panasonic

A show of hands, please: When Panasonic's consumer division announced its $1,500 HDC-SD1 SD-based HD camcorder at CES, how many of you thought "That's too cheap--I want to pay more!" Well, here's your chance. Panasonic's Broadcast division has just announced the nearly identical 3CCD camcorder for the bargain price of $2,099.

There are some differences, of course. The pro model is a nonreflective gray with an anodized filter ring. The pro model carries a one-year parts-and-labor warranty, while the consumer model has a mere three months on labor. They have different default … Read more

Panasonic has a handful of new Lumix cameras on the way for spring, and they're coming in all shapes and sizes. They all have Leica lenses and Panasonic's Mega Optical Image Stabilization, but beyond those features, they vary wildly, from inexpensive point-and-shoots to hefty, high-zoom cameras.

The company claims that the Lumix DMC-FX30 is the slimmest wide-angle lens camera on the market, and at less than 0.9 inch thick it might be right. The 7-megapixel FX30 has a 28mm-to-100mm-equivalent lens with optical image stabilization, so users can take nice, wide photos. The FX30 ships in February and … Read more

If you like to rock out in your car, but don't want to turn your ride into a mobile guitar amp, then this might be the answer: an in-car audio system jointly designed by Panasonic and Fender. The iconic guitar maker has teamed up with Panasonic to "create customized products for the global automotive industry."

The collaboration is an attempt to cash in on Fender's brand name and expertise in the musical instruments industry, and it's another effort by Panasonic to name-drop its way into the in-car audio market. Panasonic already supplies the likes of … Read more

Panasonic's new line of LCD projection TVs are featuring a new technology--called LIFI--that Panasonic is claiming will eliminate the need for lamp replacement. Since today's LCD and DLP projection sets often need to have their bulb replaced after 3-5 years--and the bulbs cost several hundred dollars--LIFI technology could get remove one of the major drawbacks to projection TVs. We have seen ultralong bulb-life from projection TVs on Samsung's HL-S5679W, which was the first DLP HDTV to use an LED light source. The HL-S5679W claimed its bulb lasted for 20,000 hours, which means it virtually never needs … Read more

Panasonic's 2007 press event Sunday at the CES was devoted primarily to extolling the virtues of the company's television cash cow: plasma HDTVs. It featured numerous presentations covering the myths and realities of plasma, plasma picture quality, and the ways plasma TVs can help you "live in high definition." The press event was a snoozer, but just about my favorite thing at CES this year was the amazing display at the Panasonic booth, which consisted of a pair of 103-inch plasmas dancing on articulated mounts that moved up and down and rotated in synch, displaying video … Read more

As if heading up a ramp to Noah's ark, the Flash and DVD models move in pairs. Panasonic at least manages to differentiate the models a bit. The DVD-based HDC-DX1, announced this week, and the SD card-based HDC-SD1 (announced in late 2006), are the latest pair of AVCHD cancorders to get on the boat. Both incorporate a trio of 1/4-inch, 580K-pixel CCDs, a 12x zoom, and an optical image stabilizer. The DX1 has dual-layer support, as well as DVD-RAM capability.

The difference? Aside from some design tweaks made necessary by the different media support, the DX1 seems … Read more

The new DVD camcorders that Panasonic's rolling out for its Spring 2007 line all boast the same 32X zoom lens plus optical stabilizer, SD slots for still capture, and added support for dual-layer DVDs. The top-of-the-line VDR-D310 keeps up Panasonic's 3CCD tradition; the VDR-D210 and D230 have a single unspecified chip. The two lower-end models cost $450 and $500, respectively and are slated to ship in February; the VDR310 won't be out till March, and will cost $700.

Though Panasonic calls them "hybrid" camcorders--being able to record to an SD card or a 30GB hard drive doesn't qualify in my book--the new SDR-H200 and SDR-H20 both have shock-protected 30GB hard drives for about six hours of best-quality recording, optical image stabilization, and prices of $799.95 and $599.95, respectively. Though $800 might not seem low for a hard-drive camcorder, consider that it has 3 CCDs and shoots 3-megapixel stills. The lower-priced SDR-H20 compensates for its lowly single-chip status with the typical 32X stalker lens--at least with the OIS you have a chance of getting … Read more

These days, if you're not rocking some mobile broadband on your laptop, you might as well not even leave the house. The latest notebooks to jump on the EV-DO Rev. A bandwagon (for those speedy 800KBps downloads) are the Panasonic Toughbook W5 and the T5, originally released in September. The provider of choice in this case is Sprint.

Our enthusiasm is only somewhat dampened by the fact that those two models are what Panasonic calls "business-rugged." That means these laptops have a magnesium-alloy case designed to withstand a 1-foot drop, and shock-mounted hard drives rated for a … Read more