Panasonic formally announced this morning that it is offering a 3D home theater system exclusively at Best Buy via Magnolia Home Theater for $2,899.99 beginning today.
The package will include a 50-inch Viera plasma TV(TC-P50VT20 – SRP $2,499.95), a 3D Blu-ray player (DMP-BDT300 – SRP 399.95), and a single pair of active shutter lens glasses (TY-EW3D10U). Additional pairs of 3D eyewear will be available with an SRP of $149.95.
In voicing support for the Panasonic 3D system, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment executive VP, marketing Mary Daily announced that the studio’s first 3D Blu-ray title will be “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.”
Sources say the title will be bundled with Panasonic product beginning in April.
“Panasonic has announced amazing new products today and along with Best Buy’s commitment to the format, 3D will become a game changer for the home entertainment industry,” Daily said.
— By Scott Hettrick
Highlights of the rest of the official media release:
By delivering a full 1080p-resolution image to each eye, Panasonic’s Full HD 3D technology offers consumers the highest possible visual experience. To enjoy Full HD 3D programming, users wear a lightweight pair of active-shutter eyewear. The sets are also Full HD TVs that display pristine 1080p content in two dimensions (2D) for conventional HD viewing.
“Television has successfully moved from black and white, to color, to High Definition. But immersive, totally realistic 3D imagery has been the final frontier and beginning today, Panasonic has conquered that as well,” said Bob Perry, Senior Vice President, Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company. “Best Buy has been a proactive and important partner in bringing 3D into the living rooms of America and we are happy to share this milestone with them.”
“The demand for 3D technology in the home is just beginning for consumers,” said Michael Vitelli, President, Americas, Best Buy. “
The VT20 is a Best Buy exclusive model and is equivalent to the VT25 series that was voted “Best of Show” at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show. The BDT300 is also a Best Buy exclusive model and is equivalent to the BDT350 which received the Consumer Electronics Association’s esteemed Innovations Award for its innovative 3D technology.
In addition to the 50-inch class size, the Panasonic Full HD 3D Home Theater System will also be available in a 54-inch class (54” measured diagonally), 58” class (58” measured diagonally) and 65” class (64.8” measured diagonally) screen sizes with suggested retail pricing and availability to be announced at a later date.
To create the best possible 3D picture, Panasonic has developed new, faster screen phosphors; coupled with its 600Hz sub-field drive, the new displays output alternating imagery at 60 frames per second to each eye. The brain then combines the images and interprets them as 3D.
The BDT300 outputs stunning, rock-solid, and immersive Full HD 3D imagery to compatible displays. It also handles a wide variety of audio standards, and up converts all standard definition video formats. The BDT300 utilizes groundbreaking technologies incorporated in Panasonic’s proprietary UniPhier LSI chip, enabling the player to flawlessly process the large quantity of visual information necessary to create a Full HD 3D image in 1920 x 1080 resolution. Adaptive Chroma Upsampling insures that colors will be faithfully reproduced; and all native digital DVD formats are up scaled to 1080p resolution quality.
Panasonic’s Full HD 3D products meet the recently announced Blu-ray 3D™ specification standard. This standard, which represents the work of leading Hollywood studios and consumer electronic and computer manufacturers, enables the home entertainment industry to bring the 3D experience into consumers’ living rooms on Blu-ray Disc, the most capable high definition home entertainment platform. Individual manufacturers and content providers will now be able to provide the technical information and guidelines necessary to develop and bring products to market.
In January, DIRECTV and Panasonic announced a strategic relationship that will make it possible to bring 3D TV into the homes of millions for the first time. DIRECTV’s HD 3D channels, powered by Panasonic, will offer a 24/7 3D DIRECTV Cinema and pay per view event channel focused on movies, documentaries and other programming, a 24/7 3D DIRECTV on Demand channel and a free 3D entertainment channel featuring event programming such as sports, music and other content. In addition, to celebrate the launch of Panasonic’s Full HD 3D Home Theater System, DIRECTV is giving the first customer to purchase the system at today’s Best Buy launch event in New York one year of free programming, including its upcoming HD 3D service, which will be available this June.
“The superior quality of the HD 3D programming that DIRECTV will debut in June will be unlike anything that is available in the television market today,” said Eric Shanks, executive vice president of DIRECTV Entertainment. “Being able to experience that quality through Panasonic’s Full HD 3D home theater system will make our customers feel like their living room is a 3D movie theater. We have had a long- time relationship with both Panasonic and Best Buy and we are proud to be partnering with these industry leaders to make the next frontier of television a reality.”
To bring the excitement of Full HD 3D and Panasonic’s range of home entertainment solutions to consumers, Panasonic will launch a 15-city, Panasonic Touch The Future nationwide tour next week. The tour will kick off in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles beginning March 15 and then visit Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Miami, San Francisco, Phoenix, Seattle, Detroit, Minneapolis, Dallas and Houston in March and April.