Apparently, the pressures of having high quality HDTVs is taking its toll with Pioneer. Rumors state that Pioneer have ceased production on all plasma panels — not just 42″ panels, but all panels.

This does not mean Pioneer is going to stop making plasma HDTVs though. They will continue to purchase panels from other suppliers. While this piece of news may bring a sigh of relief, it should be noted that not all panels are created equally.

It’s over for Pioneer’s own 42″ plasma screens. While they will stop producing 42″ panels within their own factories, this does not stop them from simply purchasing 42″ panels from one of their plasma brethren, Panasonic. Plasma fans need not to worry: Pioneer’s 50″+ plasmas remain unphased for now.

LCDs and Plasmas are nice today, but something better could be just around the corner: OLED. Sony is hoping to bring OLED displays into the mainstream market sooner rather than later and by investing $204 million into larger panels; these are great first steps. Hopefully we’ll be seeing screens larger than 11 inches in production.

I’m personally excited for this technology and to see any company invest money into its development is always a plus.

In other news, Sony is selling off their Cell chip production facilities to Toshiba. Toshiba will be taking over the Cell processor and RSX chip manufacturing for both the PlayStation 3 and other products which include Toshiba’s.

While it’s true that LCDs have become very popular with the high number of LCD announcements, it is still a technology worth going after if you have no qualms with power consumption. Hey, it’s all about the picture quality, right? Well according to CNet Australia’s informative article and video, plasmas still edge out LCDs with their overall color accuracy. Sure, they aren’t pixel perfect, but hey: you can’t win them all. Well, OLED displays can, but they have have a long way to go before becoming mainstream affordable.

My most recent purchase was an LCD display, but that was due to personal emphasis on power consumption, cost and attention to pixel perfect displays. Taking a quick look around, I see the Pioneer PDP-5080 is amongst the best displays out there. It also has 4 HDMI ports — which is the most I have ever seen on a display.

First off, my replacement PotC: Curse of the Black Pearl arrived.

The Sony KDL-52W3000 arrived and thus there will be lots of moving, disconnecting and reconnecting of video equipment. I will also need to reprogram the Logitech Harmony 880 for it as well. By the way, if anyone knows of any deals on a Logitech Harmony 880; give me a shout.

If there was any reason for me to try Second Life, it would be to see all the freaky shit that Shawn Elliot of GFW Radio was going on about. There was some seriously hilarious anecdotes on this week’s podcast. Nothing truly notable from the Kojima Production Report or 1UP Yours, but they were still great.

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That’s right folks. Getting my hands on a new 52″ Sony KDL-52W3000. The house is being rejiggered and the creation of a true living room and “home theatre” room results in a second HDTV. Why not Samsung? I was checking out prices via BestBuy and FutureShop, but the Sony LCD I had my eye on was on sale and cheaper than comparable models from other manufacturers. I look forward to its arrival so I could get in there and tinker with it. I am sure it will be superior to my KDS-50A2000, but I am curious as to how much better.

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Robots. Will they serve us or will we serve them? I am not sure about the future, but judging by today’s Mahalo Daily, they are serving us today in a very unimpressive fashion.

More high definition format war “news” today. HBO reassured the public that they are going Blu-ray. (Band of Brothers in HD, please!) Paramount is staying on the HD DVD course despite reports. What about Universal Studios? Universal Studios is being hush hush about their future. As for Microsoft? They could support Blu-ray or not.

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Some of my personal highlights from Day 2 of CES 2008:

CES and Bill Gates has been quite the tradition. I mean just check out the above picture of him and Conan racing from CES 2005. With this being Sir Bill Gates’ final CES 08 appearance, the tradition is coming to an end. Engadget got the opportunity to speak with the “soon to be former” Chairman of Microsoft and ask him some questions.

Sony demoed copying from Blu-ray disc today and what makes it so special is how they transferred a lower resolution version of the movie onto the Sony PlayStation Portable. Sony should have done this when the PSP first launched with  DVDs and not even bother with UMDs. Buying the same movie twice? Pfft.

Sony confirmed that OLED TV manufacturing is difficult and they are seeking partners for this new venture. Perhaps they should talk to Samsung. After all, it’s thanks to them that they are one of the best in LCD HDTV market. Personally, the longer they take to come to market, the better I feel about my latest 52″ LCD HDTV purchase.

I adore my iPod, but SanDisk products have always caught my eye. Check out the new Sansa View 32 GB flash based MP3 player which will only set you back by $349. The $79 4GB Sansa clip is also pretty good and very cheap.

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CES 08 began earlier today. All the sexy TVs and other neat tidbits began pouring out already. Check these sites for all the latest info:

• C|Net’s CES 08 Coverage
• Engadget CES 08 Coverage
• Gizmondo CES 08 Coverage

Looks like the 11 inch Sony XEL-1 OLED screen will be hitting the Americas for low price of $2500 USD. Sony, Samsung and Toshiba also announced their new models of HDTVs. Timing could not be better. I am in the market for a new LCD HDTV.

I recall a time when the Consumer Electronics Show was more of a tradeshow about gadgets, huge LCDs, computer technology and other new technologies, such as this high definition wireless solution. I started following the show thanks to all the new computer oriented products companies would announce and display; it was a nice preview of the year to come computer technology wise.

Since the inceptions of the high def war and the next-gen console war, CES’ entertainment section slowly became the highlight of the show for me.

With CES 2008 is just a few days away (starts January 7^th), I found it hard to miss all the buzz surrounding it. Here’s a rundown of some of the noteworthy:

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