Ok, hear it from someone who actually owns a plasma.
My NEC VP4 failed after 2 years and probably less than 200 hours total, vertical driver failed and lots of missing columns. NEC only offered 1 year warranty at that time, but they are nice enough to fix mine for free :)
My friend's Pioneer Elite 50" failed 2 times during 3 years of ownership, power supply failed. First time was under warranty period, but Pioneer blamed it on bad incoming power and would not honor warranty. They paid $1500 to fix each time.
My college friend's JVC failed after 3 years with very little hour (was in his vacation home oversea), similar problem as mine. JVC told him he is better off buying a new one as it was the glass that went bad.
My mom's Samsung failed after a few months, no idea what went wrong. Good thing it was bought from my sister's company and they took care of it right away.
So far, I only know a couple others who own plasma for over a year without problem. But then plasma are very commonly used in airport and other public display. If fail rate is so high, I bet they will replace plasma with something else right away. My theory is plasma does not like power fluctuation and power cycle.
My NEC VP4 failed after 2 years and probably less than 200 hours total, vertical driver failed and lots of missing columns. NEC only offered 1 year warranty at that time, but they are nice enough to fix mine for free :)
My friend's Pioneer Elite 50" failed 2 times during 3 years of ownership, power supply failed. First time was under warranty period, but Pioneer blamed it on bad incoming power and would not honor warranty. They paid $1500 to fix each time.
My college friend's JVC failed after 3 years with very little hour (was in his vacation home oversea), similar problem as mine. JVC told him he is better off buying a new one as it was the glass that went bad.
My mom's Samsung failed after a few months, no idea what went wrong. Good thing it was bought from my sister's company and they took care of it right away.
So far, I only know a couple others who own plasma for over a year without problem. But then plasma are very commonly used in airport and other public display. If fail rate is so high, I bet they will replace plasma with something else right away. My theory is plasma does not like power fluctuation and power cycle.