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Panasonic Talks 3D, Blu-ray, and the Future

Tue Oct 13, 2009 at 02:00 PM ET
Tags: Panasonic, 3D, Industry Trends (all tags)

Panasonic execs sat down with some members of the press for a roundtable event at CEATEC in Japan, and offered some interesting insight as to the future of the industry as they see it.

They view 3D as a potentially huge market, which isn’t a surprise. Panasonic seems to recognize that there’s potential for failure, but they feel it’s important to establish themselves as being at the forefront of the new technology.

Managing executive officer Takumi Kajisha feels that 3D is essential for Panasonic moving forward. “A strong brand must have competitive products like Apple's iPod and Sony's Walkman. Home 3D HD could be that breakthrough product for Panasonic,” he stated.

They also spoke about why they perceive Blu-ray Recorders as being an unimportant product for the US. Yoshiyuki Miyabe, the officer in charge of digital network technology, states that while Blu-ray Recorders are big business in Japan “Our marketing people think there is no need for it in the U.S. given IPTV, TiVo [and] digital video recorders there now.”

Source: TWICE

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Panasonic Lifts the Veil on Prototype 3D Plasma TV

Wed Sep 30, 2009 at 11:00 AM ET
Tags: 3D, Panasonic, Industry Trends (all tags)

Panasonic’s newly shown set could be on shelves as early as next year.

It’s been just about a month since Panasonic announced they’d be selling 3D HD sets in 2010, and they’ve got much to show for it. The new 3D Plasma set was shown at the company headquarters in Osaka on Monday morning and is slated to appear in early October at a Japanese electronics show known as Ceatec.

The new Panasonic prototype uses active shutter glasses, just like Sony’s 3D sets will, rather than the passive glasses found in movie theaters. The television and glasses work in tandem to create the 3D effect.

Panasonic has stated that they needed to build this set from the ground up to make everything work to their standards. Due to the rapid switching of pictures, new PDP materials were required as well as new chips. They’ve taken everything into consideration including the phosphors they use, opting for those with a short time of luminescence decay to ensure there aren’t any images lingering.

Source: PC World

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Panasonic Lifts the Veil on Prototype 3D Plasma TV

Wed Sep 30, 2009 at 11:00 AM ET
Tags: 3D, Panasonic, Industry Trends (all tags)

Panasonic’s newly shown set could be on shelves as early as next year.

It’s been just about a month since Panasonic announced they’d be selling 3D HD sets in 2010, and they’ve got much to show for it. The new 3D Plasma set was shown at the company headquarters in Osaka on Monday morning and is slated to appear in early October at a Japanese electronics show known as Ceatec.

The new Panasonic prototype uses active shutter glasses, just like Sony’s 3D sets will, rather than the passive glasses found in movie theaters. The television and glasses work in tandem to create the 3D effect.

Panasonic has stated that they needed to build this set from the ground up to make everything work to their standards. Due to the rapid switching of pictures, new PDP materials were required as well as new chips. They’ve taken everything into consideration including the phosphors they use, opting for those with a short time of luminescence decay to ensure there aren’t any images lingering.

Source: PC World

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Panasonic’s Blu-ray Home Theater in a Box

Thu Sep 10, 2009 at 03:45 PM ET
Tags: Panasonic, Product Announcements (all tags)

Blu-ray player, sound system and media streaming in one.

Announced yesterday and shipping this month, Panasonic offers up their newest home theater in a box -the SC-BTX70. Entering into an increasingly crowded category, Panasonic hopes to one up the competition with quality components and a robust feature set.

The SC-BTX70 is a 2.1 system that delivers virtual 7.1 surround sound via a pair of rather visually unimpressive looking speakers. Panasonic boasts that the new top mounted speaker design expands the listening area, while low-density bamboo cones enable a pure and crisp sound.

Panasonic’s new HTib also integrates digital media, allowing SD cards, USB devices and iPods to be connected for listening to music and watching videos. An Ethernet connection not only allows the use of BD-Live, but lets the viewer browse and watch videos on YouTube and Amazon Video-on-Demand.

Panasonic’s SC-BTX70 is up against some pretty stiff competition, and a dual speaker setup just doesn’t look as good as 5.1 or 7.1 systems at the suggested $999.95 price. Expect Panasonic’s new HTiB in stores later this month.

Source: Reuters

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Panasonic Takes 3D HDTVs and Avatar on Tour

Wed Aug 26, 2009 at 01:00 PM ET
Tags: Panasonic, 3D, Industry Trends (all tags)

Mobile theaters will start pulling into US cities starting next month.

James Cameron and Panasonic both really love 3D technology, and they want you to love it too. There are quite a few skeptics out there when it comes to the new format, and Panasonic and 20th Century Fox hope to win them over later this year with a new twist on an old marketing campaign.

A fleet of mobile home theater trucks will be traveling throughout the US and Europe later this year, showing off scenes from the upcoming Avatar in 3D. Each truck will be equipped with a Blu-ray player, a 103” Panasonic Viera Plasma TV, and presumably some fairly impressive sound equipment.

