THE FRONT LINE: MAY 14, 2008
A Spring Walk In New York City
Panasonic and Pioneer held press events 26 blocks apart on May 7, and they shared something blue in common.
My appointments with Panasonic took place at the Intercontinental Hotel of Lexington Avenue, where I got a close-up look at Panasonic’s newest Blu-ray player, the DMP-BD50. This $699 third-generation player adds support for the Internet-linked BD-Live function, and employs VIERA Link, a technology that allows the consumer to operate VIERA Link-equipped home theater components with a single remote.
According to Panasonic representatives, VIERA Link differs from the basic CEC function enabled through HDMI that lets you turn on and off interconnected devices. Panasonic’s implementation allows you to go deeper into menus and control more functions.
Figure 1. Panasonic’s 3rd-gen Blu-ray player is a looker,
and it’s got extra processing horsepower, too.
There’s a new video chip aboard that provides PHL (Panasonic Hollywood Laboratories) Reference Chroma processing and P4HD i/p conversion. Panasonic calls this combination Uniphier, and one of the things it can do is up-sample the chroma information encoded to Blu-ray discs, resulting in 4:2:2 playback and not the standard 4:2:0 coding.
What that translates into is better definition between color transitions, something that we could see at times in the demo material. It’s not greatly obvious unless you have a large 1080p screen to look at, and Panasonic’s Hollywood facility features a whopper for scrutinizing individual pixels in a 1080p image.
The DMP-BD50 supports lossless Dolby True HD and DTS-HD Master Audio formats, can be combined with a 7.1 channel amplifier and speakers for full 7.1 channel surround sound. There’s also SD memory card slot that works with clips from an HD camcorder or a digital still camera. AVCHD format video and JPEG stills can be shown at 1920 x 1080 resolution.
Figure 2. The SC-BT100 has it all — Blu-ray playback, 7.1 sound, and wireless rear speakers.
Panasonic also has a combo Blu-ray player and surround-sound receiver, the SC-BT100. It’s technically a Blu-ray home theater in a box (HTiB) with an iPod dock and SD memory card slot, and the rear speakers are connected using wireless technology. The basic configuration is 5.1 with two wireless adapters for $995, and it can be expanded to 7.1 playback by adding two more speakers and adapters.
Down the street, Pioneer had a more ambitious rollout of six new plasma HDTVs and monitors, all of which use KURO technology and have 1080p resolution. Two new KURO models, the PDP-5020FD ($4,000 SRP) and PDP-6020FD ($5,500), make up the “entry level” category. Both are full 1080p designs and will appear in June.
Stepping up, you’ll find the Elite KURO PRO-111FD (50”, $5,000) and PRO-151FD (60”, $6,500), also full 1080p plasma HDTVs set for a June debut. In a new twist, there are two KURO HD 1080p plasma monitors (no integrated tuner or speakers), the PRO-101FD (50”) and PRO-141FD (60”). No prices have been announced on these two CEDIA channel models, which debut in October and August, respectively.
Figure 3. There aren’t many new plasma HDTVs in Pioneer’s KURO line for 2008,
but they make some spectacular images.
Figure 4. What would a Pioneer line show be without a new DVD player?
This is the BDP-51FD for Blu-ray.
Two new Blu-ray players also took a bow, the Pioneer Elite BDP-05FD ($799) and BDP-51FD ($599). Both feature BonusView operation for enhanced content, employ 12-bit video processing, and use Wolfson digital-to-audio converters for high-quality audio playback. Look for them in July or August.
Wonder of wonders, Pioneer has decided they can make a go of it in the projector business and demonstrated their 1080p KURO home theater projector (basically an OEM JVC DLA-RS1X). This LCoS projector retains the KURO black styling and is tagged at $9,000 — a $3,000 premium over JVC’s offering.
This is not Pioneer’ first experiment with front projection. Eleven years ago at the late Comdex show, they unveiled the RVD-XG10, a 1024x768 LCoS business projector that retailed for $9,995. Problems with price competition and low yields eventually forced the product off the market, leaving Pioneer to concentrate on plasma technology.
Figure 5. Now, where have I see the KURO projector before?
It is obvious that Pioneer hasn’t given up on their high-end product strategy, although the $2,500 spread between their cheapest and most expensive plasma sets is pretty small, and six models makes for very compact product line. The LCoS projector is intended to disrupt sales of $15,000 to $30,000 DLP models in the CEDIA channel, while the Blu-ray player prices are high for Best Buy, but just right for Magnolia.
One question that came up during Pioneer’s post-show reception was this: How would Pioneer source these new, super-black KURO panels, given the company’s pending exit from PDP fabbing? In discussions with Pioneer executives, Matsushita (Panasonic) was identified as the logical source for future plasma glass. That means Panasonic will likely gain access to Pioneer’s secret KURO sauce as a result, perhaps leading to improved black levels on future Panasonic PDPs.
