For you most informative post regarding the differences between Plasma and SED.

I’m glad that Canon is moving forward with SED.

You can find find information about the future of Pioneer Plasma displays at the Audio Asylum Forums:

http://www.audioasylum.com/index.htm

and the AVS Forums:

http://www.avsforum.com/

There is an interview with Paul Meyhoefer (Pioneer VP) in the current (June 2008) issue of Home Theater Magazine on page 17 in which he states, “There is a combination of three critical parts that make up KURO technology: panel driving, video-processing circuitry, and filter technology, which all go beyond the attributes of the panel itself. Pioneer is only seeking partnership to manufacture the panel module itself. The panels will then be finished in Pioneer’s assembly and finishing plants where many of the critical components are added.

On another note, as far as Plasma Vs. SED technology, we had a discussion on this site almost a year ago (June 2007). Other than the fact that they both use Phosphors they are VERY different.

No, it really isn’t. In plasma screens the phosphors are excited by ultra-violet light emitted by an electrical discharge passing through ionised gas – think of each sub-pixel as being like a tiny flurorescent tube. With SED the phosphors are excited by multiple electron beams, one per sub-pixel.

There are two very important differences. The less significant one is that it is impossible to switch a plasma pixel completely off; there is always some current leakage, which makes the pixel still glow a little even when it is supposed to be perfectly black. SED will have far darker blacks.

The much more important difference is that plasma pixels have only two states: full on, and full off, with nothing in between. In order to simulate a pixel having variable brightness the pixel is actually flashed on and off multiple times during each frame. A “bright” pixel is switched on most of the time, while a darker one is on for a smaller fraction of the frame.

Operating like this creates various motion artefacts on plasma, and the possibility of rainbows (not to the extent that you see them on single-chip DLP, but still quite visible). But with SED you can actually vary the brightness of the pixel directly rather than having to emulate it by turning it on and off quickly.

Potentially you can also have a scanned image on SED – the picture being flashed up and then immediately fading to black between frames. This also makes for a much smoother perception of motion.

Pioneer and Matsushita (Panasonic) have finally hammered out the basics of a deal that will allow the latter to supply panels for future Kuro plasma displays, and plasma HDTV fans to breathe easy again. Pending a final agreement in May, dollars and cents remain undisclosed, but we can expect a fusion of Panasonic’s current “Neo PDP” technology from its Viera line when they begin production May 2009 in Amagasaki before hitting shelves in the fall. Kuro will still be maintained as a premium brand (with a premium price) with different image processing, while both companies plan to keep working together on reducing power consumption and the infinite black level plasma. Pioneer still plans future Kuro LCD HDTVs based on panels from Sharp,but it’ll also apparently have access to IPS technology from Panasonic’s tie-up with Canon and Hitachi. See? We told you it’d be okay.

Source: http://www.engadgethd.com/tag/KURO

It is (was?) believed that Panasonic will/would be selling the sets and purchasing the electronics and rights to call it “Kuro” from Pioneer.

Do you have a link to anymore more definitive?

http://www.dvhardware.net/article25697.html

As we predicted several years ago, plasma technology is on its way out. Putting one of the nails in the lengthy coffin is Pioneer Corp, who is stopping ALL production of plasma display panels. Last week we reported that they had decided to stop all 42-inch panel production, however that has now been expanded to its entire plasma line. This comes via an industry source briefed on the plan and quoted by Reuters in an article released today. Rather than panic, Pioneer shares immediately jumped to a four-month high following the report – up 11.2 percent.

*sigh*

Thanks for reminding me that I’m supposed to be running this site. I’ve neglected it for a while. Sorry. I’ll try to keep things going here despite the current lack of real news. If anyone is interested in writing on SED TV news or the technology itself, please feel free to contact me at allenj62@gmail.com. Thanks.

Plasmas are okay, but there´s still too much problems with them for me to accept them as a real successor.

10-15 years ago, no one talked about brightness, contrast ratio and viewing angle.

Btw, who is running this site? It has been quiet here lately. Here´s some news. http://www.japancorp.net/Article.Asp?Art_ID=17308
A bit old now, but new here