Own Up....Who's Got The Oldest Plasma ?

Walton Goggins

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Just visited Comet and Currys and others, all of them say plasma is finished in Japan, should buy lcd instead. Stuff like that

They pack up in three years or abouts so need to buy a warranty too at big bucks or it goes in the skip
Anybody here prove them wrong, are plasmas finished or what

I prefer plasma picture rather than lcd, want 32" by the way

Anybody using an old plasma still without it dying after a couple of years ? :confused:
 
i,m using Pio 433mxe for 3 years still without any color or brightness problem :)
 
The same sales people who told us about re-gassing etc.
They prob get better commision or they have more lcds in stock or are trying to shift some old stock or their bosses have shares in lcd, oh I don't know or care!
Yes plasma is prob in 'mid-life' I still don't care.Mine is 2.5 yrs old and to my eyes is still the type of picture I prefer. Everybody to their own etc.
My mates panny 3 is now 3 and a bit years old is used all day.Mind you acording to those sales folk his is about to go pop.So excuse me I must rush off to tell him. ;)
 
If plasma is finished, why are there so many new models around. And if it's finished in Japan why did Panasonic bring out the 7 series displays?
Could it be that Currys et al have a shop full of LCD's and want you buy them?
Or could it be so that they scare you into parting with huge amounts of cash for an extended warranty (where they make most of their profit).

Have a look in most Tesco's where you'll find (Panasonic) displays on pretty much 24/7 without any detriment - the one in Covent Garden looks as good as when I first saw it - well over a year and a half ago. Expand that sort of use to the hours you'd be likely to use it and it should last years.

I really hate Currys and Dixons etc.. sales patter. I'm surprised they didn't tell you a plasma neeed re-gassing after a couple of years.
Reminds me of an argument I once had in Dixons (about 12 years ago). The manager had just sold me an ex demo Sony 14" portable. It was already discounted and I wangled another £10 off the price. He got very nasty with me when I wouldn't buy a warranty for it. I told him I trusted modern electronics, so he said "what if it breaks down?".
"I'll fix it, I'm an engineer" - that shut him up. End result Dixons had no profit and I got my bargain.

My advice is (and if I can ever persuade the other half to approve the purchase) is to buy from John Lewis. If you're lucky - and a lot of people here have been, they'll price match, and you get a nice 5 year guarantee.
 
Walton Goggins said:
all of them say plasma is finished in Japan, should buy lcd instead. Stuff like that:

They're right, LCD will supercede Plasma in the long run. To be fair those stores have a stack load of plasma that they could have sold you but instead they told you the likely outcome of the technology.
 
Panny 42" PW3 bought by me July 2001. Picture still superb, no logo burn, from day one used in Normal setting with high contrast. Most days used for circa 4 hours. Only snag- what I paid for it 3 years ago!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
The reality is that the manufacturers and retailers want a product to have a shelf life - thats where they make their money!

For example, 4:3, the 16:9, then flat screen, then black drive, then plasma and now lcd. Surely some of these steps could have been combined but they weren't so that they had a selling tool.

Technology moves on, I'm not bothering to wait any further and am going the plasma route as I prefer it.

I still prefer the old LP's on my record player as they have a texture and depth I don't have in my cd player...

...rest my case!!!
 
Walton Goggins

Best advice is to avoid retailers that talk rubbish.

Looked after correctly even the earliest Plasma displays from Pioneer and Panasonic (c 1998) are still earning a keep in many corporate installations; some of them are on a fair few hours a day seven days a week.

Plasma sales are not pegged to 'peak' until 2007 and will continue past then for a fair while until something new comes along - LCD will follow a similar path; though at a lower price/size point and have much larger volume sales.

The big guys have fingers in Plasma, LCD and various organic LED and the like 'emerging' technologies - not all of which take off.

Best regards

Joe
 
Bit harsh tarnishing all comet stores with the same brush. At the end of the day it's down to the individual sales person.

