Plasma Manufacturer Poll

[AzureKnight]

I've been reading here a LOT over the past few weeks as I am moving into the HDTV world and there seems to be a lot of plasma debate between favorite manufacturers, especially where Panasonic and Pioneer come up.

I was curious as to everyones personal preference of company.

Kampfer, looks like I can't update the options but I could always start another thread.....

[Kampfer]

Replace Westinghouse, Sharp, and Sony on there with Fujitsu, Philip, Maxent, and Vizio. Unless you are just asking about flat panels in general.

[afiggatt]

There are some rather serious problems with your poll list. To start with Sharp, Sony, Toshiba, and Westinghouse don't make plasmas. Sharp and Sony do not even sell plasmas. Westinghouse sells only LCDs in the flat panel area as far I know and are just rebadged LCD TVs from an OEM. Westinghouse as a company got out of the consumer electronics market a long time ago, these TVs are from a importer who brought the rights to the Westinghouse name.

The major manufacturer of plasmas are: Panasonic/Matsushita, Samsung, LG, Pioneer/NEC, Hitachi/Fujitsu, Philips with several Taiwan/Chinese companies making some of the low end off brand models.

[elwood58]

Toshiba does not make Plasmas? They sell them, so who makes them? Sony does not even sell Plasmas? I was at my neighbors watching his last week.

The list could go on all day. I, for one, own a Daewoo, made mainly by NEC, with a bit of Pioneer thrown in for good measure. They have been making panels since 2004, and still have some challenges getting it right. I, for one, am on my second panel.

With few exceptions, most Plasmas are a Frankenstien of "Best of Breed" subsystems from a small handful of manufacturers. Most people assume this when it comes to glass, but not the rest of the system. Go back twenty (20) years, and we could be talking about the clone PC market.

Ultimately it comes down to a question of integration. The top of the food chain is populated with manufacturers like Pioneer and Panny who do system level integration versus putting a bunch of parts together that should work, and mostly do work. The final result from these top players is a much more refined product.

At the end of the day, the objective should be to buy the best product within your budget. For some this will be Vizio, Maxent...........For others this will be Pioneer, Panny etc. The ultimate test are the eyes in your head, the money in your wallet, and your willingness to take a little technical risk once in a while.

Enjoy your flat panels everybody, regardless of which badge is on the frame!

[afiggatt]

[QUOTE=elwood58]Toshiba does not make Plasmas? They sell them, so who makes them? Sony does not even sell Plasmas? I was at my neighbors watching his last week.[/QUOTE]
Toshiba buys the plasma panels from Panasonic or LG. I think last year's model were Panasonic, this year is LG. They add their electronics to the model. Toshiba is making a huge investment and gamble in SED flat panels, so they may drop plasmas once SED (if it ever does) starts shipping in quantity.

Sony stopped selling plasmas last year. They never made plasma panels, buying most (all?) of the panels in their TVs from Samsung. Sony co-owns a LCD plant with Samsung and that is where the Sony LCD TV panels come from.

[sportsnut]

Toshiba no longer even makes the electronics for their Plasma's, they've outsourced the entire process. The current models use LG glass and are manufactured by Orion.

[InYourEyes]

[QUOTE=sportsnut]Toshiba no longer even makes the electronics for their Plasma's, they've outsourced the entire process. The current models use LG glass and are manufactured by Orion.[/QUOTE]
Toshiba no longer makes plasma TVs but they still make LCD TVs sized 26" and above.