how many Companies ACTUALLY manufacture the screen??

F355

Good question.

But I think the problem that you come across is that if lets say Panasonic and B&O use the same glass, whose's electronics beyond the glass produces the best picture. Then, you've got the problem of diminished returns (why pay three times as much for a picture that might only be 5% better) and the mental effect of "it cost more so it must be better".

I know LG and Samsung do, and I think there are three more. Just not sure who they are.

Panasonic and Pioneer make their own and should be at the top of your list.

Samsumg and LG make their own panels but are generally considered 2nd tier.

Hitachi makes the 42" 1080i and the 55" PDPs.

NEC sold their PDP factory to Pioneer, so they really are more like Fujitsu now and have their own electronics added to other panels.

I do agree that Pioneer is at the top of the heap as far as making probably the best overall set, but I think many would take issue with your other conclusions. My personnel set got a really good write up- even some good comparisons to Pioneer here ..
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,12...s/article.html
and most of what I read have Panny and Samsung in the same ball game with a few others, PQ and quality wise.
All this is opinion, of course. Most of the top 5 or 6 brands have followings and good track records, overall.
Lets see..not in any specific order. (*makes their own panels)
*Pioneer
*Samsung
*Panasonic
*LG
Sony
Mitz
Odd thing is why Mitz does not have any PDP, when I am pretty sure Panasonic is a sub of Mitz.

"Odd thing is why Mitz does not have any PDP, when I am pretty sure Panasonic is a sub of Mitz. "

B P: I believe that Matsushita is Panasonic's parent company.

-George

You are right. My apologies. I have got the names confused in the past.
Mitsubishi, Matsushita. They must be cousins!

IMO Samsung is definitely not at the same level as Panasonic - in anything.

Tell your friend that, while B&O's plasma using Panasonic glass may have a better scaler than what Panasonic uses, he can still get better performance by pairing a cheaper Panasonic plasma with an external scaler such as the iScan VP30 and still end up spending a small fraction of what the B&O plasma would cost.

Furthermore, a scaler such as the iScan comes w/ extras such as 4 HDMI inputs and multiple outputs. Additionally, when scaling technology progresses, you can upgrade the scaler.

Samsungs new panels are excellent and will give Panasonic some good competition in the up coming year.

For those of you who don't know the history of Samsung, I will tell you. Samsung used to be sold in drug stores and JC Penny type stores. Samsung hired a marketing firm to change their image. The image they wanted was that of a luxury product maker. The marketing firm did an excellent job considering you think Samsung is top tier.

A different example with the same result is Copper River Salmon from Alaska. Fisherman wanted to increase the profit of Copper River Salmon. The salmon is not rare. Copper River fishermans group hired an ad agency/consulting firm to help increase Copper River salmon sales. The consulting firm reduced the availability of Copper River salmon from all season to two weeks out of the year. Idiots pay 3x as much for Copper River salmon and I'm pretty sure they don't know why. I think they think the salmon is rare or of high value. Nice job from the consulting company.

The same can be said of Samsung. They make good products but not great products. If you read a publication such as CNET.COM, you may disagree. Cnet has no expertise whatsoever.

Matsushita is the parent company of Panasonic. There's no affiliation with Mitsubishi. Both are members of the Japanese Hiratsu, making it difficult or impossible for competing companies to break into Japan's electronics industry. This business practice would be illegal in the United States. But Japan is very different from America.

The forgotten brand in Japan is Toshiba, the inventor of big screen television. Toshiba is vastly underrated and pretty much forgotten about. Toshiba makes arguably the best DLP's in the market. Toshiba is behind the curve with plasma's right now.

Sony has been overrated for the last 6 years. Sony makes garbage today and still commands huge price premiums.

Pioneer makes the best Plasmas but the price makes Pioneer a poor choice. I'm going with a Panasonic, probably a 50". Anybody know when Panasonic will introduce a true 1080i set?

I can only assume you meant "1080p" (?). If so, the answer is that they already have. There are 65" in both consumer and commercial models, as well as the 50" commercial model. Next year, 58" models are also expected, as well as a consumer 50" model.

