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Panasonic 3D home entertainment system goes on sale to a country in mourning
Beginning today, customers at Best Buy's Magnolia stores can pick up that Panasonic full HD 3D Home Entertainment System the kids in Japan have been going crazy over for the last month or so. Consisting of a 50-inch Viera VT20 HDTV, a BDT300 Blu-ray Disc Player, and but one pair of Panasonic 3D Active Shutter glasses, the total price is $2900 -- but if you plan on having company over you'll need to pick up additional pairs of 3D eyewear for $150 each. As you well know, Panny is due to start sponsoring free 3D programming to DirecTV HD customers starting in June, so if you're not set up with the service you might as well add that to your shopping list. PC Magazine braved the stampede to check out the scene in Manhattan, so hit the source link to see the pics. As for us, we're going back to watching Snowboard Academy on VHS, as we do every time one of its stars has fallen. PR after the break.
Panasonic's VT25 3DTVs will be nearly 50% off Japanese prices, launch this week at Best Buy
Good news for those who found themselves a few yen short after hearing the Japanese prices of Panasonic's first 3D plasma HDTVs -- their American counterparts will be considerably cheaper. Even at a recent line show the company kept the MSRPs close to its chest, but March 10 Best Buy's 24 hour location at Union Square will sell the first full HD 3D home theater system, consisting of the aforementioned VT25, DMP-BDT350 Blu-ray player and active shutter glasses. Japan's Nikkei pegs the bundle price at around $3,000, with 50-inch televisions by themselves arriving for around $2,500. Compare that to the ¥430,000 ($4,813) price in Japan and you've got an idea of the discounting going on so Panasonic can hit its targets of 1 million 3DTVs (worldwide) sold in 2010. Can't get to Manhattan by Wednesday? The Panasonic/Best Buy team up will reportedly place demos at 300 or so stores shortly, rising to 1,000 locations by the end of the year. Unfortunately they won't be able to advertise an Academy Award for Best Picture winner (catch Samsung's ad last night?) in the 3D demo reel, but between Avatar and this week's box office smash, Alice in Wonderland, we're sure there will be at least a few people interested in taking 3D home once it's available.