This will not only act as promotion for Avatar and Panasonic individually, but as a promotion for the 3D format itself. “I believe 3D is how we will experience movies, gaming and computing in the near future,” said Cameron to the Associated Press “3D is not something you watch. It's a reality you feel you could step into.”

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Panasonic’s New Strada - Blu-ray For The Car

Mon Aug 24, 2009 at 11:00 AM ET
Tags: Panasonic (all tags)

At $5000, Panasonic's newest creation is a luxury item to be sure.

Thanks to the magic of Google Translate, we’ve got full specs on both the CY-BB1000D car Blu-ray player, and CN-HX3000D Panasonic’s matching in dash GPS and media player.

The CY-BB1000D is a fairly capable in dash Blu-ray player, with a signal up to 1080p over HDMI. While not BD-Live compliant, the player is fully compatible with Bonus View. Standard HD audio formats are supported including Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD Master Audio. Retailing at just over $1,000, this is due out September 10th in Japan.

Of course, you’ll need something to watch those Blu-rays on. Panasonic suggests the CN-HX3000D navigation system. The CN-HX3000D features a seven inch 720p display, 5.1 surround processing, and an 80GB hard drive for audio and video playback. Also included are iPod connectors, an SD card slot, and even a digital TV tuner. Releasing September 10th as well, the navigation system can be yours for right around $3,800.

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Panasonic Bringing HDMI 1.4 To The Table

Wed Jul 29, 2009 at 10:00 AM ET
Tags: Industry Trends, Panasonic (all tags)

Expected in late August, Panasonic will be shipping HDMI 1.4 cables out to Japanese retailers.

While there isn’t yet a need for the cables, early adopters can get their hands on them at the end of this summer. Prices vary by length from a 1 meter cable running about $42 to a 10 meter cable at over $200.

While certainly the new HDMI standard will bring features formerly unavailable, such as capabilities for 3D content, as well as 4k and 2k resolution support, it’s unnecessary until such technologies hit the mainstream market. A few products this holiday season will accept the new cables, and surely we’ll see plenty at CES. There’s no word yet on plans to bring these cables to the states.

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Panasonic’s New 2TB Blu-ray DVR and More

Tue Jul 28, 2009 at 12:00 PM ET
Tags: Panasonic, Product Announcement, Industry Trends (all tags)

According to Akihabara News, Panasonic is releasing a new line of DVRs this September.

The lineup is set to include six different units ranging from the very high end to the low. Consumers will have several size options, from 320 gigabytes all the way up to 2 terabytes.

The new DVR line will also feature units with built in VHS and Blu-ray recorders. While it is unclear which DVRs will have which features, it seems likely that the VHS player would be integrated into the lower end models, leaving the higher end to house the Blu-ray recorders. We'll keep you posted as more details come in.

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Panasonic Adds Three Blu-Ray Players To Product Lineup

Thu Mar 12, 2009 at 04:30 PM ET
Tags: Panasonic (all tags)

Panasonic is introducing three new Blu-Ray players to their lineup.

The new offering sinclude: The DMP-BD60 (SRP: $299.95), DMP-BD80 (SRP: $399.95), and DMP-BD70V (SRP: $399.95). These three players have been engineered to reduce power consumption. They also include VIERA Cast’s internet connection for access to Amazon’s video selection, Google’s Picasa and other popular online Blu-Ray applications, and the VIERA Link function that allows users to control all AV components with a single remote.

The video quality is augmented by the PHL Reference Chroma Processor Plus to produce picture quality that is faithful to the original film. They all include decoders for Dolby(R) Digital Plus, Dolby(R) TrueHD, and DTS-HD Master Audio Essential. The BD70V is the first player on the market to include a deck for VHS support. It can also play CDs, DVDs and Blu-Ray discs, and can up-convert all video to 1080p.

The BD80 is a 7.1 channel player, allowing for true 7.1 surround sound. It also allows for a playback window with video information to be displayed along with the currently playing disc. All three players use 96kHz surround remastering, to enhance the audio quality of CDs and other sources. These three Blu-Ray players from Panasonic will be available this April.

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Panasonic Announces Blu-ray Home Theater Systems

Mon Jan 26, 2009 at 01:00 PM ET
Tags: Panasonic, Home Theater Gear (all tags)

Panasonic has announced two new Blu-ray Home Theater in a Box (HTiB) setups that will not only replace its previous model by April or May, but retail for less.

The two models are the 1,000-watt SC-BT200 (SRP $599) and 1,250-watt SC-BT300 (SRP $699). Both have a 7.1-channel speaker system and the capability to decode all authorized Blu-Ray surround systems. They are greatly improved over their predecessor SC-BT100, however, in that they are BD-Live compatible and include the Viera Cast service via the internet, which allows for streaming videos from Youtube, Amazon.com, Bloomberg News financial information and more.

Other features included in both of these HTiBs are an SD Card slot, playback capabilities for AVC HD camera files, and slide-out iPod dock. The SC-BT200 comes with 2 left-right tower speakers, a small center channel and surrounds. The SC-BT300 comes with 7 mid-sized speakers. The surround speakers from both of these HTiB are wireless-ready, although neither comes with wireless speakers.



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