Panasonic’s Youtube Ready Plasmas

May 21st, 2008

We have been waiting almost half a year for the final details on Panasonic’s latest range of Viera plasma HDTVs, the PZ850 series, and here they are at last. The 46, 50, 58 and 65 inch units sport built-in internet access for Youtube video and Picasa pics plus other sites to be announced in the future. Here are a few more specs for you to drool over

* four HDMI ports
* PC input
* native contrast ratio of 30,000:1
* dynamic contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1
* H.264 decoding
* SD slots so camcorder video can be watched without conversion
* 24p native playback
* 1080p resolution

The 46 and 50 inch versions will be out this summer, whilst the big boys will appear in the autumn. Price tags are as follows, 46 – US$3100, 50 – US$3500, 58 – US$4300 and finally 65 – US$8000. These suckers, despite the cost, seem to have a nice number of bells and whistles and if their performance matches the outstanding specs, one of them should really be gracing your viewing room sooner rather than later.

As an aside, nice shot from the original version of The Thomas Crown Affair.

Source: Panasonic