Since working in comet I have only seen one plasma which has come back broken. The crappy Hyundai one. Screen cracked!

I wouldn't say LCD is better than plasma either. I dont think that it's possible at the moment to say one technology is greater than the other. Personally, I think the best "flat" panel we have is the 32" Hitachi Plasma. Progressive scan and component video look fantastic on it. Our small store doesnt have any panasonic plasma :(

With regards to warrantys, comet have just significantly reduced the cost of the warranty on plasma tv. Around 50% reduction and the service is unchanged.
They are not for everyone. You certainly cant say that the TV will "blow up" in 5 years. That's not right. Biggest advantage is accidental damage, but again, extended warranties are not everyones cup of tea and if you are feeling pressured to take it or that you must take it then something is amiss.

I oversee the TV section at work and have only had one TV blow up since doing so. A 28" Tosh. Tube went within a day
 
Thanks everybody for replies

I feel a lot better informed

Great forum this :)

Think I'll go for plasma after all , try lcd next time maybe :thumbsup:
 
I bought my Philips 42PF9952 in September 2000, back then it was £6995 including wall bracket and optional pedestal stand. I had 15% discount so paid £5945.

It failed in September 2003, original two year warranty had expired, but Philips replaced it at no cost to me with a 42PF9965.

My opinion of plasma is that there is little to repair if it fails, most faults need to be rectified by exchanging the whole thing, otherwise they are classed as beyond economical to repair.
LCDs on the other hand can be repaired by replacing the 60,000 backlight lamp, possibly at a reasonable cost. If they last as long as they say, the average person won't bother having a repair , will they ?

Perhaps the truth is plasmas and LCDS will BOTH " end up in the skip " when they fail outside warranty ? I wonder how many of us will be able to use our consumer rights to achieve a remedy with either flat screens during the supposed six year period ? This could be very expensive situation for extended warranty providers, retailers and makers ! :cool:
 
Age of the plasma is kinder irrelevant, it's not a car which will rust whether you use it or not. How about people telling us how may hours they have on their plasma. I've 250 on mine (only a month old though).
 
Yeah , i bought mine from a Panasonic approved dealer in Middlesex , around December 1999 for £4000 and the dealer threw in a freebie portable CD player .
Anyway , the plasma still works great , a couple of dead pixels but i had reduced the settings from default after purchase . The set is on approx . 14 hours a day 365 days a year !
 
I'll just say that my Panasonic, LG and Pioneer (bought in 2009) plasmas have lasted longer than Comet, ha-ha .....
 
I must confess Panasonic make great plasma and they seem to have set the standard then but Samsung or LG didn't really feature in the running .
I am certain that my next purchase will be a Panasonic HDR tv but i will keep the plasma safe in my loft . I remember paying around £10,000 in Dec 1999 for the complete kit . Panasonic 40" plasma monitor ( the tuner was manually located in a recess at the base ! ) . Denon amplifier AVC A1se , Denon DVD 2800 ( now dead ) , Kef 7.1 speaker set up , lashings of the best interconnects and silver oxygen free cable at the time plus nice glass display .
Amazed and wowed folks that paid a visit at the time and amazing to watch The Matrix with cinema like sound !!
 
No gas yet hopefully , and the colors and picture rendition still look great . I manually run the white bar scroll screen saver and image reversal when i remember but really the picture still looks great until i visit JL and look at the sharp stubble , blade of glass in HDR !!
Apart from a couple of dead pixels visible against a white background all is well . Power consumption bit heavy at 295Watts and more with the Denon amp .

Almost for got , i had to get a custom box ' RGB to Plasma ' from a boffin in Scotland with a scart lead into one end from the DVD player and an RS 232 out , and into the plasma . The trailing cables behind the tv look like spaghetti !!

Hopefully , will last long enough for Panasonic to give me a free big screen job in my dreams !!
 

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