It has recently come to vision that Vizio is mulling over to concentrate more on LCD sets and put a stop on the selling of Plasma TVs. The Southern California-based upstart has developed a successful business selling relatively inexpensive HDTVs in warehouse stores such as Costco and Sam's Club. Earlier to Vizio, it was Pioneer, maker of ultra-pricey plasma sets for home theater aficionados that announced that it is exiting the TV business altogether.

Now when Pioneer and Vizio have bid adieu, there are only three major players in the U. S. plasma TV market that are LG, Panasonic, and Samsung. In the state where more and more customers are proffering LCD over Plasma, the decision taken by Vizio to stop selling Plasma doesn't come as a surprise. It has been put forward by industry researcher Display Search that LCD outsells plasma by a 7 to 1 margin. The change shouldn't prove to be too strident for Vizio's customers, since Vizio's current product lineup on its website shows just 5 plasma versus 20 LCD models.

Even when most of the consumers are going for LCD, it is still believed by many that plasma other than being less costly also provides superior picture, particularly for home theater settings. However, it is also the fact that LCD offers brighter displays and thus they often work better in light-filled family rooms.

Surprisingly, there was an increase by 28 percent in the shipments of plasma TVs during the 4th quarter of 2008 (the holiday shopping season) and hiked by 10 percent for the entire year. On the other hand, the shipments of LCD actually a fall in the 2008 holiday quarter by 2 percent as compared to the same period during 2007.

It was reported by Display Search, "Lower prices apparently have a lot to do with plasma's resilience in a poor economy. Plasma TV shipments were likely less impacted by increased consumer price sensitivity." If this is true then may be plasma still have a few more good years.