Panasonic expands Viera plasma, LCD line

Panasonic rolled out no fewer than five new Viera displays in Japan today, including four plasma models and one LCD. All displays support 1080p and HDMI, and run in size from 32 inches for the LCD to a top plasma model at 58 inches. Panasonic claims that new technology has improved brightness of the plasma models by 20%, and that the 4000:1 real contrast ratio is comparable to a 10,000:1 visible ratio. Most models will be available in Japan next month, with the 58-incher available in May. Pricing is set at ¥300,000 (about $2,500) on the low end, up to ¥780,000 (about $6,600) for the top model. The full model list includes the 32-inch TH-32LX600 LCD, 37-inch TH-37PX600 plasma, 42-inch TH-42PX600 plasma, 50-inch TH-50PX600 plasma, and 58-inch TH-58PX600 plasma.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 8th 2006 10:15AM]

When will they be available in the US???

[GoodOmens Posted Mar 8th 2006 10:19AM]

1080P HD requires a display with a resolution of 1920x1080. None of those displays support that resolution as they are all less then 1280P.

Just a FYI

[smackrabbit Posted Mar 8th 2006 10:48AM]

What they mean is they can actually accept the 1080p signal over HDMI, which many displays (even those that are native 1080p like the Sony SXRD's) can not. They can't display the full resolution, but if you have something that can feed it a 1080p signal (PS3, Bluray, etc...) then it can take that signal and the internal scaler will convert it to it's native resolution. It's a nice feature to have at the least.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 8th 2006 11:20AM]

the hype machine is in full gear! is it 1080p? No sorry the display only supports a native resolution of 1,366?68

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 8th 2006 11:37AM]

Yeah looks like they are all 768-line at best. But it looks like the HDMI input will actually accept a 1080p signal, which even a lot of 1080-line displays won't do.

Better to down-sample 1080 than to up-sample 720, I suppose.

And Panasonic does have their 1080-line, 65-inch big dog coming out soon.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 8th 2006 11:42AM]

What is it with consumer electronics companies and marketing rubbish? They claim their TVs are super HiDef and then forget to mention pixels are scaled or stretched (rectangular pixels anyone?) I want to see the WHOLE broadcast picture, not some low-def version of it.

Wake me up when you produce a "one pixel per broadcast pixel" for less than $2000 and we'll finally have true next-gen TV.

[GoodOmens Posted Mar 8th 2006 11:52AM]

LCD's are the way to go then. You can pick up a Westinghouse 37 Inch lcd that supports 1920x1080 for roughly 1500 bucks.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 9th 2006 5:01AM]

#1: the PX600 will be available in May/June of this year. The only models that you'll find will be the 42", 50" and 58" no 37". The U.S. versions will me assembled in Mexico and will have NO PC card slot., only an SD card slot. The Japanese versions will still have a B-CAS card slot {on the front conpartment} that some people confuse with been a secondary PC card slot, but is not, B-CAS is a require video-on-demand card use only in Japan along with the TV's ethernet LAN jack to recieve information from the broadcasters.

Let me add that these are super ugly!, the mask on these will be matte {flat} Black like their commercial series instead of Piano Glossy Black like the 500, 300 and 20/25 series from year's past. And notice, no 26" LCD in the LX600 series., or the matching floor stand for the 32LX600 which is a tradition with their Viera top tier double zero series.

If fact, the new 32" LX600 doesn't even look like it belong in the 600 series, but rather in the cheaper lower level 60 series. No thanks i'll past! CES 2006 was full of attrative Glossy Black flat panels, even Philips had 2 All-Black models which will feature the new Ambilight III, Panasonic and Hewlett-Packard were the ONLY exceptions to the golden good design rule of using attrative designs to bring-in customers.