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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."
BBC News: Sony denies plasma TV withdrawal
I have been a user for about 10 years. This ends Feb 2014. The site's been ruined. I'm off. Dice, FU
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.
In other words, making CRTs is a cast-iron bitch.
They're cheap because of economies of scale and engineering experience.
Plasmas and LCDs, on the other hand, have (IIRC) direct connections to the pixels to light them up. No steering of a beam involved - just switching electronics, which we've gotten really good at in the last few decades.
Now we're just waiting for economies of scale to knock down the prices, and engineering experience to make manufacturing more efficient.
Twenty or thirty years from now, I'd bet a flat-screen TV can be had for the equivalent of a few hundred bucks.
And what about DLP? High resolution, no burn in issues, high contrast, vibrant color, light wieght and small footprint, although not small enough to hang on your wall. What more could you want? (Oh, and a $300 bulb every few years under average use, can't forget the negatives).
The cesspool just got a check and balance.
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.
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.
~Just keep eating, porky. Fat people are harder to kidnap.
I love (but am not "in love with") circuit city employees (not managers). I've had great luck with their people knowing about the products and telling me stuff that would probably be considered bad for their managers to know about. That's why I drive a little bit extra to go there instead of Best Buy or similar stores.
One time I had a Circuit City guy tell me all about home theater options. He told me the Sony stuff pretty much sucked for the price. He then offered me alternatives. I left and thought about my choices some. It was nice to get the real scoop on the products.
When I came back the next day the salesperson that helped me was actually a manager. He started pushing Sony so I told him what the person had said the day before. He got all indignant and wanted to know who that salesperson was. He said that Sony could punish the store for that sort of thing. When I asked him if they were forced to lie about all of their products & weren't actually interested in helping the customer get the best item, I was met by 10 seconds of silence. When he started into backtrack mode I politely informed him that since he was an asshole I would just go purchase my product online. That started an array of managers and owners trying to "help" me. It was awesome.
The regular employees are great though.