Samsung LN46A550 or Panasonic 46pz80u

[bandphan]

Pioneer doesn't make Plasmas anymore, they have them out sourced, just buying them direct from Panasonic.

http://blogs.consumerreports.org/electronics/2008/03/pioneer-to-exit.html

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/GadgetGuide/wireStory?id=4406486

And they are getting their LCDs from Sharp.

Panasonic and Hitachi are the last Plasma producers.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/03/pioneer-says-goodbye-to-plasma-manufacturing/

pioneer is buying the panel from panasonic, its still going to be their video proccesing and algorithms used inside the panel Outsourcing the glass is not going to be like vizo badging others parts completly.

fyi the 9gs wlill be out of pioneers factory, and the 10gs(elite) will still use pionee glass

 

[ParkerAudio]

Okay, I hadn't seen that, I am not sure why Pioneer would do that considering how much money they have lost on their Plasma televisions. Is the same to be said of Pioneer buying their LCDs from Sharp?

 

[bandphan]

Okay, I hadn't seen that, I am not sure why Pioneer would do that considering how much money they have lost on their Plasma televisions. Is the same to be said of Pioneer buying their LCDs from Sharp?

yes on the lcds, their plant was ineffcient and losing money. There will be some sharing of r&d with panasonic, and specing of glass to meet standards. I doubt there will be any drop in pq with the plasmas and the lcd will also have pioneer proccesing(and good black levels and smooth motion from what i hear from some insiders)

 

[ParkerAudio]

that is good to hear, I have been getting a little leery of all the suppliers using the same panels, rebadging, and using their high end name to get a high end price.

 

[mudrummer99]

Pioneer still makes plasmas. The only difference is that they are getting together with Panasonic to produce panels. R&D is done seperately. They aren't buying panels designed by Panasonic. They are sharing technology. It's similar to what Sony and Samsung do.

It's actually even a little more simple than that. According to our Pio rep, Pioneer will still make everything in house except for the glass panels in their tvs. All the electronics and assembly of the sets will still be done by Pioneer. They are doing this for one simple reason. Pioneer does not produce glass panels in a large enough quantity to make the manufacturing costs profitable. For example, in the 42" size Pio made about 350,000 panels a year compared to Panasonic's 3.5 million. Due to the sheer numbers the per panel cost is less. All of the glass Panny is making for Pio will still be built 100% to Pio's specs and the only difference consumers will see is the year over year improvements Pioneer has made from 8G-9G Kuro panels (and from what I've heard it is a HUGE improvement ) Hope this helps

Mike

PS, I am kind of excited to see pioneers new lcds though

 

[bandphan]

only difference consumers will see is the year over year improvements Pioneer has made from 8G-9G Kuro panels (and from what I've heard it is a HUGE improvement ) Hope this helps

Mike

9gs are still all pioneer

 

[mudrummer99]

9gs are still all pioneer

Thanks, must have misunderstood the rep as to when they were changing

Mike

 

[swank501]

My gf parents have a 450 series Samsung plasma that looks fantastic from what I can tell. Truth be told, whatever you decide on will be great because once you get it dialed in and watch it for awhile, it will look awesome. I went from a plasma to an old rear projection gigantoid TV and after a week of viewing the projection TV looks great to me. Maybe not as good as the plasma, but it really does the job well.

The Samsung has a pixel shift feature that shifts the image on pixel at a time to prevent image burn in. I'm sure the panny has it to, but I don't know for a fact. Anyway its a cool feature and imperceptable from a distance