Pana deals 3DTV package, Sony projects in 3D

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Wednesday, 03 November 2010 18:29

Your IT - Entertainment

Panasonic goes in for the big gun of a free 3D Avatar Home Theater pack including 3D Blu-Ray system with one of four new eligible 3DTV models while Sony launches its first ever 3D projector capable of projecting to screens 150+ inches!

The Christmas ranges and promotions from various consumer electronics companies are all falling into place as the end-of-year holiday shopping season gets into the first week of November, still 7 and a bit weeks away from December 25 and what will be the most important part of the year for retailers and manufacturers.

Panasonic is going in all guns blazing, introducing four new Neo Plasma 3DTVs that also happen to come with a free 3D Blu-ray home theatre system, a 'bonus pair of medium sized' 3D glasses and the Avatar movie in 3D on Blu-ray disc to a 'total value of AUD $1348 RRP'.

The company is also offering all existing Panasonic 3DTV purchasers, who bought before November 1 this year, a bonus free copy of the 3D Avatar movie as an early Christmas gift, with Panasonic 3DTV owners simply needing to visit Pana's website or call its Customer Care centre on 132 600 for a claim form.

Panasonic's new 3DTV customers have four sizes and price brackets to choose from. There's the largest 65-inch model at $5,999, the 58-inch at $4,499, the 54-inch at $3,999 and the 50-inch at $3,299.

Presumably as we get ever closer to Christmas, these RRP prices will be subject to bargaining by those wishing to get the best value for their money, but it shows the continuing evolution and competition in the 3DTV market, as LED, projection and plasma fight it out in the market, with laser 3DTVs will probably on the way too.

Naturally, Panasonic's Viera range features all the bells and whistles, from Skype integration to DLNA networking, USB HDD playback, Viera Cast which enables IPTV channels and Twitter, as SD card slot for viewing AVCHD videos and JPEG images, Viera Link which unifies all of Panaonic's AV equipment through one remote control and Plus7 content by Yahoo!7 'later this year'.

In addition, the 'bonus 3D eyewear has an Auto Power Off function which automatically turns the eyewear off if they are placed in a location outside the viewing range for 5 minutes, even if the TV remains switched on'.

To show its support for 3D content beyond the 3DTV deal and the free copy of Avatar in 3D for existing Panasonic 3DTV owners, Panasonic's Director of its Paul Reid, Director, Consumer Electronics Group, has spoken of supporting initiatives 'over the past few months' such as 'the first 3D AFL Grand Final broadcast and will continue to help drive consumer interest in this exciting emerging technology'.

On the other side of the 3D fence to LED and Plasma TVs is the world of projection. Sony's new Full HD 3D home projector, predictably coming with an alphabet soup of a model number, is the VPL-VW90ES, and unlike Panasonic's 3DTVs which are available now, Sony's 3DTV projector is coming in December.

Projections about Sony's 3D projector are projected over on page two, please read on!