Panasonic

LAS VEGAS -- Last year, if someone asked for a recommendation on which TV to buy the discussion usually started and ended with the excellent Panasonic ST50. This year the ST60 again looks like that TV.

Panasonic reps told me that the ST60 has a few picture quality improvements over the ST50, namely a slightly better screen filter, but I took that to mean the two would perform basically the same. That's not a bad thing; the ST50 was one of the best-performing TVs of the year, despite a modest price.

LAS VEGAS--Not to be outdone by its competitors, Panasonic has displayed its own 4K OLED screen at CES with claims of it being the world's biggest.

Like the 4K display from Sony, the Panasonic 4K OLED is only a prototype but is the first OLED from a company that has thus far concentrated on plasma technology.

The 56-inch TV features a 3,840×2,160 resolution, weighs 27 pounds, and is less than half an inch thick. The bezel also appears very slim and equivalent to a mainstream LCD.

The company boasted that its new printing technology enabled … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Usually at CES time, you can expect Panasonic to roll out slightly updated versions of its Blu-ray home-theater-in-a-box (HTIB) solutions, featuring six-to-eight plasticky speakers and a whole lot of proprietary speaker wire. But CES 2013 is different.

Panasonic is ditching its standard assortment of HTIBs, opting instead for three new sound bar and convertible sound bar models. The SC-HTB770 and SC-HTB370 both feature a similar design; you can use them in the traditional horizontal alignment or you can break apart the sound bar and use the pieces as separate speakers. The SC-HTB770 converts into a 3.1 system, with … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Usually at CES time, you can expect Panasonic to roll out slightly updated versions of its Blu-ray home-theater-in-a-box (HTIB) solutions, featuring six to eight plasticky speakers and a whole lot of proprietary speaker wire. But CES 2013 is different.

Panasonic is ditching its standard assortment of HTIBs, opting instead for three new sound bar and convertible sound bar models. The SC-HTB770 and SC-HTB370 both feature a similar design; you can use them in the traditional horizontal alignment or you can break apart the sound bar and use the pieces as separate speakers. The SC-HTB770 converts into a 3.1 … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Pricing information is usually hard to come by at CES in January. Manufacturers have just debuted their newest products, and final suggested retail prices are usually subject to some jockeying before the products launch over the next few months.

That's why I was surprised when my colleague Matthew Moskovciak sent me a message saying that Panasonic's official site, shop.panasonic.com, was showing pricing and other details for TVs the company had just announced this morning.

Most of the company's TV series are listed on the site now, with the exception of the lowest-end X60 and … Read more

LAS VEGAS--It was short and sweet, and if you blinked, you might have missed it. We're talking about Panasonic's press conference at CES today.

The star of the show, unsurprisingly, was Panasonic's 2013 line of Viera TVs. But the consumer electronics giant also showed off a range of other new products, from midrange LCD TVs, to new Blu-ray players, to Bluetooth speakers, to a range of micro home stereos, and finally a set of bone-conducting headphones.

It may not have been the shortest press conference of the day (Lexus called it quits at 13 minutes), but before … Read more

LAS VEGAS--In 2013, Panasonic is releasing its largest line of LCDs yet, with seven different series to choose from. While the WT60 and DT60 sit at the high end, it's the three types of E series that make up the bulk of the company's offering.

The three E series include the 50-inch and 60-inch ET60; the E60 in four sizes (42-, 50-, 58-, and 65-inch screens); and the entry-level EM60 at 39 inches and 50 inches.

Unusually for Panasonic, the ET60 and E60 are blessed with an embarrassment of feature riches. The most "gadgety" addition is … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Panasonic (along with Sony) has been one of the the biggest Blu-ray supporters since the format's inception, and the company continues to heavily support the format even as its importance fades.

Panasonic unveiled four new Blu-ray models at CES 2013: two 3D models (DMP-BDT330 and DMP-BDT230) and two 2D models (DMP-BDT89 and DMP-BD79). All of the models save for the the DMP-BD79 include built-in Wi-Fi.

The 3D models include Panasonic full Viera Connect suite of streaming-media services, as well as 2D-3D conversion and a Web browser. Both models also support Miracast (Panasonic calls it Display Mirroring), which makes … Read more