Samsung F8500 - new industry standard? [please use links to newer thread] - Page 11  

I think the point is there isn't much demand for high-end, smallish anythings. For what it's worth, the average American home is 2500-ish square feet. The average high-end TV buyer probably has a typically larger living space (although places like Silicon Valley and New York City will depress the square footage even while being expensive as hell).

High-end TVs are a small market to begin with. Small high-end TVs are a smaller market....


I think you misinterpret how well the VT50 sold and how it was priced. I got one very early in the cycle for <$3000. A lot of people bought them on pre-order for much more here (and paid full retail at Best Buy much later).

And this is exactly the point. The "high end + small" market is... small. It might well be large enough to satisfy one model from one mfr. in plasma and perhaps one or two LCDs as well... Beyond that, it probably doesn't exist.

Did you forget about 63in plasmas? This is an extra inch from their old 63in models, hence the +1 moniker that the 51in also has.

Hey Chris what have you heard? F8500 being released soon?

I'm with you rogo but disagree the market is small. Imagine what choices you would have if Pioneer reintroduced the Kuro in 50" and an Oled was also available but only in 50" and both retailed at $2500 with the F8500 at 2k. I'm of the belief all three of these smaller sized highend units would outsell all those overpriced unreasonably large plasmas. My point is tvs need to decrease in size and return to high quality of build but I guess those days of quality electronics are long gone. Throw away tvs are here to stay.

I would have guessed and hoped you were right about this, but I think the undeniable fact is that the market for a high quality 50 inch display is not large. The trump card here is that Panasonic has decided not to make them any more (not to disparage the st series...I have one). So, obviously a given tv manufacturer would be in the best position to decide if the market wants the, to make one based on previous years.

But, this is the F8500 thread and it will be interesting if there is enough support for the smaller version of this set. I'd imagine so, since options are limited. I'm interested in the larger size myself.

I imagine we will be in a relatively similar situation once OLED has matured. OLED for $2500 at 50" isn't reasonable now, and they are only going to be available at 55" right now as far as i know, so I guess I didn't fully get your point.
Edited by skro - 2/24/13 at 7:37pm

The market is vanishingly small. You're entitled to think whatever you wish, but the way it works is kind of like this.

Only 10% of TVs sold are 50" and up to begin with, perhaps that's up to say 20% in the U.S. Within that sub-category only about 10% of TVs sold are "high end" models. So basically, even in the U.S. only 2% of TVs sold are "high end TVs that are 50" and up."

Now, given varied living spaces, those will be distributed across 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 80, an 90" screen sizes. While the largest sizes have small volumes, we are talking a market that is very approximately 2% of something under 40 million sales annually. In other words, about 800,000 total TVs. The people buying "high end" models, however, will generally skew more expensive, so we might find that the total willing to buy an expensive 50" is perhaps just 10% of that 800,000 or 80,000 annually. With 5-6 models, no one finds the market very attractive. But the last guy making a plasma and the last 1-2 LCDs do find it attractive.

In general, the problem with high-end TVs is that. Each small slice is lucrative only if you find little competition. Making $1000 per set is great if you sell 100,000 sets. If you sell 10,000 however, it's a lot of effort for relatively little gain.

I suspect eventually we'll see a smaller OLED to complement the 55" and a larger one too. And in the short one, the F8500 at multiple sizes ought to be nice for a lot of people. Just keep in mind that doesn't mean millions.

Hmm...I just looked at the product images on OneCall's webpage and I'm left wondering- how does someone wall mount this panel? Based on the image of the rear of the set, it appears to lack any mounting holes. I'm guessing this is just a prototype image (& not the production model), but it seems odd.

It has standard mounting holes. I wouldn't worry about what you're seeing on OneCall. And I don't even see a "rear image" of the set, so I'm confused by your comments. I see a side image, which of course obscures the guts of the back, which is where the holes are located.

Perhaps they had some other image that they pulled since your post of what was allegedly the back?!?

I still see the image on their product page (image 2 of 6)

That cant be right, it doesn't apear to have air vents either

Nor any power or video connectors. It looks like an early mock up.

The forum police got me with a warning for supposed non MSRP talk...REALLY.... I guess what they will be charging is less than MSRP off the bat, what company comes out with a bangin product and expect to sell it at a discounted price... oh yeah Samsung unilaterally prices their products now so there is really no deals until they say so...

So as I stated before in my post before they got deleted There is now info and specs and "MSRP" on Samsung.com on the F5300 and F4500. Also there is info and specs on the F8500 and their so called deal pricing off MSRP and F5500 on (1 call .com) being one. Sorry for informing people on this forum so do not delete my posts.

April? Damn I thought we were looking at March and April for the Pannys? personally I'm interested in the 51"version..

As for the photos showing no mounting holes,I can't see any large flat panel tv not having the ability to be wall mounted, that's a pretty big market to ignore, I for one would go ST60 if that was the case but honestly I just can't see it..

April? Damn I thought we were looking at March and April for the Pannys? personally I'm interested in the 51"version..

As for the photos showing no mounting holes,I can't see any large flat panel tv not having the ability to be wall mounted, that's a pretty big market to ignore, I for one would go ST60 if that was the case but honestly I just can't see it..

I'm guessing you see that in your cache or something. I don't see that image.

I'd like to get a calibtrated 60" version to upgrade from my non calibrated LG 55LHX. Should be a pretty good upgrade I would think.

Samsung is probably in march, only if something happened and they needed to delay the launch for another month.

Confirmed, the TV will have h.265 (aka HEVC) embedded!

Link:
http://www.samsung.com/uk/f8500plasmatv/

Actually it was confirmed when it was announced. Though pretty cool feature, not sure how much use it will get though as it will take a while for it catch on. It will be interesting to see when streaming services start to move to this, hopefully we will be able to stream Blu-Ray quality video in the next few years.

http://global.samsungtomorrow.com/?p=21335

How many HDMI inputs in the 8500? The upper end Panasonic's have only three.

per early specs the 8500 will have 4 HDMI inputs...

I know who to call when I want to get it too.

Onecall is clearly using the B2B materials provided by Samsung and this is a shot of a cosmetic mock-up. Mount is VESA 400x400. As stated, there will be 4 HDMI inputs.
These will be in the hands of legit authorized dealers the third or fourth week of March.

Just read on another site that the F8500 will start shipping on March 18.

Nice, eagerly waiting some real hands on reviews..
Samsung"s claims about this TV are truly setting the bar quite high and boy do I hope they reach them... Luckily for me I've already narrowed down my 2 choices for my next TV down to the 51F8500 or 50" ST60, seeing Panny already said to expect very little PQ difference between the ST50 & ST60 comparisons between the F8500 and ST50 should be available soon after March 18th

My guess is the F8500 will clearly beat the ST60, edge out the VT60 and be very, very close to the ZT60. I still think the ZT60 will edge the F8500 out in MLL, but other areas might be different.

Did you get a chance to see the ZT60 and F8500 at CES? If so, please share your other observations and comparisons. Thx.