What can we expect from 2013 Panasonic Plasmas? - Page 4

I don't know if we can expect it but I'd hope they stop putting the dreaded N button on some of the remotes, give us per-input settings so that we can tweak it for our consoles, PCs, etc and fix the problems with 50hz content.

With those limitations, I'm not inclined to spend even £500 on the cheaper models and will stick with my Sony XBR800 CRT until it either dies (at which point I'll probably have no choice but to buy an LCD as there won't be any Plasma's in my price range) or someone makes a Plasma without these issues.

Yeah, a 70 inch plasma would be perfect for me.

Just found out they won't be making any more plasma tvs, sad day. RIP Panasonic plasmas.

Panasonic plasma is dead.

And where did you find this out from?

The HT Guys, Ara Derderian and Braden
Russell. Podcast #553, they say Panasonic plasmas it's all over, hasta la vista, baby.

The podcast page

http://www.htguys.com/podcasts/2012/10/19/podcast-553-new-boxee-cloud-dvr-and-superhero-movies.html

"News:
Report: Panasonic to cease TV sales,
pursue iPad contract"

That "info" has nothing to do with Panasonic Plasmas.

recent media reports appearing on sites including Apple Insider and Japanese Business news service Diamond Online are basically speculative in nature and contain a number of errors of fact or misinterpretation.
http://www.twice.com/articletype/news/panasonic-dismisses-tv-exit-reports/103643

Let's not over react here. It didn't say they were closing down their TV business.

Michael

By all means, let's overreact to this completely inaccurate report!

It's AVS Forum after all.

That said, if 2012 plasma sales are as bad as more accurate, sober reports suggested (about 2.5 million), it's all-but certain that the "final year" isn't far off. Pick between 2014, 2015, 2016.

What astounds me is how people can hear about such industry-shattering news and just immediately believe it instead of taking a few seconds to search AVS or even just Google around for a bit to find existing discussions and get more accurate info. I do believe that Plasmas days are numbered (just as we knew that Betamax days were numbered), but when this "news" first broke a few weeks ago from a few Mac sources i immediately knew that something must have been lost in translation.

So 2012 Panasonic Plasma sales will be 2.5 million. Any idea about the Samsung /LG 2012 Plasma sales predictions rogo?

Honestly, no. If I'm guessing -- and I'm guessing -- Samsung ends up selling a similar amount and LG sells less.

It feels like, though, that the reason plasma still exists as a meaningful product line at Samsung at all is because the company doesn't want to just cede any part of the market completely. Those fabs are all paid for (i.e. depreciated) and clearly the small amount of market share plasma has had for years means its filling some space, but not getting a ton of emphasis. If that space is shrinking at Panasonic, even if Samsung is taking some share, I suspect the space is shrinking period. There is a bit of a "death spiral" phenomenon here where the lack of sales yields a lack of marketing yields a lack of sales. And we're in it.

Had Panasonic not fallen off a cliff this year, you could easily imagine things existing as they had for another 5ish years. But what has happened, has happened. And because of that, I think it's going to drag everyone down at least somewhat. As a result, it's much easier to see the end.

found something.

LG is expected to sell 4.3 million Plasma's in 2012 (same as last year), Samsung 4.5 million (same as last year). Panasonic 2.5 million (down from 5.7 million last year). So 2012 Global Plasma sales will be 11/12 million.
http://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1335798142

Maybe this is true because Panasonic's TV for this year is a FLOP for watching SD and 720P?

or maybe because of the price? we are talking worldwide sales and when I was in Romania helping someone to purchase a TV, the Panasonic TV's where priced a lot more vs in the USA.

so we got a Samsung, a very smart move because this TV rocks! and no Darblet is needed to help 720P content.

I bet next year will be the best year to purchase a Panasonic Plasma! certainly not this year considering the G10 has a better picture in many ways over the G50.

so Panasonic, get your act together for 2013 plasma models and then your sales will go up!

The thing about predictions are people will be quick to point out who got it wrong or right in future post so be careful unless you are prepared to take a hit.
I will believe when its widespread posted on several tech sites until then most are just over exaggerated rumors and the best example from year to year is what is predicted for Apple Inc.

Two pieces of insider information refers to several different sizes for 2013 and more importantly a different phosphor technology exclusive to Panasonic resulting in improved PQ. Also expect some new features.

I hope improved PQ includes darker black levels.

I re-quote my own predictions on AVS that date back as far as a decade -- even when I get it wrong. I try to figure out why I got it wrong (usually, I'm not that wrong even when I was off... but I try to figure out what led me astray).

If AVS search was better, I'd do it more often, but it's painful to find posts you know exist sometimes. Still, find me in the OLED threads, and you'll see me quoting myself on prediction posts.

I have both a g10 and a gt50.... The gt50 is superior in every way. I have a darblet because I had to have the next cool gizmo, and it works well. It would work just as well on your Samsung. I don't even notice much improvement using it on anything less than a quality 1080p source so I am confused why everyone thinks people bought them to fix some overblown 720p issue. If it makes you feel better about your purchase, well then good for you. But they certainly did not drop the ball this year. I would hope that next year they come out with a more streamlined model lineup (maybe consolidate the st/gt to one model and add 96hz 24p support to it) and release a 70" or maybe even a 75". Also, as good as the vt is, they could really push to differentiate this set from the others. Outside of the added adjustments (great for calibrators but for most consumers?.....) and a marginally better filter, it is very similar to the other two (gt/st)

If Panasonic is getting out of the plasma business then 2013 might very well be the LAST year that you see any improvement in their plasma sets. Look at it this way--whatever improvements were left to be made were probably already in the pipeline for 2013--then they made the decision to gradually get out of the business.

