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Plasma sets at an end for Vizio

by on12 February 2009

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The latest manufacturer to break away

Many high-end home theater enthusiasts like plasma technology for the richer colors and deeper blacks than have been typically found on many LCDs. Vizio is the latest to announce that it will be dropping its efforts on plasma set sales and development. This is following the same trend that we saw at CES, with many manufacturers moving away from plasma in favor of LCD-based sets.

With Vizio exiting the plasma business and plasma leader Pioneer also leaving the plasma arena, those that want the features of plasma will be left with just Panasonic, Samsung, and LG Electronics as the only companies still doing plasma sets for the North American market.

Vizio has focused on high quality, low-cost products, and it was able to bring this to the plasma market space; but the typical plasma set continues to cost more than an LCD set of the same size. While LCD sets continue to have shortcomings, new advances in technology, such as the 240MHz technology, seem to be addressing these by improving the quality.

Vizio does still have at least some plasma inventory on hand, but sources say that it is moving fast, and if you want to get a Vizio plasma set you should move to secure one soon.

Speaking of Vizio’s low-price leadership, our sources also let us know that Vizio is planning an assault on the Blu-ray market space with a new stand-alone Blu-ray player that will be launched for $199 starting at some point in May. While we don’t know what features it will offer, the company sees it as a good match for their LCD sets moving forward at a reasonable price that consumers can afford.
Last modified on 12 February 2009
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