Danny Gorog04 June 2008, 1:57 PM
Panasonic finally says it has the definitive answer, unveiling its latest TVs.
In TV
technology, Panasonic is still heavily marketing both Plasma and LCD
sets, but now says both technologies are suitable in the right circumstance.
All Panasonic TVs smaller than 40" are LCD - designed for environments with lots of
backlight,
where the extra brightness of the LCD panels makes viewing easier.
But
in the living room, mounted on the wall, Panasonic recommends you hang
one of their
Viera
Plasma units, providing more lifelike colour, richer blacks and lower screen lag for sport and fast action. The new range of Panasonic plasmas now comes in 40", 50",
65" and a brand new 'in-between' 46" size.
Of the fourteen new models
Panasonic has just introduced, nine are full
1080P HD (1920x1080, with progressive screen refresh rather than interlaced).
According to Paul Reid, Director of Panasonic's
Consumer Electronics Group, consumers are still confused by the
difference between Plasma and LCD technology. To combat this, Panasonic
has launched a new website called
whychooseplasma.com.au to help make
the decision easier.
Panasonic also previewed the future of
PDP
(Plasma Display Panel) technology with two interesting demonstrations. The first, a
super-thin 50" plasma measuring 24.7mm (less than one inch) thick and
weighs 22kg - around half the weight and a quarter as thick as current
model plasma units. The second demonstration unit was a new 42" plasma
panel which provides the same brightness as current displays but
consumes only half as much power. With the same power consumption as
current units this new plasma can produce twice the brightness.
Panasonic reps said this technology should be available in the next
couple of years.
Panasonic also unveiled Australia's first
Blu-Ray recorder, with a 500GB hard drive and the ability to record seven hours of full HD video onto a BluRay disc. See our full article about it
here.
At over $2000 the BluRay recorder certainly isn't for everyone, but Panasonic also previewed a range of more affordable DVD-recorders with built-in hard disk and twin-
HD tuner. The new model, the
DMR-
XW300 comes with a 250GB hard drive and can record up to 441 hours of video in
EP (extended play) mode. Cheaper models with standard definition tuners are also available.