Panasonic revealed additional prices and availability on 2012 Smart Viera plasma and LCD TVs during a formal line unveiling for the press.
Panasonic’s Henry Hauser presents one of the new top-of-the-line Viera WT50-series LED edge-lit LCD TVs featuring the new glass-and-metal design concept.
Panasonic said models in the ST50, UT50, and XT50 plasma series and the E50, ET5, E5 and X5 LED series will be available this month.
Also announced were ship dates on LED LCD TV models in the 47-inch screen size (available this month) and 55-inch screen size (available in April and May).
In total, the 2012 LED LCD model line features 16 SKUs this year, up from seven a year ago.
All new LCD TVs offer LED edge lighting systems, and all new LCD and plasma sets feature newly restyled slim-cabinet, slim-bezel designs, with many models employing a new “glass and metal” design concept.
Panasonic is also spreading 3D capability among the new sets and is advancing its Viera Connect IPTV platform to, among other things, include open web browsing in step-up models.
Viera “Smart TV is not just an Internet television, as people are calling it, but it is based on five pillars, including picture quality for both LED and plasma, ease of use, networking with an open platform to the Cloud, eco-friendliness and design,” said Henry Hauser, Panasonic display division VP.
Energy efficiency was improved this year in both LCD and plasma models.
Panasonic said it was able to reduce power consumption further in its 2012 Viera plasmas by using a newly improved phosphor mixture and more efficient electronics, while at the same time a new drive system enables a 1.5x improvement in brightness output.
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