The Sony Centre Plasma Experience

[peterho]

I have a hitachi 7200 connected to my sony home cinema system,my wife would like to put the tv in the bedroom and buy a sony 42 hd ready plasma to match up.I looked at the sony website and they had 2 plasmas a 50"w seies which is too big and expensive for us and a 42" v series which is not hd ready.

So off we went today to the sony centre in Wakefield,I asked the 2 sales staff if sony were going to do a hd ready 42"plasma.There reply floored us they said sony no longer make plasmas as lcds gave better pictures and the future was lcd.

I told them I already had a plasma screen and it was giving a better picture than the lcds on display in the shop,they replied that all manufacturers were stopping production of plasmas in the next 3 years,we left the shop shaking our heads.

You would think that staff in a sony shop would know their own products,perhaps this is why sony centre shops are closing?,or have they been on a comet/currys training course.

 

[kamaran]

I think they are kind of right. Plasma products do have a finite life before manufacturers stop production (Sony have already stopped), that is until LCD becomes cheaper and better - therefore superceeds it (in one form or another).

 

[chedmaster]

they aren't part of sony themselves, they are just a chain with the brand name.

sony are stopping plasmas but only because their plasmas never sold. they were just rebadged hitachis, in fact if you had of bought one it would be almost identical to your 7200. They just sold hitachis for twice the price
Isnt the 7200 HD ready? why not keep that and get a panny pw8 or other SD for the bedroom?

 

[chedmaster]

i dont think panny and pioneer will stop making plasmas in 3 years, just because sony are they want you to think everyone else is. i doubt lcds are the future, maybe the high dynamic range ones but theyre still £50000.

 

[madshi]

I think they are kind of right. Plasma products do have a finite life before manufacturers stop production (Sony have already stopped), that is until LCD becomes cheaper and better - therefore superceeds it (in one form or another).

Sorry, but that's simply and clearly wrong.

All major predictions by market analysts indicate that plasma is going to stay cheaper for years to come, at least in bigger sizes (so excluding 37"). Panasonic just opened a brand new plasma fab this month which will double their monthly plasma production when it's in full production mode (which is planned for early 2006). Why should they build new fabs now if they plan to stop plasma production is 3 years? That would be economical suicide. Also it's completely unrealistic, as plasma sales are sky rocketing like crazy. Even with the new fab Panasonic seems to have problems to satisfy the demand. Want to know some more facts? Panasonic, Pioneer und Hitachi just announced major new technological developments (1080p plasma panels) on the CEATEC in Japan, which cost them a fortune to develop and which will be released in 2006+. LG and Samsung are expected to follow suit soon. Wanna know more? The 3 mentioned firms Panasonic, Pioneer and Hitachi have just announced that they worked together and found a way to half plasma's power consumption. They plan to release this technology in 2-3 years from now. So saying that plasma will run into a dead end in 3 years is just plain wrong. Sorry...

 

[chedmaster]

might wanna remove that language before the mods come

edit: much better, totally agree btw, didnt know about that power thing?

 

[madshi]

Ok now?

 

[peterho]

I kow sony centres are just a chain,but they do have sony support and should be fully aware of there tv range.they should not make out their own opinions of plasma as fact

I think they have an hidden agenda to push lcds probably linked to the interest free offer,I know sony do not make their own plasmas but they do sell them and thats what I went in to enquire about.

 

[madshi]

Sony's problem is that they have no own plasma fabs. They don't know the technology, they never participated in development, AFAIK. So all they can do is buy panels from real plasma manufacturers and add the TV electronics etc. That's ok, and that's what they did in the past, but they can't earn a lot of money that way. Because of that they want to drop plasma and use LCD screens for smaller screen sizes plus SXRD RPTV for bigger screen sizes. They have participated in development of these two technologies, so they can earn much more money when selling such TVs, because they can use their self made panels.

Dropping plasma is a business decision for Sony. Now the marketing has to find a way to sell that business decision to the potential customers. What can the marketing do? You know marketing: If the competition has a technology which you don't have (or which you would have to buy yourself for expensive money), you begin to make that competition's technology bad. "Plasma is bad. LCD is better. Plasma will die soon, anyway". This is how marketing works. And as you can see in this thread, some people actually fall for it...

 

[kamaran]

They plan to release this technology in 2-3 years from now. So saying that plasma will run into a dead end in 3 years is just plain wrong. Sorry...

I never said it will run into an end date in 3 years I just said Plasma is considered to have a finite life and LCD (in one form or another) will be the future.

Sony havent been able to keep up with the plasma market and have faced criticism for industry analysts for no longer innovating, just following the crowd - which has affected their bottom line.

 

[madshi]

I never said it will run into an end date in 3 years

The Sony shop claimed that Plasmas would be dead in 3 years and you replied with "I think they are kind of right". That read to me as if you'd agree with the 3 years time table.

I just said Plasma is considered to have a finite life and LCD (in one form or another) will be the future.

We don't know yet what the future will hold. There are several technologies out there which could move both Plasma *and* LCD out of the market (e.g. SED, FED and OLED).

Personally, I definately do not think that LCD is the future. Why? Because it's too complicated. There's a back light, and then another layer on top of that which has to block light or not. That's bad for power consumption, and it's also bad for cost. I think it's just a bad idea to first create light and then to block it again.

OLED sounds great to me, if only they'd get the lifetime problems solved.

But who knows, there might a technology totally unknown right now which might take over the display world in 10 years from now. Technology develops faster these days than ever before, as far as I can see.

Anyway, that's all future talk and pure speculation right now. All current signs indicate that plasma is here to stay for several years to come. Actually plasma is just starting to gain ground. With prices falling 30% every year, just now plasma is beginning to reach the real mass market. With every year going by it's getting more and more attractive (just like LCD, of course).

 

[kamaran]

Anyway, that's all future talk and pure speculation right now. All current signs indicate that plasma is here to stay for several years to come. [\QUOTE]

Which is why I am buying a 346-XDE

 

[kamaran]

Anyway, that's all future talk and pure speculation right now. All current signs indicate that plasma is here to stay for several years to come.

Which is why I am buying a 436-XDE

 

[madshi]

Nice choice!