Pioneer may leave TV business

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08 Feb 09 22:11 by Randomus in category Plasma TV To news archive

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There are multiple reports from Japan indicating electronics giant Pioneer may end its flat screen TV business due to slowing demand and the struggling global economy.

“We have publicly announced that we are actively evaluating our business,” Pioneer said in a public statement. “We started announcing changes in March 2008 to increase efficiencies of our business operations. We are still in that process but do not have any further announcements at this time.”

If the company does indeed pull the plug on its TV lineup, the official announcement is expected on Thursday, when Pioneer announces its medium-term business plans. The company first announced last March it would stop making plasma panels due to increasing losses and higher costs.

Panasonic had control of the plasma TV market with 37 percent, Samsung Electronics had 22.8 percent, LG Electronics secured 15 percent, while Pioneer had just 5.9 percent, DisplaySearch numbers reveal.

Pioneer has already cut hundreds of jobs and closed one domestic manufacturing plant last year, with more job cuts planned in the future, Japanese media sources report. The company currently has 40,000 employees and may cut as many as 5,000 by March 2010.

In addition to ending its TV business, Pioneer may also enter a joint venture with Sharp in an attempt to spin off its DVD player business as well.

Japanese electronics companies have struggled as of late, with Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba and other companies having difficulty selling products.

20 Comments

BitRate: Posts: 410; Posted on: 09 Feb 09 00:22

Pioneer equipment is usually top-notch - especially their DVD players and burners. It would be sad to see this impact other areas besides flat screen TVs.

guest: Posts: 15288; Posted on: 09 Feb 09 00:49

This is so sad. They're the company that fought against BluRay, aren't they? Sounds like their new motto may be:
"Panasonic: Read a Book Instead".

Dr. Who: Posts: 4500; Posted on: 09 Feb 09 03:48

I don't bame them if they do as their 50" Plasma TV I looked at was 4999 USD and I can get the Panasonic for 1199. I agree their plasma displays are very nice but how is one to expect to dominate the market on this if it is 3 times or so higher than the competition?

koba: Posts: 1066; Posted on: 09 Feb 09 16:07

I think its official Pioneer is out of the TV business...
And the decission was made easy because Sharp is the major stake holder in Pioneer (one competitor less).
Pioneer will however still be producing Blu-ray and will be working together with Sharp on new Blu-ray and optical drives products.

Chuckwagon: Posts: 163; Posted on: 09 Feb 09 20:06

You said it Dr. Who. The Pioneer displays are good, if you get the high-end ones, but they are WAY too pricey. Plus their non-high-end models suck. Vizio and Panasonic make very good (some on par with Pioneer) displays, and are MUCH cheaper. Oh well, too bad for them I guess. I won't miss them, since I'd never fork out that much for the minor "technical" superiority they may have. In side by side viewing comparisons with properly calibrated displays the Pioneer models don't manage to "show" well enough to convince, and just can't command the price premium they ask. I'm sure there are plenty of name conscious folks who will miss them though.

Dr. Who: Posts: 4500; Posted on: 09 Feb 09 21:15

They will be missed and I have to say I feel sorry for any big time movie person like myself that buys cheap and goes with a Vizio they will regret it later when they want to see a better PQ. This is why I went ahead and forked out the extra 300 USD for the Panasonic.

shaolin007: Posts: 883; Posted on: 09 Feb 09 21:53

I wouldn't mind getting a Pioneer Kuro Plasma but it is still out of my price range. Maybe, since they are exiting out of the TV biz, the prices might drop on their current models. I will have to keep a look out for them.

Crabbyappleton: Posts: 5756; Posted on: 09 Feb 09 23:18

shaolin- the comments here about the Pioneer sets being 2-3 times more than others is no longer valid and have not been so for quite some time. You can get a 50 inch Kuro cheaper than a 50 inch Panny right now at Amazon..$1975 US - shipped! A Panasonic is $1978!

Blu-rayFreak: Posts: 223; Posted on: 10 Feb 09 00:28

No, Pioneer is one of the founders of Blu-ray. You are completely misinformed.

Dr. Who: Posts: 4500; Posted on: 10 Feb 09 01:37

You can get the Panasonic for 1199.99 at the costco wharehouse. I was the one that said they were high first as well.

shaolin007: Posts: 883; Posted on: 10 Feb 09 02:53

I am talking about the Elite series Kuros, sorry didn't specify. Trust me, I have looked and they still hover around $3000 and up. I looked at Amazon since you pointed it out and the Elite series are still up there as I expected.

