To my biggest surprise I recently found out that Pioneer have announced last year (hmm, I must have slipped past this one) they had decided to stop making TVs. I couldn’t believe what I heard (and read)! Pioneer’s TVs have always been occupying the top spot of the quality TV pyramid.

My first flat screen TV was Pioneer’s first generation plasma TV – a 43″ source of pure visual pleasure whether switched on or off. Once you’ve watched the picture you instantly become a Pioneer fan. These guys really knew what they were doing.

At first I thought that Pioneer stopping to make TVs was a joke. How could one of the most successful TVs ever be stopped form manufacturing?!? A quick look at http://www.pioneer.co.uk and I knew it wasn’t just a joke. There were no TVs on their website – all the other quality Pioneer stuff – blu-rays, dvd players, car entertainment systems, but TVs.

It was when I started searching in Google for any press releases when I read all about the company’s financial trouble last year. One article was commenting on the rumour that Panasonic (they actually hold 15% stake in Pioneer) were passed the secret know how of making top quality plasma TVs. The writer has based his opinion on the fact that Panasonic have put surprisingly good TV resembling the latest Pioneer Kuro models. He goes on to say that Panasonic have not been able to achieve such technical specs in the past. It is suspicious that right after Pioneer stopped making TVs Panasonic releases same quality sets. e.

I can only hope it’s true.