Panasonic to exit TV market, hopes to build LCD panels for Apple's iPad - report - Page 2

Quote:

Originally Posted by scotty321 

Please, dear God, no. Every Panasonic product I have ever owned stopped working after a few months. Their quality is lower than any I have ever seen.

Guess we've had opposite experiences. I have a Panasonic DVD player that is about 10 years old and a Panasonic TV that is about 7 years old and I've never had any trouble with either.

For TV's, BD players and phones Panasonic is the very best, all other CE devices are not as great. 

-Robert

Plasma patents went from NEC Plasma to Pioneer to Panasonic (example: US Patent 7,158,110). Obviously these patents are cursed. Cursed I tell you. Cursed. 

Who will be their next unsuspecting victim?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fake_William_Shatner 

 

I have a feeling that the days of Plasma may be drawing to a close. LED tech is going to be "good enough" and cheaper due to all the money going into it's use in the smaller "retina' displays.

As a rule, I believe that you get what you pay for.  I'm starting to wonder if what you say isn't closer to the real truth though.

I work in broadcasting, so when I needed to buy a TV I was able to quickly get the opinions of many knowledgeable people.  To a man, the recommendation was Panasonic plasma.  Not one dissenter.  I got one and loved it.

Then when I needed another TV to fit in a tight space, Panasonic wasn't a good choice because of the very wide bezel.  Other brands let me fit more screen in the same amount of space.

I spent several hours over several days carefully comparing the image quality of various sets.  After exhaustive comparisons I settled on a Sony XBR.

Once installed, I didn't notice any difference between it and the Panasonic it replaced.  In side-by-side comparisons the differences from set-to-set had been obvious, but standing alone in the living room with no comparison reference, it just looked like... a TV.  That's $2000 I'll never get back...

For me the lesson was that I don't watch closely enough to appreciate the benefits of a better quality TV.  For me, when it comes to TVs I should worry less about "best" and instead learn to recognize what will be "good enough."

Any of the current technology of LCD/LED TV can not beat the picture quality of a Plasma TV. But, who still wants to build and sell a 42+ inch TV that sells for less than an Ipad of merely 10 inch screen? The rate of return just keeps diminishing by the days...

Quote:

Originally Posted by v5v 

 

As a rule, I believe that you get what you pay for.  I'm starting to wonder if what you say isn't closer to the real truth though.

 

I work in broadcasting, so when I needed to buy a TV I was able to quickly get the opinions of many knowledgeable people.  To a man, the recommendation was Panasonic plasma.  Not one dissenter.  I got one and loved it.

 

Then when I needed another TV to fit in a tight space, Panasonic wasn't a good choice because of the very wide bezel.  Other brands let me fit more screen in the same amount of space.

 

I spent several hours over several days carefully comparing the image quality of various sets.  After exhaustive comparisons I settled on a Sony XBR.

 

Once installed, I didn't notice any difference between it and the Panasonic it replaced.  In side-by-side comparisons the differences from set-to-set had been obvious, but standing alone in the living room with no comparison reference, it just looked like... a TV.  That's $2000 I'll never get back...

 

For me the lesson was that I don't watch closely enough to appreciate the benefits of a better quality TV.  For me, when it comes to TVs I should worry less about "best" and instead learn to recognize what will be "good enough."

Panasonic is not exiting the TV business.  In fact, the VT50 series has been rated as the best TV for 2012 by every professional reviewer and won our "King of HDTV" award at our 8th annual Flat Panel Shootout. 

Panasonic's 2013 PDP line up looks stunning so have no fear the top TV manufacturer is alive and well with great plans for furthering the development and manufacturing of plasma displays.

-Robert

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eddie_YVP 

 

Pioneer made some of the best plasma sets available - yet they left the business.

Yes but they were hi end market, no one really could afford them. You can actually afford Panasonic plasma and I know lots of people who have one including me. Never heard somebody would have Pioneer....

They left the business because people started to become more accepting of crap quality. I call it the Wal-Mart generation.
 

According to TWICE magazine, Panasonic has denied that they're leaving the business.     

Quote:

Originally Posted by pondosinatra 

They left the business because people started to become more accepting of crap quality. I call it the Wal-Mart generation.
 

I love the high-end and those Pioneer Kuro sets were spectacular, but even though the price may have been fair for the technology offered at the time, they were still beyond the means of anyone who didn't have money to burn.   As much as I loved the quality of those sets (they actually took my breath away), I wasn't spending over $5K on a television set.     (If I remember correctly, the 60" was about $7K to $8K).  

There's a huge middle ground between the typical crap that's sold at Wal-Mart and the big electronics chains and something like the Kuros.     

I think Apple is one of the few companies who even during the recession, was able to successfully sell high-priced products.    Apple is doing spectacularly well across the entire product line.   You can still buy a Dell PC (or the equivalent) for $400 when the very cheapest Mac is $1000.    It's amazing to me that Apple has done as well as it has, especially during tough economic times because generally, consumers (in the U.S. at least) go for low price over quality.   It's becoming harder and harder to find decently made anything unless you go to the ridiculously high end (which while looking good, isn't always of the highest quality anyway).   

Quote:

Originally Posted by zoetmb 

It's amazing to me that Apple has done as well as it has, especially during tough economic times because generally, consumers (in the U.S. at least) go for low price over quality.   It's becoming harder and harder to find decently made anything unless you go to the ridiculously high end (which while looking good, isn't always of the highest quality anyway).   

I've actually been trying to deliberately adjust my expectations downwards over the last few years. It's not that I don't appreciate "better," it's that it hasn't been good VALUE.

Over the years I began to realize that the premium I was paying for better quality products wasn't returning enough benefit to make it worth the cost. The results I got *were* better, but not *enough* better to justify the cost. The old diminishing returns thing -- 50% higher price for a 25% improvement in performance.

The light bulb moment came when my $1000 scanner packed it in after less than two years. You can live with that when the device only cost $100 but it's Kevin-Klein-in-"A Fish Called Wanda" DISAPPOINTING! when you've paid for "quality." I realized that friends and neighbours were getting perfectly acceptable results with their consumer grade equipment while not leaving them too broke to buy essential extras like paper, ink and food.

I'm now trying to overcome that urge to go for the best available and instead try to identify what will be "good enough."

Selling TV has always been a strategy from Panasonic - I can't believe this ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mac_128 

Or perhaps they are going to be the exclusive manufacture of the Apple TV sets.

Two Hours. That must be a new record. 

Okay kidding. I was thinking more an actual article. but I bet it won't be long. 

Hmm, maybe I'll leak it to someone. MacRumors, 9to5Mac. who should I try.