Various internet-based pundits have been banging on about the death of the plasma screen TV for years now, but with the dreaded RECESSION (dum dum duuuuuuuuum) making its effects felt and Pioneer announcing its withdrawal from the flatscreen market could this really be it?

Faced with shrinking consumer demand and mounting panel production costs, Pioneer is bowing out to focus on car electronics and audio products. This is emblematic of the pickle the wider TV industry has got itself into. With low-end LCD screens pushing television prices ever downwards, the enticingly huge screen sizes and low price tags are too much to resist for a penny-pinching public.  Meanwhile manufacturers’ margins are slimmer than an OLED screen. And when cash is sparse, who is seriously going to consider spending literally thousands of pounds on a plasma screen TV and the subsequent electricity bills?

But technology journalists the web over are lamenting the fickle public’s purse strings for bringing about the demise of a TV manufacturer that is widely regarded as one of the best in the television making biz. It’s like Primark flourishing whilst French Connection goes under; we’re all opting for quantity over quality.

Never fear, picture quality fans, with HD broadcasting looking set to rise and OLED TVs glimmering tantalisingly on the consumer horizon, even if plasma screens do go the way of HD DVD, it could just be natural selection at work.