Panasonic ST50 out of stock, what choice do i have now?

[mediajunkie]

After driving around the city to somehow find the Panasonic ST50 , I've almost given up my search ..

Guessing its time to move out of the ST50 and think of something else.
Since I'm not much aware of which other model is worth looking at , i'm seeking your help.
Please let me know if there is another plasma out there that is as good as the ST50.

PS :: In the worst case I'm ready to consider LED/LCD as well .
The size i'm looking for is 50" ..

Please let me know of it..

Thanks

 

[umvarma]

After driving around the city to somehow find the Panasonic ST50 , I've almost given up my search ..

Guessing its time to move out of the ST50 and think of something else.
Since I'm not much aware of which other model is worth looking at , i'm seeking your help.
Please let me know if there is another plasma out there that is as good as the ST50.

PS :: In the worst case I'm ready to consider LED/LCD as well .
The size i'm looking for is 50" ..

Please let me know of it..

Thanks

My guess is that you are from Hyd. I would recommend you to call and inquire in TMC banjara hills if you not done it already. They had a good stock of different Pana plasma models in the last week of Nov. I am not sure of the current situation.

I too planned to purchase a new Plasma 50", but decided to wait for a month to see what the 2013 releases are going to offer. Panasonic is going to announce their 2013 line up on 25th Dec and by January end we will have the information about releases of other companies. Due to the current stock situation, I am hoping to see these models early in India.

Regards,
Mohan.

 

[mediajunkie]

I'm actually from Bangalore
And after some investiagtions I've realised that there is no stock of ST50.
Are there any other plasmas you recommend or would it be better to change my search to get an LCD/LED ?

PS :: I looked at the samsung plasma and truth be told the PQ was something i would rather stay away from ...

 

[avmaxfan]

The only alternatives are Samsung E8000 in Plasma and Sony HX850 among LEDs.

 

[prasanth.kumar81]

U can also look at 50UT50

 

[mediajunkie]

I looked at the UT50 but didn't quite like the PQ..
Alternatively I"ve also looked at LG- PM6700
Any thoughts on this please..

If there are no major issues I"m planning on picking one up today evening.
Please post your responses asap..

 

[lake1988]

Check Sony 46HX850.

 

[aquavitoe]

I looked at the UT50 but didn't quite like the PQ..
Alternatively I"ve also looked at LG- PM6700
Any thoughts on this please..

If there are no major issues I"m planning on picking one up today evening.
Please post your responses asap..

No Doubt ST50 is a good TV but if its not available in stock then You can go blindly for UT50. Believe me the PQ is same, the only difference is ST has Louve filter installed on display which reduces reflections and as a result Blacks look more deep in it (termed as neo plasma). beside this there is NO DIFFERENCE in both the displays. I have a UT and i am enjoying the PQ.
If you have no reflection issues in your room and there is no direct source of light opposite to the wall on which you are planning to install the TV, go for UT50. and yes dont buy an LED or LCD if you already know what plasma advantage is. Samsung Plasma are not good except 8000 series. Panasonic is the best afa Plasmas are concerned.
All the best

 

[longshanks]

Samsung Plasma are not good except 8000 series. Panasonic is the best afa Plasmas are concerned.

Yeah right, did you even bother to do anything close to acquiring knowledge before making claims like this? these kind of one line statements with no proper proof(measurements and numbers) to back don't help anyone.


As for the OP i would suggest this if he does not mind sacrificing a bit of black level but want a brighter pic and better 3D.

http://www.samsung.com/in/consumer/tv-audio-video/television/plasma-tv/PS51E550D1RLXL

Picture Quality - Samsung PN51E550D1 3D Smart Plasma HDTV Review

Performance - Samsung PN51E550D1 3D Smart Plasma HDTV Review

Screen Performance - Samsung PN51E550D1 3D Smart Plasma HDTV Review


Samsung PN51E550 Review, Plasma HDTV, 51", 3D Ready Smart TV

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1402087/the-official-samsung-pnxxe550-owners-thread

 

[just4kix]