Crabbyappleton: Posts: 5756; Posted on: 10 Feb 09 03:01

You can get the Panasonic at Costco and that is a damn good price. But, then you can pay sales tax, and then you can schlepp it over to your house if you have a pickup truck and so on. Even so - that is a damn good price. In that case I would probably get the Panasonic set as they are just excellent quality too. But, there is no difference in the Elite PQ. It just features a media server and some extra bells and whistles. The display is no better - you are just paying for stuff you probably don't really need with the elite/ big whoop. The point being no way the sets are priced 2-3 times higher now. They were when they first hit the market, but now a few generations and a recession (Depression?) later- and they are very competitively priced.

If you compare aples to apples e.g. a plain Kuro up against a Panny they are both excellent sets and of comparable price. I would take either. If I could get the Kuro for around 300 more than a Panny I would take it as I have used a Kuro at my brother in laws house ( a 60 inch one) and the black levels are second to none on this plasma.

I bought a 42" 720p Panny 5-6 years ago and the damn thing is like the day I put it in- excellent PQ. Wonderful set. I almost wish it would break so I could get a 60 inch 1080p.

Dr. Who: Posts: 4500; Posted on: 10 Feb 09 12:40

LOL Crabby, I heard that there is no set to match the blacks like on the Pioneers but the Panasonics aren't shabby at all to match as well.

guest: Posts: 15288; Posted on: 11 Feb 09 17:04

I have a 10 yr old Pioneer 62" TV still looks incredible. Never had a problem with it. My Pioneer head units in my car are great as well as my 14 yr.old 12 disc changer. My Pioneer 57-H TiVo DVD recorder is still the workhorse in my "low def" home theater.

Pioneer = Quality..................PERIOD

shaolin007: Posts: 883; Posted on: 11 Feb 09 22:35

Well, I broke down and got a Samsung plasma, Model: PN50A650T. Crabby got me thinking about it and I did some reviewing and this set was top notch and only took second place to the Kuros even though not far behind them either in PQ. Immediately, after I hooked it up, I was like wow. The OTA HD looked great without any kind of tweaking. Can't imagine how it is going to look after I tweak it! Anyways, Plasma is still the way to go. My mother has a Samsung LCD and was taken back by my TV's PQ. It will still be sad if Pioneer did leave the TV biz. They still hold the crown on PQ but if they could only cut costs and be a little more competitive, they would sell some sets. Ohh well...

Blu-rayFreak: Posts: 223; Posted on: 11 Feb 09 23:02

I agree, plasma is king of picture quality and Pioneer Kuro was the king of kings! I'll be very sad to see them go...

guest: Posts: 15288; Posted on: 12 Feb 09 18:01

I just recently purchased a 50" Kuro for around $2600 - only $300 more than a high end Panasonic. The picture is incredible for the price point. I did not think the Elite had a better picture, only more adjustment capability in the software. I have no regrets on this purchase - It's as close to being at the movie theatre when viewing a Blu-Ray. I do experience any glare problems either as I do not have my screen pointed at a window, and if it is bright outside, I just lower the shades... I bought mine at One-call.com

yaseer: Posts: 1; Posted on: 12 Feb 09 20:18

yaseer-2015@hotmail.com
ياسرموقدي

shaolin007: Posts: 883; Posted on: 13 Feb 09 02:40

The Elite series perform better from what I have read. The non Elite did poorly in comparison to the Elite. I saw some guy say they had red push problems whatever that is lol. That is not saying they are not good TV's though. I think there is more to Elite series than just some controls.

ScottyDog: Posts: 18; Posted on: 16 Feb 09 22:23

Once again we see where a good quality product is being discontinued because the cheap stuff appeals to the masses. Pioneer Kuro sets whether the elite or the standard plasma are the best HDTV plasmas available on planet earth right now.

Even the non elite sets blew away the competition with the darkest blacks of any plasma on the market including the pannys and sammys.

It is really too bad that Pioneer is getting out of the plasma business. Hopefully Panasonic will pick up their patents and incorporate their plasma technology.

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Plasma TV

Makes up the flat-screen television category together with LCD. The fact that a television uses Plasma or LCD technique doesn't say much about the image quality of the television, neither does it say something about resolution or viewing angle. Plasma TVs tend to be available in larger screen sizes than its LCD counterparts, but also tend to have a slightly higher power consumption.

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