NEWS: Pioneer neither confirms nor denies rumours it will drop 42in plasmas in favour of LCD

Hmmm.... Is this the same sort of 'no comment' Toshiba gave the week before it ditched HD?

It would be a great pity if  price causes Pioneer to stop using the better system, eg Plasma for under 50"  I don't rate  LCD screens  very much. And not everyone wants a 50" TV in the living rooms.

If Pioneer are bailing out of  Plasma for this size set, it does not bode well for plasma generally, seeing as they are regarded as the leaders in the field.  I would like to buy a Pioneer, but I just can’t justify the price. Especially as the Panasonic are not that far behind, but almost half the price.  Maybe all the negative publicity about plasmas has hit home. Until I came on this site and bought the magazine I was led to believe LCD is better.  

" I would like to buy a Pioneer, but I just can’t justify the price. Especially as the Panasonic are not that far behind, but almost half the price. "

I think this statement will have been said many times around the world.

I've mentioned on this forum long time ago that Pioneers business model is not in line with todays demand and supply  situation and they will end up like Fujitsu.

I can confirm wit confidence very soon they will either go back to  mid market customer range and abandoned their so called elite only products or will get out of business.

pioneer have already established themselves as the top make in plasmas, i just wonder how they would fair in terms of lowering their standards to stay in business

pioneer  gen 8 plasma kuro very good gen 9 even better (release this year ) Following gen 9 you have the perfect 10 pure Black.....2010 release So why  are pioneer stalling on their product?  surley not money?

You know the saying never mind the price  see  the Quality!..Pioneer be a pioneer keep the Quality!

but skr1, as quoted from above: "preparing the mid-term business plan aiming to generate a stable revenue for the business."

So surely this means that they do not have such a stable revenue at the moment.

Pioneer need to diversify and yes... lower some standards some might say, to sell boxes. They don't have the volumes - at least in the Australian market to be serious players. Yes they have premium products, but so do Sony and they are not too proud to have 'entry level' sets for the masses. Samsung produce great kit too - consistently great reviews for their plasma and LCD range and the prices are just insane considering what you get. Its not dumbing down, or giving 'less' quality, its a matter of best serving the market - having a 6K 50" screen and a 2K Blu-ray player 'aint the way to do it. Panasonic, Philips make premium product too, but they have a healthy segmentation in their product line - suit most budgets - and if you want hi-end, they cater for that too - so Joe Bloggs and Sally purist are happy and spending.

Wake up Pioneer - I love your product, but get real... or reality will leave you behind.

Pioneer make the best plasma's in the market, by miles when compared to the competion, but not everybody is willing or can afford to pay

£1400 for a 42 inch

£1900 for a 50 inch

when compared to prices for the same size like for

example Samsungs excellent PS50Q97HDX £799.36.

If Pioneer wants to increase its market share, they have to lower their prices to be competitive in

today's market with flat screen prices falling daily.

If Pioneer were to match the price of the Samsung £799.36, I would chose the Pioneer every time.

Pioneer need to realize quickly that they have to react

to market forces to stay competitive, most people I speak to about flat screen's would love to buy a

Pioneer plasma, but are put off by the price, they say

why should I buy a Pioneer, when I can buy Panasonic plasma which is not that far behind in terms of quality for £1300 for a 50 inch compared to £2300 for Pioneer's 50inch.

Some people will say you get what you pay for in terms of quality, but Pioneer have to lower their prices, but the bean counters will not be happy, theirs no point in spending massive amounts on advertising your product, when the main stream public cannot afford to buy your product, hence Pioneer's market share is down by 39% when compared to rivals, lower you prices and you will see you market share return.

Pioneer cannot afford to rest on their laurels; they must keep up with today's market or risk being left behind

this would be disastrous for them in today’s market  

The problem is not just price - think about it simply, Pioneer have the best panel in the world - but to see FULL HD you have to buy a 50" set - minimum!!! Now, even if you are the affluent top-of-the-tree big wallet TV buyer - you may still have a small flat worth £1,000,000 in London and can't get the sofa more than 6ft from the screen....... You're just not going to want the headache and eye-ache - and for all Pioneer's posturing about resolution not being the be-all-and-end-all - they still manage to offer 50" at 2 different resolutions and are thus paradoxically competing with their own assertions that full HD isn't necessarily really much of an improvement and thus popping their own top-end HD balloon..... you follow me...?

If they had have had a 42" Full-HD set, it would have opened the doors to the physical and not just financial barriers...... yeah, 42" KURO still better than most 42" Full-HD.....for how long tho'....12 months!? how often do you want to update your TV? 1080p is a must for many as it's simply more future-proof and versatile for things such as 1080p games consoles, future broadcasting, camcorders, digital camera’s, PC inputs etc etc etc

Pioneer could save itself by tagging it’s prices just above the new range of Panasonics when the cheap end of line PZ700’s and 70’s have disappeared…… but will it.

Ya know, I’m sitting here watching a JVC CRT with ‘superb deep blacks’ and excellent pure smoothe ‘motion handling’………. ;o)   oh, save us from LCD…………. Wouldn’t hi-def CRT be a nice thing…… ;o))

Mo

p.s. still may buy a 42” Kuro if the price is right tho! ;o)) i.e. <£1000