AfterDawn: News

Panasonic prolongs plasma life cycle

Panasonic announced that they are able to extend the phosphor half life of consumer plasma displays to 100,000 hours, an improvement of around 2/3 over older technology.

The two-thirds gain in "life to half brightness" appears in the company's current 2007 model lineup, already available in stores, a spokesman said. If a household watches six hours of TV per day, it would take almost 46 years for the display to dim to half it original brightness.



The company is studying other improvements to 1080p plasma displays, including native 24p playback. This would enable playback of film content at the correct framerate without 2:3 pulldown.

Although improvements intended for relatively expensive displays are nice, it seems like the next 2-5 years will see more of an increase in low end displays to accomodate the transition to digital-only television.

Arguably, unlike improved plasma life, accepting a 24P signal should improve the viewing experience when most material originates on 24fps film.

Source: TWICE

Written by: Rich Fiscus @ 20 Aug 2007 22:02

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• 10 comments

• Unfocused

  This is great for the new stuff, but what about models already out there? Will they be offfering a trade up program or something similar?
  
  Early adopters always seem to get screwed, and they are the ones who make these fancy new gadgets a marketable item for the common people.

  20.8.2007 23:13 #1

• DXR88

  The same technology can be used for lcd, that is the 24p. As for extending the life of plazma 100,000 is still very low many digetal house hold like mine. I dont even turn My lcd off just turn the top box off

  21.8.2007 04:32 #2

• duckNrun

  yeah! Will they give us upgrades for our hard earned early adopter dollars!
  
  I mean HEY! I bought a PS1.... give me an upgrade to a PS3 because I early adopted back in the day!
  
  Heck My Grandpappy early adopted the Model-T and my Dad early adopted a Ford Shelby Mustang... We should all get upgraded! Where's my Dad's 2007 500hp Shelby! I mean GASP why should he have to pay $60k for a NEW model... he early adopted the old one. And my mom early adopted Beta-Max shouldn't she get upgraded to the...oh...umm.... that's right no new betamax's out there. I guess this is what happens when you early adopt. You pay more, you take more risks of the device being around, and when the improvements come out you get left behind with outdated tech. But at least there's the bragging rights to being the first on the block to have a....
  
  Nobody being screwed here. Early adopters know EXACTLY what they are getting. ONE purchase of a new product just like everyone else. When lamp hours go to 120,000 should everyone who bought a plasma before that get upgraded to the new one. I mean even if it's just a coupon the companies would lose a buundle. But I thank you early adopters for making it more affordable for me to go buy the newest and greatest toy at a cheaper price and a better product with the bugs worked out. You bragged about having it first and now I can brag about having better for cheaper... see the circle does come back around.
  
  LOL

  21.8.2007 04:36 #3

• ChiknLitl

  If you bought a plasma or any new set early that says something about the type of consumer you (we) are. You are interested in the best possible viewing experience for the money. Who among us plans on keeping/watching that new set for the next 30-40 years? The HD standards are changing everyday. In 5-6 years all of our sets will be behind the times and it'll be time to upgrade again.

  21.8.2007 05:08 #4

• DXR88

  You can replace just the plazma Filter

  21.8.2007 05:54 #5

• Mr-Movies

  As this all sounds great it most probably is just marketing hype. I bought a 42” plasma HDTV just recently and it is part of the new pixel shift technology which is suppose to prevent plasma burnin which sounds great however it’s a bunch of bull because I still get burnin if I don’t expand to full widescreen which I hate I’d rather have proper scale rather then stretch screen mode. I’ve even played with the pixel width but still I get ghost lines if I don’t stretch screen. I like the 24Hz mode idea though that should improve picture quality and we should follow Hollywood on that.
  
  Yep I’m going to replace my filter, driver board and power supply to upgrade my TV but wait they are going to give me a new TV so I don’t need to do all that, man am I stupid.

  21.8.2007 08:31 #6

• gallagher

  Yeah, plasma TV's last certainly long enough even now before this update. Unlike TV's that some have had (I still have an RCA from 1989 that I watch regularly in my bedroom--great condition), these LCD's and Plasmas will not be used for 20 years, let along 50. Let's be real.
  
  Plasmas are awesome and I think most LCD's suck in comparison. The color contrast is just so much better. Now, some of the new LCD's that are coming out are suppose dto be over 100,000:1 ratio. That will be awesome.

  21.8.2007 15:44 #7

• anubis66

  plasma needs to roll over and die. its worthless. its only marketed because its cheaper and they still have the parts for them.

  22.8.2007 10:21 #8

• Unfocused

  Quote:I still have an RCA from 1989I've still got a Sony from '82 going strong. No RCA's or anything like that, but the wood finished box it is in still looks good.
  
  Something cool about turning off the TV and watching everything fade to the single white dot before the screen goes black. Also love the fact that it takes a few minutes to warm up all the way to show the correct colors.

  22.8.2007 21:10 #9

• borhan9

  This is the main reason i choose LCD over plazma due to the life span of the device.

  28.8.2007 04:16 #10