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Panasonic gives you 100,000 reasons to pick its 1080p plasmas
The amount of dis-information in the marketplace about plasma TVs never fails to amaze us. While we personally haven't overheard a salesperson talk about refilling the gas in a plasma TV in a while, we also haven't seen customers choosing between plasma and LCD -- that decision has already been made in favor of LCD. Credit Panasonic for fighting the good fight by introducing an easy-to-understand and relevant spec to the marketplace: its 2008 plasmas boast 100,000-hours plasma life for the 1080p sets, 60,000-hours for the 720p sets. That's the time you'll have before the plasma brightness falls to half of its original value. So if you leave the set on 24/7, that translates to 11-years of viewing. There are certainly reasons to pick an LCD over plasma, but these figures close the book on lifetime arguments -- a plasma today will last you well into your OLED/SED/hologram Jetsonian future.[Image courtesy HappyEntertainment]
Panasonic revamps its plasma lineup
Despite the fact that consumers and videophiles don't agree on a single preferred HDTV technology, Panasonic continues to cater to those who can't live without true blacks and accurate colors with five new lines of Plasmas. In an attempt to help you find just the right size for your setup, Panasonic has added a 46-inch model to some of its lines including the flagship PZ850. In addition to the 46-inch, the top of the line is available in the; 50, 58 and 65-inch varieties. The 850 line is also the first to include IP enabled features like YouTube and Picasa. Like a few other high-end sets -- the PZ850 includes THX display certification, easy access to ISF calibration settings, 30,000:1 contrast, RS-232C, and four HDMI ports. The PZ800 line (pictured) has just about everything the 850 does with the exception of the IP features and the addition of a 42-inch model. These aren't the only options as Panasonic also has the PZ85, PZ80, and PX80 lines, but other than they aren't as good as the 850 and 800, we're hard press to tell them apart. All the new TVs are expected in the spring of 2008 at a currently undisclosed price.
