Group Buy: Panasonic Plasma Panel (without tv tuner)

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prnvaa

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Hi,

I've been visiting this forum for a few days now and firstly I must comment that its a great place to do research on the feedback & products in the Indian market.

I am looking to buy a 42"-50" flat screen Full HDTV and have been exploring a few options, but out of everything the Panasonic P42V20D is one which had stood out in terms of PQ etc. Unfortunately the cost is quite high and stretching my budget quite a bit.

I am aware that Pana also sells institutional models which are just plasma displays without tv tuners - this fits in quite well with my objectives since I already have a home theatre of sorts which accepts USB input and am using DTH. I also plan to purchase a proper media center at some time in the future so that will take care of internet/network streaming.

The issue now is cost - Pana sells these institutional pieces at quite a high price (am assuming this is done so that these models do not kill their consumer market). But my hunch is that if a larger order is placed (like a corporate would do) then these rates might come down quite a bit.

Therefore I am starting this thread to see if anyone would like to do a 'group buy' of such displays. As said before am looking at full hd 42" - 50" displays, but you are welcome to post your requirement. This is currently for the NCR market but in case someone from outside NCR is interested we can discuss with the distributor the possibility of delivering in other cities. Also, am currently talking to the distributor about models/rates and I will post prices once the dealer lets me know.

Disclaimer - I know this is a long shot, but just want to give it a shot to see if we can get economies of scale while getting a good product.

~Pranav
 
I'm interested in a 50" or above panel if the pricing is right.

Ever since the STB's came, the TV tuner is the single most wasted piece of electronics in todays TV's. Panels without the TV tuner would tick almost all the check-boxes for a majority here but I really wonder how much the omission of just the TV tuner would bring down the cost though. I'm afraid not much since an analog tuner (plus the decoders) costs less than 2K if purchased as TV kits. For a manufacturer, the difference in production costs would be even lesser...

Anyways..lets see how this goes
 
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Cost of the tuner is insignificant. But cost of panels is lesser since marketing cost is very low for corporates.

Panels that I used at work did not have tuner / speakers. You can even get them without frames. These are used for creation of video walls.
 
Hey nice to get all these replies.

Putting things in perspective:
1. yes you're right from a manufacturing point of view the costs wouldn't go down too much
2. But if you put in extra features such as usb, media/dlna server, sd card reader, marketing, etc it might add up to a lot
3. In reality it seems they price individual units HIGHER than consumer - the price I was quoted for one piece of Panasonic Plasma panel (without tv tuner), and that too HD Ready (not full HD) was Rs. 54k. But this is quoted price & my strategy only makes sense if these guys drop prices for a group buy (more than 5-10 pieces like a corporate would buy am guessing).
4. also logically speaking point of an institution channel is to offer LOWER rates to corporates who buy in bulk - why would a company buy 10 panels which are COSTLIER than what you get from a shop?
5. the only argument for pricing institutional channel higher (and this is what one person told me) is because these are for commercial applications and more robust since they might be on for 24x7 - if any experts know the truth about it then please let me know.

Anyway lets see how this goes - if the price isn't right then even i'll opt for consumer display.

So great it seems like there are at least 3 people interested (including me). What i've told the distributor for now is 10 pieces (random no.), will tell him tomorrow it will be between 5-10 pieces since a few friends will make up their mind depending on the price.

Again please be aware that apart from no tv tuner & speakers this will also not have usb/sd reader or media server (dlna/vierra link etc).

Also -
1. digitalv could you tell me what size you are looking for so that I can ask them specifically for that?
2. so far am talking to the delhi distributor but i know these guys have HO in mumbai not sure about bangalore will also check with them possibility of delivering in other cities.

~Pranav
 
Great so this makes it about 4 people. I'll let you know approx pricing for 42 & 50 full & HD ready by today.

Am going a little far out and telling this guy we'll buy 5-10 pieces, hope he can give good prices.
 
