Panasonic
”Tru2way TVs from Panasonic and Sony, Live For the First Time
Fans of Giz Explains know that Tru2way is the cable industry's latest cable card scheme. Today, Sony and Panasonic are showing off their own Tru2way-enabled TVs, Pana's PZ80Q with a built-in box, and Sony's Bravia with a box that connects via HDMI. What's cool is that this is the first time their showing it connected live to the cable company's head-end, and as you can see from the video and shots below, it works pretty well. Bonus: Samsung is showing off a different Tru2way interface, also connected to Comcast, though without full video-on-demand capability. Photos of that below. More »Panasonic $3,500 AE3000 Projector: Green and Smart with Crazy Contrast
Some 1080p projectors are getting down below the $2,000 mark, but the real news is that insanely good projectors are appearing in the $3,000 range. On the heels of Sony's VPL-HW10 comes Panasonic's AE3000, which has 60,000:1 contrast ratio using LCD projection technology. The $3,500 system handles motion blur withsomething like the 120Hz seen in LCD flat panels: 120 frames per sec for 60Hz content; 96 frames per second for 24P content. It's smart on power consumption, reducing the drain on the lamp according to the scene's requirements. More details below: More »Panasonic Reprices PZ850 Flagship 65" Net-Connected Plasma: Now Only $7,000
We've covered Panasonic's flagship connected plasmas from the beginning, first at CES and then later when pricing was announced. Today at CEDIA they've bumped pricing down, and confirmed availability for this month. The 65-inch TH-65PZ850 will sell for $7,000 (we reported it earlier at $8000), while the 58-incher will sell for an even $4,000, down $300 from the May pricing. Additional info on them below. More »Panasonic to Mass Produce 150-Inch TV, Requires Your Own Nuclear Power Plant
Panasonic is saying that they are going to start mass-manufacturing their 150-inch 2,106 x 4,096 display, which obviously is not directed at consumers unless a) they have their own Quad-HD video material to play and b) they have their own nuclear power plant, since this beast eats 1,500 watts, which in the Michael Phelps scale is 243 pizzas, two roasted pigs stuffed with chicken breasts, five chili burritos and two dozen plates of pasta with veal meatballs. Hmmm. Meatballs. [Engadget]Panasonic Drops Sleeker DMP-BD35 & DMP-BD55 Blu-ray Decks
We just saw the DMP-BD50 a few months back, but now at IFA Panasonic has made official two new BD-Live 2.0-compatible players, the BD35 and BD55. The only discernible difference between the two, at the moment, is the BD55 supports analog 7.1 channel audio output. On top of that, they both share a slimmed-down chassis (just 4.9 cm high for the BD35, 5.5 cm for the 55), Uniphier image processor just like in the BD50, SD-slots, all the audio formats you would expect, and of course Blu-ray profile 2.0. No pricing or availability for the US yet. Check out a full spec chart comparison after the jump.
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Panasonic Updates 103-inch Plasma, Drops Price by One Car
The good news: Panasonic announced their newest 103-inch plasma, which will have updated features such as 10000:1 contrast ratio, 4 HDMI ports, Deep Color and x.v.Color support, not to mention a $20,000 price drop. The bad news: it'll still cost you around $50,000. In addition to the aforementioned features, the most incredible use of the gigantor display might be viewing photos and AVCHD home videos through the built-in SD port. Available now only in Japan, we're pretty sure that if you have the money to buy the television, you have the money to get Japan's friendly locals to load the 750lb set onto a boat or something. [Panasonic via Impress]Panasonic's DMR-BR630V Blu-ray Disc Recorder Does VHS Tapes Too
A Blu-ray disc recorder and a VHS video tape machine may seem unlikely bedfellows, but that hasn't stopped Panasonic from wrapping them up together in the same box for the DMR-BR630V. The 630V can write BDRs at six times speed, has digital and analog tuners, new second-gen MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 encoder chips as well as all the standard HDMI and analog connections and Panasonic's Viera link for device interconnectivity. It also records to DVD. There's even a 320GB hard drive inside, capable of recording video and later letting you dub it onto BDR or VHS. You'll have to wait until October 1st for its Japanese release, though, if you're absolutely desperate to get your collection of low-res, blurry Friends VHS tapes safely transferred onto spiffy high-res BDRs. And it'll cost you around $1,450 for the privilege. [AVWatch]Mystery Intel Tablet is Panasonic Toughbook for Medical Types
