiny as far as black levels are concerned in a controlled lighting (i.e. close to pitch black) environment.

Panasonic has a joint-development agreement with Sony to work on technologies to manufacture OLEDs. That's a plan to make plans to make TVs. Nothing more.

They have announced no plans to get out of the plasma business, but I would be surprised if they are still making them after 2015.

Hit the order button on the 60" Panasonic U50 Series direct from Panasonic for $899.99, don't care about 3D and have not even been to the theatre to see a 3D movie but what's the use if you're only seeing the image in 720i. Already have the obligatory XBOX360 and Smart Bluray player with plenty of apps for online streaming so i could not justify being redundant and spending more money for a Smart TV when i already have all those apps on my other devices, a dumb TV is perfect for me. i have scoured the internet for opinions on the U50 and every single review has been 4 - 5 stars, it has everything i need and nothing i don't want. I have waited a long time for plasma technology to get where it's at today, i read plenty of horror stories about image retention and burn-in on early models and i don't think the newer models are completely out of the woods yet with anti image retention (fast switching phosphors and scrolling) but with proper settings (contrast ratio) and proper use (no static images for extended periods) it should paint quite the pretty picture for years to come. I'm still tripping that i got a 60" Pany Plasma for less than $900, thank-you cyber-monday and i am glad i did not wait to pull the trigger. Next step is building a cabinet wide enough to house it in and install a TV Lift, the TV is almost as wide as my living room window so i will place the cabinet against the wall centered below the window, when the TV lifts up it will almost completely block the window and incoming light, lower the TV and let the sun shine in.
Edited by 5thdimension - 11/27/12 at 1:25am

I'm in the same boat. If I could get a VT50 65" for about $2400 or less, I'd buy today but since they aren't quite that low, I'm holding out for next years model. My hopes are they have darker blacks, more accurate colors, better noise filter, a little thinner, a little more energy efficient, wifi 802.11ac and hdmi 2.0. I doubt I'll get all of those but if they hit 3 of those 7 items, it would be worth the wait for me.

I would not buy a panasonic. I have a panasonic tc-p50g25 the picture was the best. I asked panasonic before I bought this tv if they had fixed their circuit board problems and they assured me they had. Now 2 years later i'm having the same problems they've had with their sets for years. To top it off you can't get the part you need. I was told at least 4 weeks and I talked to someone else that said he's been waiting for 6 weeks. If i had to pay a service tech to fix the tv it would be half of what i paid for it 2 years earlier. IF you bought one recently I'd take it back and get a different brand. Panasonic won't stand behind their tv's and a tv should certainly last more than two years with an average use of 15 hours per week...............Good Luck

still have samsung and LG, no?

Let's stop quoting the fiction about Panasonic stopping plasma manufacturing until some future date when it actually becomes fact, shall we?

I will not quote fiction.

But I will look into my xtal ball and say: Next year's plasmas from Panny will not be a significant improvement from this year's sets. And they will cost more. And there will be less of them.

And it would not surprise me at all if they stopped production entirely. Not a quote. A forecast.

Absolutely nonsense.

A 75-80" 4k panel is the only thing that would make me want to upgrade my 65 VT50.

My selfish side hopes it doesn't happen cause I don't know if I could control my upgradeitis.

I have only had my VT50 for three weeks and I think about how much I would enjoy an 80" and then start considering returning it for one. But then I start watching the VT50 and know that the picture can't be beat. It really is stunning.

Plus I only paid 2600 for mine.

80" Sharp would not look as good and cost around ~1500 more than what I paid for my VT50.

Totally not worth it, but damn 80" sounds great.

That is one of my hopes that they'll have a 70" VT60 out in April. Of course if wishes were fishes, I'd want an 85" 4K model for $5000 but that isn't quite as likely. I imagine even if they had a 75" 1080p I'd probably pass on that as I've seen 4K before and once you start to exceed 70" I'd really want 4K.

How do you know that the name is gonne be VT60? Source? At best we gonna see a 4K 85'' Panasonic prototype at ces since the only 4K Panasonic ever was the 2010 TH-152UX1
http://www.panasonic.com/business/Plasma/3D/3D-Plasma-TH-152UX1.asp'

4K TH-152UX1 - U.S List Price $500,000.00
http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ModelDetail?storeId=11201&catalogId=13051&itemId=490650&catGroupId=14624&surfModel=TH-152UX1&displayTab=O

It's just an assumption based on previous naming convention. Until Panasonic officially releases info on their 2013 lineup, we're simply calling them VT60/ST60 etc for the time being. No need to demand that he cite a source