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I kinda of wish I kept the 42" 1080p Panasonic plasma I had a while ago. 42" is about the biggest screen I can accommodate in my small room and the picture was better than I had seen on any LCD set. I still had lingering doubts about burn in (a couple of channels I watch a lot have persistent logos that did burn into an older plasma I had) and doubted I could justify the running costs at >500W considering our ever climbing power costs.
While I think some of the early >$10k plasma sets could be as rare as early color sets and there may be some enthusiast interest (I've been collecting some smaller early flat panels - I can't be the only one) I doubt that will translate into $$$, at least not for some time.
I think most of the early generation plasmas were bought by commercial users and run into the ground. Almost every pre-2002 panel I have seen has had some degree of screen burn. Even if you can tolerate the screen burn there is a point where the panels get too "tired" and they seem to draw more current. At this point some will shutdown, some will take out the sustain board.
This may make keeping them running into the future harder than early CRT sets. At least it is possible to rebuild a CRT - I don't think it's even possible for a plasma panel.
I'd still like to find some of the early/oddball Plasmas to play with (but I don't pay much for them). Anything smaller than 42" is uncommon -
LG China made the 32" PDP32F1 panel for "emerging" markets - it found it's way into some offbrand sets sold here, but they have a truly awful picture. Fixed a few, but by the time these shit their power supplies the panels are already tired.
I've seen a JVC 35" - don't know who actually made the panel. Tried googling it at the time, but it was as if it didn't exist.
Hitachi made 32" and 37" panels that were used in their own sets and also by Philips. I've fixed a few of these - though everyone I've found since deciding I wanted one has had a tired panel.
Hitachi also made a 25" 1280 x 1024 panel that was used in a PC monitor. I've never seen even a picture of one, but the service manual was included in a collection of manuals I downloaded.
I've yet to see any 4:3 plasma here, though I know Pioneer made at least a couple of them.
Going back even further there's the IBM 3290 Plasma terminal, ~20" monochrome 160x62 character text terminal. Saw one at an auction once, didn't grab it as I had no way to drive it - kinda of wish I did now.
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