Here is an interesting link. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of course.

http://www.plasma.com/classroom/whomakesplasma.htm

There is a lot more then just the "screen". For example te B&O plasma uses B&O processing not found in any other plasma. In my opinion the B&O rivals some of the top plasmas on the market in terms of processing.

The latest Bang & Olufsen 4-50" set connected to the BeoSystem 3 Controller (with the lastest firmware updates installed) offers the BEST picture I have seen on a 50" set.

Yes, I am aware they are expensive but the PQ is outstanding.

Whats the rough price on a B&O 50". (just curious)

$8900 for the TV, $7800 for the BeoSystem 3 Controller.

You left out Hitachi ! Add this...
*Hitachi

This is ridiculous. Panasonic has been making garbage electronics for decades. They are the master of junk equipment. Whether it be a clock radio or a telephone or a CRT TV or a "boom box" to speakers and receivers.... JUNK. Who has EVER looked at a Panasonic piece of equipment and admired what must be the obvious "quality" inherent to Panasonic? The Panasonic plasma is the Ford Taurus of plasmas....

Of course they left out that a ton of their components are made by Sanyo, most of the capacitors are made by them and a large number of SAW filters made by Sanyo are in most of the major brands. You'll find when you really break down the parts going into these devices, they all pretty much use the same stuff, it's how it's used that makes a difference. You can find Sony DVD players that use Toshiba RAM chips, as a matter of fact if you want embedded NAND, Toshiba is who you buy it from.

Please provide your source.

This information was probably accurate when created, but is now hopelessly outdated and therefore largely inaccurate.

Not surprising.

Still, at least some of it seems to jive with what has been said here. Other parts are just old (Sony, for example, does not sell Plasmas any longer, at least in the US and probably elsewhere now too).

Perhaps you could offer corrections/additions to the list? It would be nice to come up with an updated list that covers most of the major manufactures like this one does.

Here is what I know:

The Manufacturers of Plasma Panels

Pioneer: Manufacturer of panels (42", 50", 60"). Owns "old" NEC production lines.
Panasonic: Manufacturer of panels. (37", 42", 50", 58", 65", 103")
LG: Manufacturer of panels. (42", 50", 60", 71")
Hitachi: Manufacturer of panels (FHP - Fujitsu Hitachi Plasma) (42" and 55")
Samsung: Manufacturer of panels. (42", 50", 63")


Companies who Purchase Others' Glass
Toshiba -
2005/Early 2006 - Used Panasonic glass.
Now, uses LG glass.

NEC
Some models still use glass from NEC lines. Some are Pioneer glass.

Philips
May purchase from LG (they have an LCD partnership), but 63" is probably Samsung.

Fujitsu-
Sold off interest in FHP to Hitachi.
42" and 50" are now Panasonic.
55" is FHP.
63" is Samsung.

HP-
2005/Early 2006 - Used Panasonic glass.
Now, uses LG glass

Maxent-
Uses a mix of panels from Samsung, Panasonic, and LG.

Runco-
Uses NEC or Pioneer glass.

Vizio
Uses LG Glass

What panel does Vizio's 50" PDP use?

Interesting, thanks for compiling all of that info.

Once question I have is, what about the 61" glass that Pioneer and NEC have used in that past? Is that no longer being manufactured?

You're welcome.

The 61" glass is no longer around - it was 4th generation NEC glass.

I think the Vizio uses LG glass, but it may use glass from Samsung, or maybe multiple manufacturers. I say LG because the Vizio and LG sets both claim 10000:1 contrast ratio.

I have the Vizio 50" Plasma (the one with the HDTV tuner) and can confirm - my panel is made by LG (There are numerous LG stickers inside the set that are visible through the ventalation holes with the help of a flashlight)

So when you posted this comment on the board where the guy was asking for help on which 42" set to buy... "You should look at the panny 50" 9UK.... is that price for real at TV Authority for the 50" 9UK?"

Were you just persuading someone to buy "crap", as you put it, or are you just a hypocrite?