Panasonic to pull out of New Zealand TV market

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Panasonic to pull out of New Zealand TV market

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#3455449 23-Jan-2026 15:55

I saw on a British report today that TCL was only going to make the low to middle end TVs for Sony and Sony would continue to make the high end TVs.

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Old3eyes

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#3455454 23-Jan-2026 16:11

old3eyes:

I saw on a British report today that TCL was only going to make the low to middle end TVs for Sony and Sony would continue to make the high end TVs.

TCL will end up making almost everything. They already have moved from the cheap and cheerful segment to mid-high end.

tangerz

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#3455720 25-Jan-2026 09:53

Still rocking my 55" VT60 that I bought when I heard they were quitting plasma back in 2013. It still puts out a fantastic picture, despite only 1080p resolution and no HDR etc.

Added bonus: Acts as a space heater during winter! 🤣

Dunnersfella

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#3455769 25-Jan-2026 13:18

tangerz:

Still rocking my 55" VT60 that I bought when I heard they were quitting plasma back in 2013. It still puts out a fantastic picture, despite only 1080p resolution and no HDR etc.

Added bonus: Acts as a space heater during winter! 🤣

Same!
Mine is going slowly redder and redder...

tangerz

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#3455773 25-Jan-2026 13:52

Dunnersfella:

tangerz:

Still rocking my 55" VT60 that I bought when I heard they were quitting plasma back in 2013. It still puts out a fantastic picture, despite only 1080p resolution and no HDR etc.

Added bonus: Acts as a space heater during winter! 🤣

Same!
Mine is going slowly redder and redder...

That's a shame. My colours are still good. It's had a pretty easy life, mostly used for movie watching. Just checking now it's only just done 25K hours which is around half the lifespan plasmas were supposedly "good" for, (50K hours iirc).

LostBoyNZ

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#3455856 25-Jan-2026 16:57

tangerz:

Still rocking my 55" VT60 that I bought when I heard they were quitting plasma back in 2013. It still puts out a fantastic picture, despite only 1080p resolution and no HDR etc.

Added bonus: Acts as a space heater during winter! 🤣

Awesome!! My Samsung 63" Plasma was a similar case, purchased 2010 and it was only at the end of last year I bought a new TV, while the Panasonic OELDs were on an amazing clearance sale. The Samsung still put out a really nice picture too. The only exception was when there was an extremely white scene, I'd get some purple banding across the middle. Rare enough to not be super bothered about it, thankfully.

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#3455922 26-Jan-2026 08:12

tangerz:

Still rocking my 55" VT60 that I bought when I heard they were quitting plasma back in 2013. It still puts out a fantastic picture, despite only 1080p resolution and no HDR etc.

Added bonus: Acts as a space heater during winter! 🤣

Nice! Ive still got my 50" ST60 in a spare room gathering dust. Replaced with my OLED but didn't have the heart to get rid of it as I love the picture so much. Must get it setup somewhere in the future

Panasonic 65GZ1000, Onkyo RZ730, Atmos 5.1.2, AppleTV 4K, Nest Mini's, PS5, PS3, MacbookPro, iPad Pro, Apple watch SE2, iPhone 15+

old3eyes

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#3455929 26-Jan-2026 08:52

JPNZ:

tangerz:

Still rocking my 55" VT60 that I bought when I heard they were quitting plasma back in 2013. It still puts out a fantastic picture, despite only 1080p resolution and no HDR etc.

Added bonus: Acts as a space heater during winter! 🤣

Nice! Ive still got my 50" ST60 in a spare room gathering dust. Replaced with my OLED but didn't have the heart to get rid of it as I love the picture so much. Must get it setup somewhere in the future

In my lounge I still have a 2007 46" Sony LCD which as it only has an analog tuner is now a dumb panel. still works fine and you can't seem to kill these old TVs. It will be getting replaced with a new 65” sometime this year as the finance committee wants a smart TV though judging by her technical skills I’m not sure i9f she will cope with it.

Regards,

Old3eyes

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#3455935 26-Jan-2026 09:18

tangerz:

That's a shame. My colours are still good. It's had a pretty easy life, mostly used for movie watching. Just checking now it's only just done 25K hours which is around half the lifespan plasmas were supposedly "good" for, (50K hours iirc).

the later (last?!) panasonic plasmas have a half-life of 100K hours. you have a while to go yet.

i still have a 65VT50 doing very well.

bfginger

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#3460190 10-Feb-2026 13:28

Out of the global TV brands Panasonic was the one most damaged by covid because it was the one most dependent on in-shop recommendations by sales staff. One of the main reasons Panasonic lost so much money on plasma was the refusal of sales staff in the North American market to recommend them because they knew as soon as the average Homer saw image retention of a Fox or CNN logo they would want to return the TV.

Television sales staff are rarely as knowledgeable as you'd expect but what anyone in that job long enough learns are what televisions cause clients headaches and by extension cause them headaches. As of five years ago Panasonic had had the lowest failure rate in the industry since 2003 - 50% of Samsung's after 5 years, the easiest and most reliable smart TV platform, the best sound and voice clarity, the best default picture settings and the best remote controls. Directing unsure clients towards Panasonics, especially the elderly, was a no-brainer.

When rebadged "Panasonic" Google TVs appeared for the 2021 model year it was apparent on the shop shelves in demo mode those weren't the same calibre of televisions. Over the past 4 years I've heard more complaints about these TVs than everything else on the market put together.

At the time I looked at the Panasonic Japan website and the entry level 2021 model year genuine Panasonic TVs continued to be sold in Japan. They could've been sold in NZ too but I guess they had lower margins than rebadged TCLs.

Low end and high end products in a range drive each other. Were sales staff going to direct anyone towards the Panasonic section when they knew half of the models were rebadged and they'd have to skirt around them, or just go over to LG. Was the average person going to buy a high end Panasonic TV after hearing a friend or relative complaining about their Panasonic Google TV or seeing its picture. It's incredible to have engaged in so much brand destruction in just 4 years. Presumably similar TVs will be sold under the Sony name now.

Samsung have been in trouble with TVs since the late 2010s so they may drop out within the next decade. A country owning the TV industry means they'll get the information from smart TVs, the default installation of streaming apps and likely the app store because why would they stay with something as troublesome and out of their control as Android. These TVs may be sold at cost but that doesn't mean they're really cheaper.

If you got a Google TV you can put it in Apps Only mode as that may reduce instability

https://support.google.com/googletv/answer/10070784?hl=en

Behodar

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#3460208 10-Feb-2026 13:41

bfginger:

If you got a Google TV you can put it in Apps Only mode as that may reduce instability

https://support.google.com/googletv/answer/10070784?hl=en

Just with the "smart" features, or with the TV as a whole? I have one of these and I find it aggravating that it frequently resets from the soundbar to the useless internal speaker.

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bfginger

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#3460373 10-Feb-2026 22:28

Apps Only mode stops cruft loading in the Home screen which should improve stability. The problem you're having sounds like a firmware bug but it's worth a try in case a service is restarting when there is low ram.