Greetings to Italy!

I'm no video expert, but I have done some research, and I do know that the first generation of plasma screen TVs (over a decade ago!) had problems with burn-in and low life-expectancy.  They got a bad reputation from that, due to CRT manufacturers feeling threatened and releasing negative marketing about plamas.  However, the newer screens have improved dramatically.

Check out this very good article:

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pio/pe/images/portal/cit_3424/273087528Pioneer%20DTV%20White%20Paper%20-%20FINAL.pdf

 Notice especially the part starting on page 5, where they talk about life-expectancy.  They played a movie continuously on a rear-projection TV, an LCD, and a plasma for 4 weeks. At the end, the plasma had only decreased in brightness 5%, while the other two had decreased in brightness 11% and 23%.  Of course, this is an abusive way to treat a screen; it would be comparable to playing music through your loudspeakers with the volume turned all the way up for days in a row.  Components do better if you let them cool down between usages.  And of course, this article is about the mass market of plasma screens--the cheap TVs from other brand names.  However, with B&O, you know that they are not content with the status-quo.  They use highest-quality components in their products, and that would include the phosphor bulbs in their plasma screens.  Their attention to detail, the fact that they hand-make almost everything in-house, and their excellent track record for making long-lasting products, should assure you that you are getting a long-lasting TV of the highest quality.

I'd say, "Go for it!" 

Regards from the USA!

Aj. 

Of course B&O dont make the screen, they buy it from the panasonic plant in China. b&o  do use the commercial varient of the panel which makes it more long lived. You are not buying a hand made product from B&O in this regard! handmade by chinese on low salaries yes!! the earlier plasmas tended to suffer from pixel defeat after a while so you were left with unilluminated pixels on the screen and the gas in between the two sheets of glass would dissipate over time( this is why its called plasma) Thesze issues are resolved. The previous poster makes refernce to a Pioneer link explaning the virtues of Plasma and to some extent what is said is true- BUT pinoeer is in a mess having gone down the plasma only route when the mass market is now in LCD!

Plasma life is indicated by the term 'half life' this is the point at which the panel is half as bright as it was when it was new.It is not a question of quality of image dropping. No one talks of LCD life of course, assuming it goes on forever. In fact they only last as long as the backlight does and the higher the brightness - expectancy is reduced. Once the back light has gone the panel is US.

I have an original panasonic commercial panel( which is the same as B&O use) the panel is more robustly constructed than a normal domestic panel. The is panel has been used every day for 7 years and I have noticed only a slight loss of brightness compared to new. I also have  a new BV4 50"

Despite having static images displayed quite a bit there is no 'plasma burn in' all in all I would not be to worried about the life of the panel at all I think you will find the electronics will be outof date before the panel!.

Also as the beosystem 3 is hung on the back of the BV9i would think it would be easy to upgrade the panel inside ( in the same way you can the BV4. This was a lot more difficult on the BV5 which was more integrated I went for the BV4 as with BS3 its the best picture out there and LCD is simply no match at all.

i have a pioneer plasma since 3 years, and all is OK no burning.

the problem with a 21000 euros plasma is than the technologie grow very fast, too fast.

For the 4000 euros of my old 43 inch HD ready plasma i can have now a full HD 55 inch.

In 5 or 6 years you will by buy a 120 inch  oled TV for 5000 euros, and your BV9 seems very litle.

Another little point worth mentioning is that in a recent survey covering Japan, China, Germany, France, and England - 4 out 5 respondents prefered the plasma picture over the LCD picture in a side-by-side comparision.

http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/07/05/recent-survey-suggests-plasmas-preferred-over-lcds/ 

All great advises guys... you have made this a little bit clearer for me... thanks a lot!!!

Massimo

355f:

Of course B&O dont make the screen, they buy it from the panasonic plant in China. b&o  do use the commercial varient of the panel which makes it more long lived. You are not buying a hand made product from B&O in this regard! handmade by chinese on low salaries yes!!

Just curious where you get your information from.  I was told by my B&O dealer that they get the glass for their plasma screens from Japan.  Japan has invested in the infrastructure to have large glass factories, and Struer wouldn't be able to support the personnel, space, and supplies needed for a large glass factory (not to mention the pollution). But B&O buys the best glass panels available, then brings them home, applies their special coatings, arranges the other components, and so on.

Of course Bang & Olufsen doesn't make every single component from scratch!  That would be stupid. NO company does that, for that matter.  But nobody would say that a restaurant doesn't make their own food just because they don't grow their own vegetables and butcher their own animals.  Restaurants buy ingredients from suppliers, and "assemble" everything at the restaurant.  The quality of the food suppliers is part of the recipe, but the real magic happens with a good chef.  Same with B&O.  They buy highest-quality components, then engineer and assemble everything at home.  I'm sure they don't make their own speaker cones, copper wires, screws, etc.  If they did, everything would be 10 times more expensive than it is!  But the ingenious way they use those components is just magic!

I get my information as I run an electronics company based in China that manufactures audio and some video products for many of the brands ( not B&O!!) I appreciate that a company cant buy all the 'ingredients' as you put it but in this instance they are buying vitually a READY MADE MEAL!!  I can assure you of that!

I like B&O and whilst I could have any brand I choose it because it looks good and the integration is good. DONT make the mistake of thinking that because one pays a HIGH price one is buying the very best components! in many instances the items used are of a rather POOR quality and this is FACT!

What B&O are good at is taking the 'ready made meal' and spending some time on the engineering side seeing how best they can improve what is already made ( in the case of plasma- not some audio) and because the japanese brands ( who all have operations in China) dont spend money on good tuners B&O work the magic to make it better, look better and integrate it. THAT is what you pay for it is simply NOT about quality at all! The B&O plasmas are the PANASONIC D9 and D10 variants, I have both and if you take the backs off there is NO difference! ------- oh yes there is!!!! B&O REMOVE  the tuner but charge 6 times the price for the panel.

However your B&O dealers story is a nice one!!