Samsung’s plasma TV panel making division has decided to pull the plug on its plasma production at the end of November. What are the implications? We give you the details after the break.
Plasma History
Plasma once had a long list of panel makers including Hitachi, Pioneer, Fujitsu, NEC, Philips and Panasonic. Picture quality was not the issue for these companies pulling out, it was declining sales and associated high costs. Sales declined due to the superior marketing of LED LCD, along with its higher image brightness. Store salesmen would claim LED TV was a new technology, superseding plasma. It never was, but that’s an argument now left to history. One by one plasma TV panel makers pulled out. Panasonic, the market leader, decided to exit last year. Reasons cited were declining sales and the high expense to convert factories to UHD 4K panels. According to trade publication CE Daily, NPD analyst Stephen Baker said “plasma market share from the January-May period has steadily declined over the last three years from 19 percent in 2012, to 12 percent last year to 6 percent this year.”
Samsung’s departure at the end of 2014 leaves LG as the only TV maker supplying plasma TVs to the U.S. market. Unlike Samsung, which offers a full line of entry level 720p models, mid line 1080p and its top rated F8500 series, LG only offers entry and low mid-end models for 2014. Their future with plasma is unknown.
Samsung issued the following statement regarding its withdrawal from the plasma market: “We plan to continue our PDP TV business until the end of this year, due to changes in market demand. Samsung remains committed to providing consumers with products that meet their needs, and will increase our focus on growth opportunities in UHD TVs and curved TVs”
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Should You Still Consider a Buying Plasma TV Model?
If you want a high definition display with deep blacks, excellent off-axis viewing, low motion blur, and accurate color the answer is yes. While UHD offers higher resolution and future picture improvements, full implementation is two to three years away. Large screen OLED UHD 4K TVs will offer deep blacks, wide viewing angles and bright images. However, they’re expected to be very expensive when new 55-, 65- and 77-inch models are released this fall by LG, currently the only company making large screen OLEDs (Samsung’s only OLED is carried over from last year).
Prices will drop on OLED, according to industry players, however pricing will not get near LED LCD pricing until 2017 at best.
Entry level big screen plasmas can still be purchased. The Samsung PN43F4500 43-inch 720p 600 Hz Plasma TV is available this week for $299.99 at Best Buy. ThePN51F4500 51-inch 720p Plasma TV is on sale for $399.99.
The Samsung F8500 plasma series earned our highest rating. Read our review here. You get them from Amazon. The Samsung PN51F8500 51-Inch 1080p 600Hz 3D Smart Plasma HDTV
Last year there was a run on Panasonic’s ST and ZT model series after it made their plasma exit announcement. If consumers desire the best HDTV available today they may want to pick up an F8500 before supplies run out.
So long plasma, you will be missed.
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3 Comments
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You should have mentioned that it was Samsung that perpatrated the “LED is a new technology sham”. You also say that UHD implimentation is 2 or 3 years away. Really? Most people take that to mean 4k broadcasts on the majority of TV stations. Not only is 3 years unlikely but never is more likely scenario. What incentive do studios have to make them spend multi millions of dollars on 4k equipment when the masses are quite satisfied with 2k?
Way before terrestrial broadcast are possible come standards. These are being worked out this year and next here and overseas.
An educated guess:we will see new standards for disc and a satellite system (most likely DirecTV) in 2015. Higher bit rates and new color gamuts need to be worked and installed into UHD 4K TVs out before programs will appear with these improvements.
We already have limited 4K streaming from Netflix, we expect more content from them, other streaming sources and satellite in 2015. Cable is iffy as there is a lot of work to be done and non-fiber systems would have to rob peter to give paul bandwidth. Can 4K be monetized for cable operators when the number of 4K UHD TV households equal X? If yes, follow the money.
HD Guru
Given Samsung’s exit, what are the chances they will loosen their Unilateral Pricing Policy impose on retailers selling the plasma F8500?
I read in a comment somewhere that an additional reason plasma is bowing out of the market is because the technology is unable to make the jump to 4k due to the dramatically smaller size of the pixels, and that you’d need a standard 100 inch or so set in order to lower the dpi enough to make it possible.
Can you comment on this?
The issue appears to be economic rather than size. As plasma advanced, the wall between the pixels became thinner permitting more smaller pixels.
The issue is cost. 4K vs. 2K LCD is getting to be a lower multiple than a year ago, driving down the cost of 4K panels.
OLEDs attributes, coupled with large screen models are still in their infancy as a new display technology, we see a lot of promise for better, less expensive large screen OLEDs appearing over next few years.
HD Guru