Ok gone little further with the research. one good news is that they have HO in mumbai and they seem to be willing to deliver all over india - so everyones welcome.

here are the full HD models (in case you want to do your own internet research):
1. th-42pf20w
2. th-50pf20w
3. th-58pf12wk
HD Ready models:
1. th-42ph20w
2. th-50ph20w
they also have sizes of 103" , 85" & 65" for full hd plasma displays

Features:
1. neoPDP for full hd models - i believe this makes the full hd panels similar to the p42v20d (but am not 100% sure)
2. some anti-retention screensaver
3. speakers (pleasant surprise) : 8w*2
4. input: 1xhdmi, 3xcomponent/rgb, 1xdvi-d, pc in, rs-232c

I've got their product brochure please pm if anyone wants it.

Will update everyone with the prices shortly.
 
4. input: 1xhdmi, 3xcomponent/rgb, 1xdvi-d, pc in, rs-232c

1 * HDMI ,,are you sure? that makes it is too impractical

Today a "gadgeted " home have many HDMI gadgets like

BD Player
Media Player
STB
Laptop
Handycam
Digicam
Personnel Media Player

Etc

So 1 input is insufficient

Are these panels are of very old generation,do your research

Also corporates "DO" buy at highr price..and sometimres industrial items have some features which makes them unsuitable and overspeced i home enviornment.
 
@hemantwaghe whatever research i've done this seems to be the lastest generation of Pana plasma panels - similar to the v20d. its got NeoPDP (which is what their new screens are called).

as for higher price for corporates yes i agree if the need is specialized then they would pay higher - anyway will only be able to comment on this once i get pricing details.

also - yes it has only 1 HDMI input, but it also has 1 expansion slot in which you can plug in boards which allow you to take any sort of output (HDMI, component, etc.). These will not be free obviously but it gives you flexibility to expand...
 
1 HDMI should not be an issue in practice since AVR would take care of HDMI switching.
 
1. digitalv could you tell me what size you are looking for so that I can ask them specifically for that?

I was looking for a 55" panel but kindly get quotes for TH-50pf20w and as well as TH-58pf12wk. From the pricing trend, I guess I might have to be content with 50" though.
 
the HD ready pricing is approx:
th-42ph20w : Rs. 50k +taxes
th-50ph20w : Rs. 90k +taxes

will get full HD pricing today hopefully. Prices seem quite high, will have to bargain hard.
 
Ok so some movement finally! And quite surprising too...Please keep in mind these prices are for 5-10 sets total.
Here are the prices (without tax):
1. th-42pf20w : Rs. 83,333 (42", full HD, plasma panel)
2. th-50pf20w : Rs. 127,778 (50", full HD, plasma panel)
3. th-58pf20wk : Rs. 225,000 (58", full HD, plasma panel)
4. th-65pf12 : Rs. 286,380 (65", full HD, plasma panel)
5. th-p42v20d : Rs. 35,263 (42", full HD, plasma TV same as consumer line)

The surprising part is that the p42v20d has been quoted at Rs. 35k before tax whereas in the market it is for Rs. 63k (it is a consumer line TV)!! I won't be surprised if this is a mistake but will recheck and let everyone know.

So who all are interested now and for what model? Please let me know if we want to move forward with this. I think we might be able to negotiate another 10% after we confirm the number of pieces.

~Pranav
 
would there be any difference in picture processing between consumer TVs vs these panels, for eg, enhancement for handling motion blur (may be a wrong example for plasmas, but I hope you get the point)
Prices are on the higher side compared to samsung I think.
 
The mail advantage of these panels is that they have an expansion port & RS232 port - which allow for a lot of different uses...such as syncing different screens at the same time, LAN play, touch screen capabilities, etc. Which is why they might be priced higher.
All along my assumption was that panels would be cheaper than consumer TVs but it is actually the other way around.
But the silver lining is the quoted cost of the P42V20D which is too good to be true. Will reconfirm this price & price of 50V20 (@rpugalia) tomorrow.

Would request everyone who is interested in this to send me their mobile number on pm so that I can get in touch with them if needed.

~Pranav
 
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