Pioneer exec touches on exit from plasma business

by Darren Murph posted Feb 16th 2009 at 10:21AM

Yeah, it seems like hopping off of the plasma bandwagon is the thing to be doing right now, but Pioneer's exit is startling in more than a few ways. For starters, the company has been pushing its KURO line as the PDP set to get for years, and by and large, it actually has been the best around. It's one thing to leave a market you aren't winning -- it's another entirely to drop off while you're on top. Bruce Schepers, Executive VP of Sales and Marketing at Pioneer Canada, sat down to speak on the departure with Marketnews. Granted, most of his conversation centered around that fact that no other parts of the company's businesses would be shrinking or vanishing, though he did mention that Pioneer would have ninth generation product "up until summer." He also affirmed that support wouldn't be waning for its heralded receivers and Blu-ray players, and that Sharp was a likely candidate for an optical-based joint venture. For the whole interview, give the read link a look.

Filed under: Industry, Displays, Pioneer, Plasma

Tags: business, canada, economy, exit, industry, kuro, pdp, pioneer, plasma, rip

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Highly Ranked

Kaosu @ Feb 16th 2009 12:26PM

this sucks. i've always been a huge fan of Pioneer and, while i'm not a big fan of plasma, their Kuro line is incredible.

Neutral

clara @ Feb 16th 2009 4:15PM

They are the best TVs out there. I do not understand at all why they'd kill this brand... there should have been other options, esp with panasonic. Panasonic could take over the entire line and license the name (Kuro and Elite, really).

Sacrifice, sell off, lay off if necessary, but why seppuku the entire thing?

Neutral

DallasJayhawk @ Feb 16th 2009 9:19PM

I'm disappointed to see Pioneer exit the PDP market as well but partnering with Panasonic wouldn't have helped Panasonic much since they are able to hit a lower price point right now with product that is only a hair lesser in quality than the Pioneer according to most industry reviews.

LCD's have gotten much better and have probably already overcome much of the blurring/submarining that used to occur during sporting events with high motion scenes thanks to higher refresh rates via faster processors. Hopefully LCD's can one day match the plasma (PDP) in darkness of blacks since low light scenes can be difficult to watch on the LCD's that I've always seen. Correct me if this issue has been overcome by the LCD.

Looks like manufacturing costs are lower with LCD's and LCD quality is close enough to the PDP to render them obsolete,,,not lower in quality,,,just not profitable to make.

Neutral

clara @ Feb 17th 2009 12:44PM

LCDs are definitely lower quality. Motion blur is still noticeable, blacks are still not black, color is still obviously less rich, and contrast is still about 1/10th of plasma. Through a myriad of tricks, LCDs can appear at first glance to similiar, but on closer inspection they're very inconsistent in their performance. Even Samsung 950 and Sony XBR8 are still clearly inferior when viewed side-by-side, especially with Pioneer Elite. You can go to any BB/Magnolia and watch browsing customers linger near the Pio's for reasons they do not know.

I hope that Panasonic can get their new thin & efficient plasma technology out the door as soon as possible, and have a high-end line that meets that same performance niche.

Neutral

El perron @ Feb 17th 2009 3:43AM

I guess this is sort of whats happening with the PS3, everyone knows its the best but they rather buy cheaper alternatives such as xbox and wii because its too expensive. Im guessing its the same for the Kuro brand, its one of the best but too damn expensive for the average consumer.

Neutral

chase17 @ Feb 17th 2009 8:46AM

I've still got a PDP-4280HD in my bedroom (first gen Kuro). Amazing HD picture, outstanding black levels.. R.I.P.

Neutral

zero2dash @ Feb 17th 2009 12:12PM

Such a shame plasmas have (for the most part) just been crapped on since the initial few years of IR/burn in issues.

I couldn't be happier with the Panasonic TH-46PZ85U we got a few weeks ago, and I'm glad we went with a PD instead of an LCD (especially given Samsung's LCD panel lottery BS).

Very sad that Pioneer seems to be getting out of the PD industry. I hope Panasonic sticks around... IMO LCD's are still not ready to completely replace PD's already, which is why I hope PD's stick around for another few years until LCD's are ready to be the lone choice with true black colors and no motion blur.

Neutral

clara @ Feb 17th 2009 1:25PM

Didn't the panel lottery have to do with Dell computer displays manufactured by Samsung? I haven't heard of anything like that in the large/TV space.

Neutral

xB Owner @ Feb 17th 2009 5:09PM

It saddens me each time I see another story about Pioneer leaving the PDP business. But it also makes me smile that my Kuro 5020FD should be delivered this Friday afternoon.

I sincerely hope that Pioneer will sell their processing tech off to Panasonic. Someone needs to carry on the high end consumer PDP torch. And in my opinion Panasonic is the logical choice. Panasonic is already a leader in panel production, PDP efficiency, etc. Combining the processing power from Pioneer with their existing tech would be an instant home run. (And on we would have seen in the next gen. Pioneers had they not backed out of the market.)

Neutral

billth @ Feb 17th 2009 8:55PM

From what I saw at Panasonic's press conference at CES '09 (it was open to the general public), they're committed to plasma for many more years. Besides the new ultra thin consumer model, they showed a 150-inch plasma (not available yet). And they just introduced a new KURO competitor, the Premiere Series 65-inch. Supposed to have excellent black detail, and appeal to high end home theater enthusiasts. And they have the 103-inch plasma -- supposedly the largest plasma available on the market.

Neutral

Pam G @ Feb 21st 2009 1:19AM

I was about to purchase a Kuro until a friend gave me the bad news about Pioneer. Now I am very concerned about getting stuck with a problem of not being able to get parts or with an invalid warranty for this tv. I read the headlines that Pioneer has vowed to honor their commitment to service to their existing customers, but how can we really know this will be the case for sure? I want to be convinced this is true, because I would prefer to buy the Kuro!

Neutral

Tony @ Feb 21st 2009 3:53AM

Invision display.com

1950 + 125 for a 3 yr add. warranty ........ check it out Pam!! Mine is coming next week.

I bought my 5080 one yr ago from them, perfect.

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