To OP,

ST50 is not available today. It has been out of stock more or less since September - I mean, dealers were selling their in-stock or display pieces. Panasonic has not been delivering new stock since then. I do not think that situation is going to change. I have reason to believe that we are seeing end of plasma, at least in India:

- Samsung 51E8000 is now discontinued and Samsung dropped the prices by 40% to clear the old stock plus giving free tab offers (effetively selling a 135,00 MRP piece at 75-80K retail)
- Panasonic is not delivering ST50 and GT50 from September
- VT50 never saw any showroom
- Serveral rumours are going on that Panasonic will close down all non-profitable business
- as far as LG and plasma is concerned, the less said the better
- there are no other plasma manufacturers in the world today

So this leaves you with two choices - do you still look at a plasma alternative or go for LED? This is an entirely personal decision and I will not influence you one way or other. I will only offer you alternate choices:

Plasma - the closest thing to ST50 available today is UT50. You may also look at Samsung E550.
LED - Check out Samsung 7 Series or Sony HX850 or Toshiba.

 

[mediajunkie]

- Samsung 51E8000 is now discontinued and Samsung dropped the prices by 40% to clear the old stock plus giving free tab offers (effetively selling a 135,00 MRP piece at 75-80K retail)

So does it make sense to buy the E8000 now?
Is it any good in terms of PQ

Also i have a small query , is this samsung panel good? I've heard a lot of horror stories from samsung owners.

Finally i've also heard of panasonic shutting shops all together .
Does it even make any sense to pick up a plasma anymore?

 

[just4kix]

So does it make sense to buy the E8000 now?
Is it any good in terms of PQ

Also i have a small query , is this samsung panel good? I've heard a lot of horror stories from samsung owners.

Finally i've also heard of panasonic shutting shops all together .
Does it even make any sense to pick up a plasma anymore?

Whether or not to buy plasma is your choice. I don't see Kuro owners lamenting - in fact they continue to brag and all for the right reasons.

Sent from my GT-I9100G using Tapatalk 2

 

[curious]

ST50 is not available today. It has been out of stock more or less since September - I mean, dealers were selling their in-stock or display pieces. Panasonic has not been delivering new stock since then. I do not think that situation is going to change. I have reason to believe that we are seeing end of plasma, at least in India:

- Samsung 51E8000 is now discontinued and Samsung dropped the prices by 40% to clear the old stock plus giving free tab offers (effetively selling a 135,00 MRP piece at 75-80K retail)
- Panasonic is not delivering ST50 and GT50 from September
- VT50 never saw any showroom
- Serveral rumours are going on that Panasonic will close down all non-profitable business
- as far as LG and plasma is concerned, the less said the better
- there are no other plasma manufacturers in the world today

Agree with you. Though it has it's own limitations, I was convinced that plasma is still the technology to choose as far as buying TV for good picture quality is concerned. OLED technology will need some time before it becomes mainstream. Till then we'll have to live with LCD. It's sad to see a good technology dying even before a convincingly superior alternative emerged. May be, we should start a separate thread to discuss it.

 

[Dirac]

It is heartening to know that Panasonic is exiting Plasma business, especially at a time when people who value PQ are increasing in number and opting to buy plasmas.:sad:

Plasma fans like myself will not leave no stone unturned to get them shipped from Singapore/USA/Europe.... if they are available there.

Higher resolution like 4k tvs are the future and I personally think that manufacturing 4K resolution plasmas is either not viable costwise or that higher resolutions might generate more heat.

Why would companies exit plasma business if not for reasons similar to the above ones(if at all they are the right reasons).

Thanks.

 

[just4kix]

Plasma TVs do not sell for many reasons. Only 1 in 100 and "stupids" like us buy plasma. Hence it does not make business sense to remain in a non-profit generating line.

I think that 4K will still take a lot of time - at least 3 years.

 

[gchirag]

It is heartening to know that Panasonic is exiting Plasma business, especially at a time when people who value PQ are increasing in number and opting to buy plasmas.:sad:

Plasma fans like myself will not leave no stone unturned to get them shipped from Singapore/USA/Europe.... if they are available there.

Higher resolution like 4k tvs are the future and I personally think that manufacturing 4K resolution plasmas is either not viable costwise or that higher resolutions might generate more heat.