That would mean even LESS models for say 2014--probably vanilla CHEAP ones.

Either 2013 will show improvement or the VT-50s were the last hurrah!

I know they won't do it but I wish that Panasonic would produce one last 70-inch KURO killer just to prove that they could do it and charge WHATEVER they had to charge!

Even if it was expensive I'm sure people would buy it!

Get ready folks--OLED costs trillions and LCD sucks! Welcome to the video universe sewer!!!

Time to go the projector route

Last time I looked at those they were way out of my price range (for a 1080p one anyway but maybe they've come down), not to mention the cost of replacing bulbs, noise from the cooling fan (it would by necessity need to be above my head, so even if a TV made as much noise buzzing or something, that would be less intrusive as it would be 6+ feet in front of me).

They also tend to only have one HDMI and no TV/Freeview tuner, so not a very useful alternative to a proper TV and having a projector for films and a LCD TV for TV seems rather impractical, not only because of cost but because you'd want to project onto the same place that you have the TV as there's only one location in a room which is the ideal viewing spot from the seating.

EDIT: Regarding the cost of bulbs, when I last researched it, it seems that if you just use a projector to watch one film a night (i.e. less than 2 hours) you'd get a reasonable life out of them but if you're running it for maybe eight hours a day, with either TV on (maybe in the background whilst doing stuff on the PC) or playing PC or Xbox games, you're obviously looking at much higher maintenance costs.

What do I expect - minor tweaks.

What would I like?

1. BIGGER screens - 70" and 80"
2. 4K resolution for the bigger screens
3. NO reflective trim
4. Blacker blacks
5. More energy efficient
6. Brighter screens

Projectors are not great choices for those of us in apartments so bigger screens are the solution.

there is a 2010 152 inch 4K Panasonic Plasma
http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/09/panasonics-152-inch-4k-resolution-3d-plasma-ships-this-fall/

and a 2008 63 inch 4K Samsung Plasma prototype
http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/10/30/samsung.63.ultrahd.plasma/

don't believe we will see 150''- 4K Plasma's.

I think 2008 was the last time to CES. I've given them their chance to try to convince us we want 3D (and still failed) but I think it is time for them to come through with better picture quality TVs this year. I saw 4K many years ago and I've been waiting long enough. I don't want to replace my OLD 65" TV with another dinky 65" TV. I'm ready for something BIG. I think we've all been in the dark ages for TVs since the Kuros stopped production - I'm ready for a friggin renaissance of super crisp, super black TVs.
Edited by boe - 10/31/12 at 3:18pm

lol @ dinky and 65".

Good list but the biggest drawback to plasma sales if the very concept of BURN-IN and IR. The sales people still warn of it and most owners manuals state that it is not covered under warranty. Maybe it's impossible but they really need to eradicate any chance of burn-in to the point of covering it under warranty. Don't tell them it';s a thing of the past, back that statement up. Look at the IR threads going right now right here on this forum.

Yeah - I know - 20 years ago when I had a 35" screen I thought this is as good as it gets. About 8 years ago when I got my 65" screen I thought this is as good as it gets. Now I say why the hell isn't 80" the standard size for big TVs now? Sure I'm sure they'll sell 65" screens for people with small bedrooms but even though I have a small living room 85" would probably be ideal.

What have the TV manufacturers been doing during this long slumber? They've been wasting their time trying to convince us 3D makes a movie better (even though that fizzled out about 40 years ago). They need to get TV sizes up and the resolution up for people to want to replace their TVs. Somehow they thought people would want to replace their existing 65" for another 65" just because it had 3D? Bigger TVs - higher resolution - Good for the economy!!
Edited by boe - 10/31/12 at 3:28pm

TVs in the 60" and up size apparently still hold a small fraction of the market. Last I read, most sales were in the 40" & under size category.

Unless this has changed during 2012, it suggests that the majority of owners have yet to reach 60 - 65", are not yet "anxious" for larger sets.

The poor economy has almost certainly hurt sales of larger panels. Even if we grant that many households will "find a way" to purchase A HDTV, they may still find themselves limited to smaller sizes, and/or willing to "Settle" for only a 50 - 55" set - which probably fits into the typical home viewing area better in the first place.

Add the fact that just about any programming short of Blu-rays or OTA HD will tend to look somewhere between "Soft" to "Horrible" on a larger panel at the 8 - 12 feet usually given as Normal Viewing Distance, and there seems little incentive for most owners to go beyond 60....

As a more-or-less Dedicated Home Theater set, largely limited to "real" HD material, a large panel probably makes sense ($$ permitting, of course!) - but now you are also running into the Projector market: IF 80", Why Not 120"??

Panasonic has been a huge money loser last 3 years. My hunch is they will come up with cheaper stuff and try to compete with the Koreans. It's possible that we have already seen the best plasma sets in 2012.
CES 2013 will be all about 4K but from Toshiba, Sony, Samsung and LG. We will see several choices between 70 and 85" , but still at very high prices (10 to 20K). Panasonic LCDs were not well received by the press in 2012, OLED is too expensive, let's see if they can make a better plasma at lower cost but I doubt.