panasonic-related stories
Posted Sep 30th 2009 4:00PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: OpEd, Hardware, Reality-Free
Why must Panasonic, Sony, Samsung and that lot constantly develop new technologies in an attempt to break my bank account? First it was things like flat television and high definition. Now, Panasonic is joining the ranks of other television manufacturers to produce a high definition television that can handle both 2D and 3D images. But this time, they're enlisting Hollywood
to help them sell it.
The idea is that Hollywood is producing more 3D films and this technology will enable the sale of 3D DVDs. It could even potentially be the feature to push Blu-ray sales to the level of regular DVDs (assuming it's only on Blu-ray).
Do we really need to be able to watch 3D movies at home? It sounds like one of those things that seem extraneous at first then once you have it in the home you have no idea how you lived without it. 3D television has been talked about for years now. We'll have to see if this is the event that pushes it more to the mainstream.
Posted Aug 23rd 2009 2:24PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Industry, OpEd, Hardware, Reality-Free
James Cameron has a lot of money. So if he wants to throw some of it at
Panasonic to help promote 3D TVs, that's his terrible decision. He shot his latest film in 3D, so he's clearly got it on his mind. And if
Avatar does as well as the response to that trailer would have us believe, he may have a lot of free time soon anyway.
Speaking of time, this is about the worst time to try and thrust new television and film technology on consumers. Aren't we still in the middle of this transition to digital broadcasts, HDTV and Blu-Ray? Now you're telling us we should buy new HDTVs and new Blu-Ray players that support 3D technology? Oh, and we'll need those cool 3D glasses, too.
There's a few problems with this. 3D was going to revolutionize the movies in the '80s. It didn't happen. It's supposed to be "going to revolutionize" movies right now, but it's not happening.
Continue reading I'm sorry James Cameron, but 3D is not the future of television
Posted May 25th 2009 1:10PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: HDTV, Hardware
I've been thinking about buying a high definition or big screen plasma television for awhile. I don't really need one. I'm not even sure I can write it off. I just want to finally be on the same level as my friends and family members who constantly show off their big screen-HD-TV-snootiness as clear as the last episode of
Yo Gabba Gabba.
Lately, I've given up the pursuit. I realized it was a wasteful, greedy, and (worst of all) selfish reason to want anything, just to look better than someone on a material level. I also realized that someone else out there would have a TV that would be 200 times better than mine would ever be.
That realization came to me when I found this
103-inch plasma TV set that runs for $110,000.
Continue reading A TV that could kick your TV's ass, depending on the warranty options
Posted Jan 12th 2009 2:08PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Industry, HDTV, Hardware, Reality-Free
So you've got that new high definition television in the living room, your 120 gig TiVo recording all of your favorite shows and a cable box with more channels than a Roman aqueduct.
Think you've reached the pinnacle of home entertainment?
The Consumer Electronics Show would beg to differ.
Some 3-D TV's popped up on the convention floor and the advent of the burgeoning technology is starting to create a bit of buzz that it could become the next step over HD TV.
Continue reading From HD...to 3-D?
Posted Jan 7th 2008 6:28PM by Brad Linder
Filed under: PVR Wire, Hardware
I can't decide. The new
AnyPlay portable PVR from Comcast and Panasonic is either brilliant, or about as good an idea as screen doors on a submarine. On the one hand, we all spend a lot of our time on the go, and there's nothing I love more than a way to take my recorded TV shows and movies with me. On the other hand, you kind of want your PVR to be sitting by your TV 24/7 to make sure you never miss a show.
Here's how AnyPlay works. You set it up by your TV and it works as a regular HD personal video recorder. But you can also unplug it from a docking station and take the AnyPlay with you to use as a portable video player with an 8.5 inch LCD screen and 60GB of memory.
I guess we can hope that the docking station functions as a sort of second PVR and continues recording shows when the P-DVR is unplugged. But really, wouldn't it be a lot easier just to add a USB port or flash card slot to your existing set top boxes to let users copy shows to removable media for viewing on an iPod or other portable device?
Posted Mar 2nd 2007 8:30AM by Brad Linder
Filed under: HDTV, PVR Wire
Panasonic is having a PVR party. Okay, I'm done with the alliteration now, I promise. The big P is launching five new high definition personal video recorders in Japan. The lowest-end models will sport 250GB hard drives, while the priciest of the bunch will have 1TB of storage.
They've all got DVD burners, and two models also include retro-style VHS recorders. Can you even still buy blank VHS tapes?
Each recorder has HDMI output, S-video and composite inputs, and some have ethernet jacks for downloading program data. The VHS models include one TV tuner each, while the non-VHS models have dual tuners. They're launching in Japan in the next two months for ¥80k to ¥200k ($669 to $1,688) and be available in the US sometime around the fifth of Neveruary.
Posted Oct 11th 2006 7:02PM by Adam Finley
Filed under: Sports, FOX, News, Industry
So you love FOX's news and sports programming, but watching it on your tiny television screen just kind of leaves you unfulfilled, doesn't it? Well, this is the time to rejoice, FOXheads, because News Corp has taken over the gigantic Panasonic Astrovision screen in New York's Times Square and will be airing three hours of live programming every day, including full hours of
Fox and Friends,
FOX Report with Shepard Smith and FOX5's
Good Day New York. Sports fans will be treated to live broadcasts of Major League Baseball's League Championship and World Series, the Daytona 500, and football coverage from the NFL and the College Bowl series. News Corp took over access of the screen from NBC on October 1. Someday I hope to have enough money to put my own content on that screen. I'm thinking 24 hours a day of myself having dental work performed.
Posted Jan 6th 2006 4:41PM by Adam Finley
Filed under: HDTV
I recently acquired all six
Star Wars movies on DVD, and over the last several days I watched
them in episode order (starting with
Phantom Menace and working my way to
Return of the Jedi). I
rarely care what kind of screen I'm watching something on, but my TV just seemed, I don't know, not quite right for
Star Wars viewing. Of course, I have neither the apartment space nor income to get a large plasma TV, especially not
one with a 2.6 meter screen. That's what Matsushita (Panasonic's Japanese division) came up with recently. The TV is
still in the prototype stage, and beats the current largest plasma screen, developed by LG and Samsung, by one inch.
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