Panasonic's 3D promises become reality

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Posted on 8 Jan 2010 at 22:32

CES 2010: Panasonic said last year that 3D would be a 2010 technology and at its CES press conference this week, the company made good on that promise with the release of its new Viera V-series plasma TVs which support Full HD 3D.

The firm felt the need to justify its investments in 3D for the first 40 minutes though, leaving just five minutes to talk about the products themselves - it really should have been the other way around, frankly.

The V series comes in two flavours, V25 and V20, although it's not clear what the difference is between the two ranges apart from screen size. The V25 series will come in 50in, 54in, 58in and 65in screen sizes, while the V20 series comes in 50in and 54in varieties.

Both ranges are THX certified, include support for Panasonic's Infinite Black Pro technology, which enables incredibly inky blacks thanks to the native 5,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio.

They also include built-in WiFi, USB ports with support for keyboard inputs for Viera Cast, the firm's 'smart' TV capabilities that enable you to browse the web and use a wide selection of widgets from the comfort of your sofa.

Bizarrely, Panasonic will only bundle one pair of 3D glasses with each TV, which all but confirms my scepticism for this huge industry push towards 3D: it's designed to push up the cost of both the content and technology required to play said content. Looking at the price of going to watch a 3D movie at the cinema raised my scepticism and this has all but confirmed it.

Panasonic hasn't said how much additional pairs of 3D glasses will cost, but given the fact that Nvidia's 3D Vision glasses, which are based on the same technology, cost around £110, they're unlikely to be cheap.

In addition to its range of 3D TVs, Panasonic also introduced its first 3D Blu-ray player, the PP-BDT350, which is designed to hook up to the V-series Plasma displays via their HDMI 1.4 port and deliver a true 3D source.

To complete Panasonic's 3D ecosystem, it has announced the world's first dual-lens 3D camcorder. With an estimated street price of $21,000 USD, it's not one for the masses, but it does show the direction Panasonic is taking. The firm expects the camera to be on sale towards the end of 2010.

Author: Tim Smalley in Las Vegas