Plasma – Fading To Black?

Superiority alone is never a sure bet for winning at any endeavor.  If it were, Starbucks would be bigger than Dunkin Donuts, the Yankees would be champions every year and DTS would be the surround sound standard, rather than Dolby Digital.  We’re willing to bet that few people reading here even know what DTS stands for, much less use it on any regular basis.

In today’s TV market, there’s a superior technology out there called plasma.  It invented its own category so thoroughly that lots of people say plasma for any flat TV, like Kleenex for a tissue.  It enjoyed happy years where there was little to no market competition.  Everyone loved and continues to love it.  Yet plasma already seems well on its way to joining the CD, FM radio and DV cassettes in the inexorable slide toward technology obsolescence.

Is plasma toast?

Why?  Because LCD TVs are cheaper to produce and more profitable to sell than plasma; because the major manufacturers have already made huge investments in LCD plants, and because, well, that’s pretty much it.

Before we go any further, know that we have no intrinsic beef with LCD, the technology that’s pushing plasma out the door.  Well, that’s not exactly true, we really do wish big-screen LCD technology was better than it is.  We don’t like its finicky viewing angles; sit on one side of the room and the picture looks fine, sit on the other (or stand up) and it’s washed out.  We don’t like its inability to keep up with fast action like sports, which is why LCD manufacturers knock themselves silly with fixes like 120 Hz and now, even 240 Hz refresh rates.  Most of all, we don’t like that its color and black levels — the meat and potatoes of a good picture — still don’t equal those of plasma, much less CRT (remember those?), another obsolete technology that was, by the end of its life, better than either plasma or LCD for pure picture performance.

Actually, that does sound like a beef, if not a rant.  We apologize, but the apology would be more sincere if LCD TVs were simply better performers. Some of the best ones have gotten to be pretty good.  The worst ones (no names will be mentioned) make us nostalgic for analog. For most TV manufacturers, that’s not a good enough reason to stick with plasma, although several key makers have announced that they’ll do just that – at least for the present.

Panasonic is one of them, and they’re about to become the plasma kings by default.  Their plasma technology has always been very good, thanks to a talented engineering culture, economies of scale and some astute acquisitions early in the game. The company’s latest sets have been very good indeed, and now that Pioneer and its standard-setting Kuro sets are leaving the market, perhaps soon to be followed by Hitachi’s excellent plasma models, Panasonic will likely take the title of “best” TVs out there.

Samsung and LG both claim to be sticking with plasma, although LG was a bit coy before saying so publicly.  But one look at the names who’ve already left plasma for good tells you what time it is.  Sony, RCA and Toshiba may have been sourcing their plasma sets from other manufacturers, but at least they were in the game.  Now they’re not, and neither is Vizio, Fujitsu or JVC.  Even Sharp, the all-time LCD champs, once marketed a couple of plasma models.  Just don’t mention it to them now.

So is plasma still worth thinking about for a TV purchase?  Sure – in fact, it may well be your best purchase, if picture quality is your primary concern.

If it’s not, enjoy your LCD set.  At least until OLED and other superior display technologies become market friendly.
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