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

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 57
    cash907cash907 Posts: 893member
    Yes. in TV's it's the back light that's LED vs flourescent.   The 'color' is still LCD technology.  

    LED uses a lot less electricity (like 50% less) than 'std' LCDs and has fewer ugly metals.  Put your hand on an LED screen vs an 'LCD' screen at your big box store and you can feel the difference.

    Never ceases to amaze me the amount of confusion the ad campaigns for these new sets has caused. I had a business associate swear up and down to me he had an LED TV, not LCD.

    Personally, I prefer my three year old CCFL Aquos to the newer edge lit LED's. Yeah it might be thicker and heavier, but the lighting is much more uniform without any dead spots or backlight bleed. The local dimming LED's correct this, but they generally cost a grand or two more.
  • Reply 22 of 57
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    bagman wrote: »
    Hasn't LED pretty much replaced the high-end LCD displays anyhow?  The ads say that the "green" LED's are better energy-wise.  I still have my Sharp LCD, which continues to be amazing 5 years later.

    Ok here's where the whole "LEDs TVs are only LCD panels with LED lighting" posts begin
  • Reply 23 of 57
    mac_128mac_128 Posts: 3,454member
    Or perhaps they are going to be the exclusive manufacture of the Apple TV sets.
  • Reply 24 of 57
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    bagman wrote: »
    Hasn't LED pretty much replaced the high-end LCD displays anyhow?  The ads say that the "green" LED's are better energy-wise.  I still have my Sharp LCD, which continues to be amazing 5 years later.

    No. LEDs do not replace LCDs in TVs (at least not at the current stage of development).

    Historically. LCDs had fluorescent backlights. Recently, the fluorescent backlights have been replaced with LED backlights. The LCD display itself is unchanged.

    It is true that they are experimenting with OLED displays where the LED itself is the display. However, they are not yet available in large enough sizes at competitive prices to have any impact. Perhaps in 5-10 years, it might be true to say that LED displays have replaced LCD displays. Today, it isn't.
  • Reply 25 of 57


    Sounds completely like a phony rumor. Panasonic makes some of the best plasma sets available.


     


    I'll wait and see.

  • Reply 26 of 57


    The shake-ups in electronics will continue.  It's not that Apple is driving the change, but their process (design and production) and marketing is certainly influencing both other product manufacturers as well as consumers - who in many cases have figured out the old "you get what you pay for" mantra.  So much crap is cluttering the market that you have to work hard to differentiate in order to be noticed.  With tv's, there's just so little differentiation that price has become one of the only purchase influencers now.


     


    The talk of Apple jumping into the tv game scares the heck out of the legacy brands and has to shake up even the newer players, including Samsung, given the power of Apple marketing to drive consumers to buy all things Apple.

  • Reply 27 of 57


    They'd probably just exit the LCD TV market. Their LCD TVs haven't fared all that well in reviews and are generally far less impressive than their fantastic plasmas so it might make sense to concentrate on plasmas and try to move the LCD manufacturing to more lucrative areas.

  • Reply 28 of 57
    welshdogwelshdog Posts: 1,907member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by kasakka View Post


    They'd probably just exit the LCD TV market. Their LCD TVs haven't fared all that well in reviews and are generally far less impressive than their fantastic plasmas so it might make sense to concentrate on plasmas and try to move the LCD manufacturing to more lucrative areas.



    I think you are right.  The article didn't specify, it just said "exit TV market."  Could be there was more info there and that they intend to stay in plasmas.  They just bought Pioneer's plasma business a couple of years ago - I doubt it has paid for itself yet.


     


     I have two Panasonic high end plasmas in our studio.  They are absolutely the closest in color accuracy to the old CRT standard.  They even have a THX mode that puts the set in REC.709 color space.  Cost effective too.

  • Reply 29 of 57

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


    Sounds completely like a phony rumor. Panasonic makes some of the best plasma sets available.


     


    I'll wait and see.



     


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

  • Reply 30 of 57

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by scotty321 View Post



    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.


     


    Actually I've had the opposite experience.


     


    Panasonic products have been the lowest cost, most rugged and high performing products for me. That includes DVD recorder and Video cameras. Sony is usually the worst (at the consumer price level) and often have annoying DRM and strange interfaces to contend with.


    Samsung is usually a hit or miss situation -- never anything stellar.

  • Reply 31 of 57
    19831983 Posts: 1,225member
    This is a great shame if true, Pani make great TV's. If they do go that'll leave just Samsung, LG, Sony and Toshiba producing mainstream TV's (for Europe anyway) with Sony maybe on the way out too, that'll leave just the Koreans and Tosh, what competition and choice is that for customers? Oh wait a second there's Philips too.
  • Reply 32 of 57
    jfanningjfanning Posts: 3,398member
    Sony is usually the worst (at the consumer price level) and often have annoying DRM and strange interfaces to contend with.

    Please name the annoying DRM they come with, and what strange interfaces?
  • Reply 33 of 57

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Eddie_YVP View Post


     


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



     


    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.


     


    Panasonic is probably realizing that IN THE FUTURE, just making a large screen TV isn't going to be profitable. I seriously doubt they would NOT be talking to their bean counters and looking a the tech down the road.


     


    Being the BEST right now, is not the same as being profitable in the future.

  • Reply 34 of 57


    Originally Posted by jfanning View Post

    Please name the annoying DRM they come with, and what strange interfaces?


     


    Are you joking? Every single product they make is either their own made up crap interface and/or uses their own proprietary DRM. They only gave up that crap and adopted SD very recently, but they still use their proprietary crap on the high end.

  • Reply 35 of 57
    An LED TV _IS_ an LCD TV. The only change is the use of LED strips as a backlight rather than cold cathode tubes. It's one of the biggest deceits of the consumer technology to market them as a new technology as they are 90% the same. I wonder how the marketeers are going to differentiate actual LED TV that work by emitting light rather than withholding light when they start to become available in the next few years. Maybe Panasonic are getting out before the lie comes home to roost.
  • Reply 36 of 57
    clemynxclemynx Posts: 1,552member
    That's the logic of our current economy, the company that sells the best TVs wants to exit that market.
    And some people still believe offer and demand.
  • Reply 37 of 57
    zozmanzozman Posts: 393member
    Noooo :(
  • Reply 38 of 57
    I am sorry to say much of this information is incorrect.

    It is true that Panasonic is working hard to supply the very large portable device manufacturers with displays and that we may see Panasonic concentrate engineering and manufacturing in their core display business, which is building PDP displays for professional, broadcast and consumer markets.

    The article has generated many calls from a/v enthusiasts to buy Panasonic's well respected VT50 series TVs before they are all gone.

    Robert Zohn
  • Reply 39 of 57


    I'm with a bunch of you guys.  Hate to see Panasonic T.V's go as they are usually one of the better looking screens for the price.  Still though I love that Panasonic is joining in on providing for Apple since I've always liked the quality of their products.

  • Reply 40 of 57
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    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.

    Panasonic is probably realizing that IN THE FUTURE, just making a large screen TV isn't going to be profitable. I seriously doubt they would NOT be talking to their bean counters and looking a the tech down the road.

    Being the BEST right now, is not the same as being profitable in the future.

    The picture on a LED look too fake for my taste. Surprising at how many people still believe the old limitations of plasma, they now have a longer life than LCDs, no more burn in, and they're now almost as thin as a LED. I just got a Panasonic plasma and I absolutely love it.
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