On top of the fantastic giant remote that Panasonic showed off yesterday at their big media event, they also unveiled the new Z1 series plasma, which uses a tech called WiHD for wireless HDMI connections capable of transmitting a full 1080p signal across a room.The TV itself is just an inch thick, which makes it incredibly light (for a plasma) and makes it much easier to wallmount. The WiHD wireless tech does need a line of sight connection, although it won’t be interrupted by you blocking the direct line of sight, and has a range of about 10 metres.
Also packed into this 54-inch monster are a 40,000:1 native contrast ratio, 600Hz sub field drive technology for smoother motion, 24p cinematic playback, x.v. Color, an Anti-reflection filter, THX certification, and a heap of connectivity options through the wireless adapter.
Alongside the TV they were showing off some pretty stylish speakers as well. Although we didn’t get to hear them crank the volume, they feature some downward facing subwoofers and look sensational.
There’s no price or energy star rating yet for the Z1, but that’s probably because it won’t launch in Australia until September. Considering we’ve heard that it was going to cost $US6,000 in the US, I imagine we’ll be looking at close to $10K locally. And that’s not too bad when you look at all the cool inclusions in the specs. Now if only they could hide the butt-ugly wireless receiver on the bottom left hand corner of the TV, it could be almost perfect…
Ant
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 at 11:43 PMWhat happened to the ethernet port that otherwise identical overseas models get?
DLNA and Veira Cast options are not to be seen on Australian NeoPDP models it seems – even the top of the line Z1 and V10 models!
Come on Panasonic! – you are supposed to be a member of the DLNA group!! – this is 2009 and the internet, PCs, video files and home networking are common place.
We are able to clearly see how the “same” models are sold with these features in Europe for example, so why not here?
http://panasonic.net/avc/viera/index_eu.html
I’m all for the latest panels, better picture, lower power consumption etc, but to cripple their multimedia capabilities and treat some parts of the world differently is not fair – you will lose once-loyal customers like myself to other brands!
If it’s about money, how can it be cost effective to make different models of the “same” model anyway?? – the only real difference between regions should just be the tuners (which could be on a plug-in sub-board) and perhaps a small firmware mod!
Ok, there are many people who wouldn’t use an ethernet port (yet – when they realise what they can do with it they would), but I can tell you that there are many people like myself who were waiting for this feature in the new Panasonics, only to be let down again (they had them on some of the current models overseas too)! I just don’t get it!
…Hmmm… Samsung aren’t looking that bad now – I think they get the big picture!