panasonic

Panasonic will reportedly layoff more employees in an attempt to turn its business around.

Speaking to Reuters in an interview published today, Panasonic finance boss Hideaki Kawai said that his company will shed 10,000 more jobs by the end of March. During its last fiscal year, Panasonic axed 36,000 jobs. The layoffs are designed to bring the company's many ailing divisions back to health, according to Reuters.

That might not be so easy. According to Reuters, Kawai said that 20 percent of Panasonic's 88 business units are actually losing money. Half of all of its units … Read more

Not that long ago, Japanese companies such as Sony, Panasonic, and Sharp were considered premium brands.

They made virtually everything in the consumer electronics world, from televisions to microwaves and digital music players. There seemed to be no way to stop their momentum. Their products often carried higher price tags to reflect their perceived quality, and people snapped them up.

"People used to have Sony homes," said Tony Costa, an analyst at Forrester Research. "You're just not seeing that any more."

These days, the Japanese consumer-electronics giants have largely been reduced to also-rans, many of … Read more

I recently posted a list of the best TVs at every screen size. By "best" I also considered value, so some expensive models didn't make the cut.

The list below only considers picture quality and ignores value. It represents the best TVs regardless of cost, and incidentally, regardless of design and features, that we've reviewed this year. I already listed the best TV series for picture quality, but the list below goes through the field at key size points, too.

TV makers are reluctant to put the best quality into their smallest, cheapest TVs, but the field really opens up once you hit 46 inches or so. I also threw in a runner-up -- the second-best-performing TV available in each size range -- for people who don't like door No. 1.

I omitted TVs larger than 65 inches this time because the 70-inch-plus 2012 models we have reviewed aren't quite worthy. If you're unsatisfied with 65 inches, however, the 70-inch Sharp Elite is my price-no-object, mammoth-screen pick.

… Read more

Great-sounding headphones have never been more affordable. Even the least expensive headphone model on this list, the Panasonic RP HJE 355 in-ear, has oodles of detail and decent bass punch. For me the most important thing when evaluating headphones is sound balance; no frequency range should call attention to itself, so I don't like overly bassy headphones, or ones that overemphasize treble. Headphones should sound clear, not muffled or fuzzy. I prefer spacious stereo imaging over sound that's stuck inside my head. Headphones that allow music's soft-to-loud dynamics to bloom are better than ones that constrict dynamics. … Read more

I can think of few things more American than getting a giant honkin' TV for a rock-bottom price. Complete the setup with an overstuffed recliner and a cup holder, and you are living the dream.

But finding a great deal on a great big TV can be tough, especially if you actually want the thing to be halfway decent. Luckily, David Katzmaier has been keeping track of the best deals in TVs priced under $1,000 -- but measuring 50 inches and up. In fact, he already wrote about his top picks a few weeks ago.

But don't let … Read more

You know how big a TV you want, but you just can't decide which one. Here are a few suggestions.

The list below collects the highest-rated TVs we've reviewed so far this year, starting at 32 inches and going up to 70. CNET's TV ratings incorporate Value, so these aren't necessarily the hands-down best in picture quality--click here if you want those. I intentionally kept Sharp's 80-inch behemoth off the list since we didn't really like it much. The smallest TV we've rated this year, the 26-inch Samsung UN26EH4000, doesn't deserve a spot either since our hands-on review was of its 32-inch series mate, and we never compared other 26-inchers.

The rest of these sets fall between that range, and appear in ascending order of screen size. We also threw in a runner-up--the second-highest rated TV available for sale in each size range--for people who don't like door number one. Speaking of door number one, it's the Panasonic ST50 for anyone who wants a TV from 50 to 65 inches.

… Read more

One undeniable trend in TVs is bigger screens for less money, and this year's crop of LCD and plasma models goes bigger than ever.

I recently reviewed a 60-inch Smart LED TV from Vizio that clocked in right beneath the magic $1,000 barrier, and its picture was better than that of many spendier LED sets. Even better is the same-size, same-price U50 plasma from Panasonic that trades smarts for improved picture quality. Meanwhile, one of the most popular TVs around is LG's own 60-inch, $999 PA6500 plasma, and while it can't beat either of those in a picture quality race, it's still a pretty good deal.

Below you'll find in-depth reviews of all three of these TVs, as well as two other sub-$1,000 sets that also qualify as "very good" values in my book (a 7 or higher in the Value subcategory) and still make the "big screen" cut -- larger than 50 inches in this case. I've arranged them in descending order of overall CNET rating.

… Read more

Music-streaming service Rhapsody has announced it will be available on Smart TVs from LG, Panasonic, and Samsung starting today, with Sharp and Xbox available in coming months.

Although the announcement came today, the service has been available on Panasonic and LG for a few months. Samsung is new with today's announcement. A Rhapsody app has also been available on Vizio TVs for the last two years. We're not surprised that Sony's Smart TVs, which support the competing Sony Entertainment Network's music service, aren't on the list of supporting TVs.

The new app appears to be … Read more

If you're looking for a cheap TV 42 inches or larger, there are a lot of advantages to buying a plasma instead of an LCD.

The biggest is picture quality: an LCD is typically not able to reproduce the black levels and contrast of an equivalently priced plasma, and plasma always trounces LCD for viewing angle and uniformity. Entry-level 720p plasmas are also more energy-efficient than more expensive 1080p plasmas, and while they use a lot more power than LCDs, they still only cost about $20 to $30 per year to run.

We recently reviewed a bunch of entry- and midlevel plasma TVs, and our favorites are collected below. There were a few that didn't make the cut, including the LG PA6500 and PA4500 as well as the Panasonic X5. The latter was a surprise as every other plasma in the Panasonic range is superb for the price, and the X5 is simply...well...poor. Its picture quality was very disappointing even for the money, especially compared with that of our new budget star, the Samsung E450.… Read more