Why would companies exit plasma business if not for reasons similar to the above ones(if at all they are the right reasons).

Thanks.

Is this actually happening? I was in fact deciding to go for a Pana PLasma!!! But this news is distrubing...can you share the source of your info? What will happen to service & support for plasma owners? Will parts be available if it is required to be changed? :sad:

 

[just4kix]

Is this actually happening? I was in fact deciding to go for a Pana PLasma!!! But this news is distrubing...can you share the source of your info? What will happen to service & support for plasma owners? Will parts be available if it is required to be changed? :sad:

There is no confirmed news; just strong (and very believable) rumours.

Sent from my GT-I9100G using Tapatalk 2

 

[shanmune]

I do see 4 main reasons for the decline of Plasma.

1. The burn-in/IR issue is one of the main reasons in discouraging people to go for plasma. Of course, though the issue can be handled by following few steps, most of the consumers (except for the videophiles) are not ready to follow those break-in steps (or any precautionary steps to avoid IR) as they feel that they cannot spend time in following those prodcedures in this fast tracked world.

2. The perception that LCD technology is newer, and therefore superior. LCD screens had been around for years even before the first plasma sets came out, but the LCD technology hadn't been adapted for larger displays until the last decade. Big-screen LCDs came to places after plasma models, though, so to consumers it was the "hot new thing" - a mindset that LCD makers such as Samsung and Sharp were only too happy to aggressively exploit.

3. The actual cost of producing plasma panels is much higher than producing other panels. The manufacturing of panels consolidated around just a few large-scale companies, making LCDs cheaper to produce for everyone.

4. The LCD technology improved a lot by a very huge margin from the time they were introduced and so becoming on par with Plasmas.

I am not very much worried by the fact that plasma is dying, but have a concern for the Plasma consumers in getting support/service at least for the next 5 to 6 years. Hope those consumers get proper support.

 

[Dirac]

The worry for the plasma fans is whether there would be a technology in future that can produce the same deep blacks.
Will there be new technologies that do away with the backlight in the LCD tvs?

Will there be a technology where the input signal is directly fed to the display pixels, i.e , will the pixels be self luminous without the requirement of a secondary excitement source like a backlight?

Will there be a technology where too much of predictive motion processing is not necessary? I feel the higher end models in LCD cost more because of the extra microchip that does dedicated processing for motion.

Will there be a technology where a particular pixel on the screen is off because of the signal itself rather than the need to do complex local dimming?

To admit, after getting used to plasma, the led/lcd tvs look unnatural and dishonest.

 

[shanmune]

The worry for the plasma fans is whether there would be a technology in future that can produce the same deep blacks.
Will there be new technologies that do away with the backlight in the LCD tvs?

Will there be a technology where the input signal is directly fed to the display pixels, i.e , will the pixels be self luminous without the requirement of a secondary excitement source like a backlight?

Will there be a technology where too much of predictive motion processing is not necessary? I feel the higher end models in LCD cost more because of the extra microchip that does dedicated processing for motion.

Will there be a technology where a particular pixel on the screen is off because of the signal itself rather than the need to do complex local dimming?

To admit, after getting used to plasma, the led/lcd tvs look unnatural and dishonest.

I agree and a different perspective on why Plasma fans feel worried about Plasma decline. I think OLED might be the technology which can make a good substitute for Plasma in near future. So like Plasma, it's pixels can be directly illuminated without any backlight. It may not be a complete sucess right now, but may be in another couple of year to come. The current issues with OLED are life span issues, color balance, a very high cost fabrication process etc. May be once OLED technology gets matured, then there will be a way for Plasma fans. Whatever I said is based on the claims made by the developers of OLED. So the caveat is - though the OLED claims to have great black levels/contrast ratio, one has to wait and see if OLED can be a real substitute for Plasma. So unless the commercial version of OLED is made available for general public, we cannot 100% say that it can replace Plasma. We can only hope OLED stands up to the hype it is creating now.
Like all Plasma fans, I too was disappointed when brands like Sony stopped their Trinitron. Still I find no technology coming close to Trinitron in producing deeper black levels.