Dragon TV voice-recognition technology coming to Panasonic TVs

Speech-recognition company Nuance has revealed that Panasonic’s new range of Viera TVs will feature Nuance’s Dragon TV speech-recognition platform.

This makes Panasonic the second company to announce it will be using the platform, after LG. As internet-connected TVs pile on the features, the Dragon TV platform is designed to make it even easier to control them from your sofa – according to Nuance, creating the “lean-back experience consumers demand”.

TVs equipped with Dragon TV are not just designed to let you change channels with your voice – a standard remote does that pretty well – but are more to help you navigate the ever-more-complicated functions of internet-connected TVs. Whether it’s consulting a TV guide by asking what’s on a certain channel at a certain time, or getting the Dragon TV to play a certain artist on an online music service, you can speak at the TV and it will obey.

According to Hiroyuki Iwaki, group manager of TV product planning at Panasonic, “TVs have become the epicenter of the digital living room, with what seems to be unlimited entertainment and media content. But that content is only as powerful as the experience and the ability for consumers to access it. By integrating Nuance’s voice technology, Panasonic can empower consumers to enjoy TV watching with Voice Guidance technology in a more universal way.”

Dragon is also keen to emphasise how voice-recognition will make it easier to use your TV’s social aspects; typing a Facebook status update with a remote and an on-screen keyboard is a laborious task, but it’s theoretically easier to speak the update – as long as the TV understands you correctly.

There’s currently no word on which of the 2012 range will feature the new tech, but we’re pretty sure the smart TV-less entry-level X50 will do without.