Panasonic Rates Its 1080p Plasmas at 100,000 Hours to Half Brightness

Panasonic’s TH-42PZ700U 42-inch 1080p plasma

At average U.S. household viewing of 6.5 hours a day, it could take more than 42 years for the Panasonic 1080p plasmas to hit half brightness, the company says.

Buy a Panasonic plasma TV, watch it for life—well, at least if you have it for a while it will be staying very bright for very long, the company says. Panasonic has announced that it is rating its best-selling line of 1080p Plasma HDTVs to play for 100,000 hours before reaching half brightness. 

Based upon the U.S. average daily viewing time of 6.5 hours, it could on average take more than 42 years before those plasmas reach half of their original brightness level. Panasonic rates its current line of 720p Plasma HDTVs to play for 60,000 hours to half brightness or 25 years at 6.5 hours per day.

The company emphasizes that the rating is only to half brightness, too, and not to the end of the plasma’s life cycle.

Panasonic’s current lineup of 1080p full HDTVs are available in 42-, 50-, 58- and 65-inch class diagonal screen sizes. Visit www.panasonic.com for further details.