That mystery tablet PC that appeared at the end of Intel's presentation at IDF last night is no Classmate, or super-powered Speak&Spell either: It's a Panasonic Toughbook-alike tablet. More specifically it's a "Mobile Clinical Assistant" device, aimed at doctors and nurses who are under an increasing burden of digital data and imagery nowadays, though there's not much more info available than that fact yet. Shucks... and there we were hoping for something a little more Classmate-y. [Ubergizmo]Olympus and Panasonic Launch Micro Four Thirds System For Smaller, Rangefinder-Like Digicams
Olympus and Panasonic rolled out a new standard for interoperable lenses and camera bodies today in Japan, which means we could see yet another new camera category smashed in between consumer, pro-sumer, con-fessional, and all the rest. The Micro Four Thirds system is basically a slimmed down version of the two companies' Four Thirds system, which allowed member companies to build lenses and bodies that were digital-only and interoperable between brands. And while the new Micro version may not sound like much, it could result in the revival of an all-digital, Leica-like quasi rangefinder system with tons of high-quality lens choices. More »JD Power Announces the Best Cameras of 2008
JD Power and Associates just released the results of its latest camera survey, culling the responses of over 8,000 digital camera buyers between April of 2007 and March of 2008. They split the categories into DSLRs, Point and Shoots, Premium Point and Shoots, and Ultra Slims. Hit the jump to see the list of winners. More »Sony BDP-S350 and Panasonic DMP-BD50 Blu-ray 2.0 Enabled/Ready Players Reviewed Head-to-Head
Our good friend Gary Merson the HD Guru reviewed Sony's BDP-S350 and Panasonic's DMP-BD50, the latest Blu-ray players from each company, Battlemodo style. Both BD players scored high marks on video performance, with a slight edge to Panasonic, but Panasonic's $600 BD50 smoked Sony's S350 on pretty much everything else. More »Panasonic Now Hoping For 40-inch OLED TVs Mass Produced By 2011
Last month the projection was 37 inches. Now a more reputable Japanese paper, Nikkei, is reporting a 40-inch target being mass-produced and ready for retail in the same time frame. As always, Panasonic/Matsushita simply confirms that they're investing heavily into the tech and goes about their business. [AP]Buffalo's 8x Speed Blu-Ray Disc Recorder, World's Fastest (for Now)
Buffalo's upcoming internal and external BD recorder units can burn both single or double-layer BDs up to a sizzling 8x speed, and DVD ±R up to 16x. Of course Blu-ray technology is going to improve, probably following a similar pattern to DVD burning tech. But here's a funny: these drives use Panasonic SW-5584 units inside... and the speed may actually outstrip the currently fastest available Blu-ray burnable discs. Amusing, and a situation that can't last long. The drives are SATA-based (with USB 2 on the external unit) and will be available in Japan at first for around $380 for the internal and $440 for the external drive. [PCWatch]Panasonic Lumix Camera Summer Sequels: FZ28 18x Zoomer, 14.7-Megapixel FX150 and Ultra-wide Angle FX37
Panasonic has a nice set of digital camera summer sequels to last year's lineup. Here's the rundown, with full releases below:•Panasonic's FZ28 updates its original 18x super-zoomer FZ18 with a higher res, and some new software features, autofocus tracking and more robust face detection, plus it shoots HD video, like every new Panasonic camera. Out in Aug. for $399.
•The ultracompact FX150 bulldozes the FX100 with a ridiculous 14.7-megapixel resolution (hopefully not with meteor-size noise, but probably), RAW recording, HD video shooting, and a 28mm wide-angle lens. Available Aug. for $399.
•Finally, the FX37's raison d'etre is its 25mm ultra wide-angle 5x zoom lens. It's tiny, has a 10MP resolution and also shoots 720p HD video. It's available in Sept. for $350. More »



















