Panasonic unleashes TV frenzy - including raft of new Freesat models

Panasonic has released the details of its Viera TV range for 2009 – and it’s easily the brand’s biggest offering to date.

The new TVs will be spread over no less than eight new series: The flagship Z1, the V10, the G15, the G10, the S10, the X15/X10 and C10.

The top four series – the Z1, V10, G15 and G10 models – all feature built-in Freesat tuners, with all the lower models using standard Freeview tuners.

Everybody Hertz

The plasma models from the top four series models additionally benefit from Panasonic’s new 600Hz ‘Sub-field Drive Intelligent Frame Creation Pro’ technology – a mouthful of a thing that apparently helps Panasonic achieve true 1080-line motion picture resolution for the first time.

Another distinguishing feature of the plasma models in the top four ranges is their use of Panasonic’s brightness-boosting ‘NeoPDP’ technology.

This joins forces with refinements to Panasonic’s legendary Real Black Drive System to deliver a huge claimed dynamic contrast ratio of 2000000:1 – the sort of figure we’ve only previously seen quoted (optimistically) by one or two LED-backlit TVs.

The Z1, V10 and G15 series, meanwhile, carry another key new feature for Panasonic: Viera Cast. This is Panasonic’s take on the new internet connection phenomenon currently sweeping the TV world.

Though unlike the Philips system we told you about next week, this one doesn’t permit full internet access, instead restricting you to a series of ‘media partners’ – including Eurosports, Picasa and YouTube – who provide content specially modified to work with the TV’s remote control and built-in browser technology.

Brave new limited world

We’re a bit alarmed by how few content providers Panasonic has currently signed up with – especially as two are only foreign-language efforts. But the system can be upgraded to cope with new partners as and when deals get struck, so hopefully content levels will grow in the future.

The Ethernet port required for the internet connectivity (there’s no wireless support) can also be used to deliver DLNA connectivity with a PC through a home network, so that you can, for instance, play DivX content stored on a PC directly onto the TV.

On a slightly similar note, all of Panasonic’s 2009 TVs come with an SD card slot for viewing JPEG images and AVCHD camcorder footage.

Trim and proper

Getting into more minutiae on the new TV series, the top-end plasma Z1s additionally feature a super-slim design – they’re just 1in deep – and beam-based wireless HD technology to cut down on cable mess.

Two sizes will be available, 46in and 54in, and both of these models will be THX specified, complete with a dedicated THX picture mode.

The V10 Series plasma models are, like the Z1 series, full HD models, and also boast THX certification. They’re not as thin as the Z1s and don’t have any wireless AV capability, but they do feature a nifty ‘one sheet of glass’ design and come in 42in and 50in screen sizes.

The 42in and 46in G15 plasmas are a bit more ‘normal’ looking, but still feature an unusually narrow bezel. They’re not THX-certified, though, and don’t have the Digital Cinema Colour technology of the top two series either.

The G10 plasmas, meanwhile, lose the Viera Cast system of the G15 and higher models, and also aren’t quite as glamorous to look at. But they’re more affordable, of course, in each of their 42in, 46in and 50in incarnations.

The last of the full HDicans

The S10 plasmas ditch 600Hz in favour of a 'mere' 400Hz engine, but retain full HD status across all the 42in, 46in and 50in screen sizes.

The 37in, 42in and 50in X10 plasmas take things down to HD Ready resolutions, and 100Hz rather than 400Hz, while the entry-level C10 models do away with the 100Hz and limit the HDMI count to two.

The C10 plasmas come in 37in, 42in and 50in flavours.

So far we’ve focussed on Panasonic’s plasma screens, but as usual the brand does also offer LCD technology for the smaller screen sizes.

The LCD summary

And so we find 32in and 37in LCD models in the V10 series, a 37in LCD model in the G15 series, 32in and 37in LCD models in the G10 series, 32in, 37in and 42in (the biggest Panasonic LCD yet) full HD LCD models in the S10 series, 19in, 26in and 32in HD-Ready LCD models in the X10 series, and finally two HD-Ready models at 26in and 32in in the C10 series.

Needless to say, the quest for review samples of as many of these products as possible begins here.