Sony and Sharp Backing LCD TVs Over Plasma?

LostCluster writes "Several reports out of Toyko are indicating that Sony intends on dropping out of the plasma TV business and ramping up productions of LCD TVs instead. Meanwhile rumors have it that Sharp is planning on investing US$1.9 billion on an LCD production plant."

Comments

Sony deny it (BBC link)

[CdBee]

BBC News: Sony denies plasma TV withdrawal

They're both nice things to have

[hattig]

Plasmas are nice for moving images, although the resolutions don't typically match HDTV resolutions at the moment, and low-end plasmas basically suck for resolution (480P). LCD TV displays are often made now in HDTV compatible resolutions (1280x720, 1920x1080) which automatically makes them a better choice, until plasma displays also come with decent resolution at a comparable price. I'm not saying that there aren't cheap plasmas that have HDTV native resolutions of course, just that the majority of cheap 42" plasmas have 480 lines of resolution *still*.

The sensible person, of course, will wait 3 years and then pick up whatever is the best techology then, for a much nicer price. Of course, I did promise myself my next TV would be at least 40" on the diagonal, and plasmas are much better at these sizes than LCD TVs which generally top out at 30" for a lot of money.

Life Testing

[Anonymous Coward]

how on earth does anyone know that a plasma TV will last 15 years?

Well, it's an estimate, but an educated one. At the manufacturing plants we do life testing where we burn in the test units for a specified amount of time (usually three months or more) often under some extreme environment. This is the routine life testing and doesn't even consider the tests which the original design models go through. Anyway, from what we learn from the life tests, we can estimate how long the sets will last in the consumer's homes. 15 years might be a bit optimistic, but it's not a bad estimate. In all honestly, I would put it closer to 10-12 years.

And yes, I make plasma TVs.

Re:Will this bring prices down?

[ChesireKat]

Being a Circuit City employee, I say LCD is the best bang-for-your-buck, and everyone in our TV department agrees. Plasma is for people who like to show off they have a lot of money.

And, you HAVE to get the extended warrenty on a plasma (its stupid not to). The LCD extended warrenty is "optional." Most people don't take that into account. Besides, LCD's have a much longer life expectancy.