By Richard Lawler

Via Engadget

Say goodbye to Kuro as we knew (and loved) it, as Pioneer officially announced that after panel production of the next series of models is complete, it’s ending all in-house plasma panel production and will build HDTVs based on panels bought elsewhere. The source went unnamed pending a final agreement, but Panasonic will likely follow up the 42-inch it’s providing with plasmas of up to 60-inches. Due this fall are Kuro-edition LCDs, combining Pioneer’s ultra-thin speakers and exacting picture quality standards with screens built by Sharp (hopefully this time sans-banding issues) that should see release Europe first. Other businesses affected are car audio, DJ equipment and Blu-ray players, but by streamlining operations and working closely with Sharp, it expects a return to profitability in 2010.