Panasonic and Pioneer: a match made in HD heaven - TechRadar UK

This morning’s news that Panasonic and Pioneer plan to share PDP technologies, was good news for everyone. Good for Panny, good for Pioneer, good for me, and good for you.

There’s not a tech-savvy person in the world who wouldn’t love to own a 65-inch Pioneer Kuro plasma television (and a living room big enough to house one, of course). However, the number of people who’re happy to blow nearly £4000 on a TV is very low indeed. And there sits the age-old problem for Pioneer.

As a consequence of this paralyzing catch-22 situation, the second-best plasma range – Panasonic’s Viera TVs - have been flourishing, offering a happy balance between quality and price.

This, though, now looks like it’s going to change. Pioneer can no longer afford to make its own Plasma panels. And so it’s sharing its secrets with Panasonic so that Panny can go forth and make super panels for both companies.

New TVs arrive next year

So what we’re going to get is improved Panasonic Viera TVs. But also improved Pioneer Kuro TVs… at cheaper prices.

It’ll be interesting to see how different the Viera and Kuro TVs are, once the next generation rolls off the factory conveyor belt in 16 months’ time.

Will Kuro still cost a lot more than the Viera? Will Kuro still be better than Viera? Will Kuro be worth the extra cost? Or will the two TVs be similarly priced?

It’s hard to see Pioneer making up an enormous amount of ground in terms of sales, and it certainly seems like Panasonic is the main winner in this deal. But it will sure-as-hell be interesting to hear more about this partnership once all the details are finalised in May.

Pioneer’s amazing zero-luminance extreme-black concept panel meets Panasonic’s mighty manufacturing muscles. The prospect should have Sony, Sharp, LG, Samsung et al, shaking in their proverbial substandard gumboots.