|
|
|
Wednesday May 21, 2008
|
Panasonic's new top-of-the-line PZ850 1080p plasma TVs, beginning to ship now, justify their $300 price premiums over Panasonic's next-best plasmas, by providing: a portal to the Internet, an SD card socket that plays photos and high-def camcorder movies, and a lifelike mode for movie-watching. Most intriguing is a feature the high end shares with other Panasonic plasma TVs this year -- a shatter-resistant TUF (tough under force) outer layer aimed at over-exuberant Nintendo Wii competitors when controllers fly out of their hands. As for Web access: Press the Viera Cast button on the TV remote and it brings up a free portal to Internet services, so far Bloomberg News, Picassa (for photo uploads), the Weather Channel, and YouTube. Panasonic says its focus groups loved the idea of the Internet on their high-def TVs but they also wanted a manageable Internet (oxymoron alert) which means they didn't necessarily want a wireless keyboard and unfettered access to the Web via IP TV (internet protocol TV). Panasonic acknowledges this focus group comprised PC users with "moderate Internet fluency." In other words, many of us weren't on the flat-panel panel. In a demo Wednesday, the Viera Cast link was a bit balky at times and some features weren't fully implemented. But the Picassa photo slideshow was impressive
The four models are:
-- 46-inch class TH-46PZ850, $3,100 street, shipping now
-- 50-inch class TH-50PZ850, $3,500, now.
-- 58-inch class TH-58PZ850, $4,300, August-September.
-- 65-inch class TH-65PZ850, $8,000, August-September. "65-inch class?" Panasonic uses the term, no doubt on the advice of its lawyers. The 50- and 65-inchers measure 0.1 and 0.2 inches less than 50 and 65 inches, respectively,
Each has four HDMI jacks and a PC jack. Each displays an image 1920-by-1080 pixels progressive resolution (so-called full HD). The front panel is a single sheet of glass that extends to the edge of the bezel (as opposed to the display panel recessed behind the bezel). Panasonic now claims a 30,000:1 contrast ratio for its 2008 plasmas. Other bells and whistles include multiple color profiles and settings for gamers, sports fans, movie watchers, a pro setting mode useful if the TV is set up with calibration gear, and a Vivid mode that Panasonic acknowledges may mostly be used to produce overly bright colors in store showrooms. The Digital Cinema Color mode will widen the color gamut to nearly the same breadth of colors as in the movie theater. The Viera Cast button on the remote lets users control multiple devices such as receivers and camcorders over HDMI connections if they're compatible with the CEC (consumer electronics control) spec. In theory, Panasonic says, all CEC devices work with each other; as a practical matter, the most complete compatibility may be using same-brand devices
Posted By:
Bill Howard
|
|
|
|
|
|
Stumble
Digg
del.icio.us
Slashdot
