Panasonic reveals first tru2way HDTVs in Chicago and Denver

We already saw Panasonic's 50-inch TH-50PZ80Q plasma doing the tru2way thing at CEDIA 2008, but the official lever has just been pulled in Denver and Chicago. As of today, Comcast's tru2way platform is active in the aforesaid cities, and the very first tru2way-capable HDTVs are arriving to retail. Eager consumers in the Windy or Mile High City who are ready to ditch the set-top-box altogether without sacrificing VOD and such can polish off their wounded credit cards, as both a 42-inch (TH-42PZ80Q; $1,599.95) and 50-inch (TH-50PZ80Q; $2,999.95) VIERA plasma will be on sale by "late October." As for the rest of the US anxious to dip in the cool, cool waters of tru2way? A few undisclosed locales should be going live with the service "in the coming months," though your guess is as good as ours as to what exactly that means.

[JerkfacedFed @ Oct 15th 2008 5:06PM]

who cares about this for tvs. i want it for my vista media center so i can record hd without 4 freakin boxes

[Spiny Norman @ Oct 15th 2008 5:34PM]

'Ditto for TiVo users. Does anyone watch TV any more? All my "TVs" are really just monitors.

[Peter F @ Oct 16th 2008 4:58PM]

second these motions... but it's a start!

[Patrick @ Oct 15th 2008 5:11PM]

Does anyone watch live tv anymore?

[Fant @ Oct 15th 2008 5:16PM]

This is useless as it looks like the cable company still controls the interface is that correct?

[TJ @ Oct 15th 2008 5:25PM]

Hmm....I'm in Denver, and about to buy a new TV (looking at a Samsung LN46A650), but I don't see a big benefit in getting tru2way on a larger set, when I've got a nice entertainment center to put a cable box into. Now, when they get this into a 22inch or so HDTV, that would be perfect for the bedroom, where one fewer boxes would be greatly appreciated.
(sorry if this double posts...)

[Spiny Norman @ Oct 15th 2008 5:42PM]

I agree. If you already have to hassle with a receiver, DVD and/or Blu-Ray Player, DVR, and game console, what's another box?

Also, is this thing compatible with *every* cable company? If not, what's the point of paying extra for the feature in a TV if it won't be used in many cases.

[StalematE @ Oct 15th 2008 5:54PM]

Where's Wilford Brimley?

[Nate @ Oct 15th 2008 6:17PM]

What about CableCARD users?

-Nate (South Denver)

[DaLa @ Oct 15th 2008 7:27PM]

Nate, this is the next iteration of CableCard. I believe it may be backwards compatible, but you wouldn't care. It works with all major cable companies, when they launch it is their decision, but Comcast is the largest and has the biggest stake in this with the CE industry. It's two way, so you get VOD and HD with it. And it turns the monthly box fee of say $10 into $2-3, maybe less.

[Nate @ Oct 16th 2008 12:53AM]

DVR/HDMI box fee here is ~$14. CCard is $1.50.

PS. I'm not replacing my otherwise sweet-ass tv just so I can get rid of the cable box that I already got rid of. No on demand? BFD, nothing I'll be missing considering the bulk of it comes in on my premium channels, and I don't have to pay per view for those recordings.

[Michael B @ Oct 15th 2008 6:45PM]

I thought it was based on 2 way CableCard's.. the one's currently in use are only 1 way, which is the problem.

[cypherstream @ Oct 15th 2008 9:53PM]

Yeah, they still control the interface, but at least the interface is dolled up a bit. It now fills the screen and has true color graphics. The processing is much better in Java Tru2Way API so we'll see better HD look guides in the future.

[rendezvous65 @ Oct 16th 2008 12:20AM]

There are even plans for DCAS. With DCAS you won't even need cablecards. All cablecards are 2way compatible. It's just the host that is compatible. DCAS is a downloaded form of security. We won't see DCAS until a few more years. With DCAS we may be able to go back to the days of Cable Ready TV's again. Tivo is also planning a tru2way compatible HD box with a Tivo mode and a tru2way mode.