Posts Tagged ‘Panasonic’

Panasonic HDTV DIRECTV Systems

April 9th, 2010 zou

Panasonic, the first consumer electronics company to introduce HDTV in the United States, and DIRECTV, Inc., the nation’s leading digital television conference call service providers, have entered into an agreement to incorporate DIRECTV PLUS Consolidation ™ high definition television receivers into Panasonic-brand digital television-certified set-top boxes. The announcement was made at the 2000 International conference call Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.The new products will be manufactured by Matsushita Television and computer network security system and will be marketed and sold in the United States later this year by Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company (PCEC). Product development of the new set-top box is being carried out jointly by MTNC and Burlington, NJ-based Panasonic AVC American Laboratories, Inc. (PAVCAL), together with their parent labs computer forensics.

Panasonic has demonstrated its leadership by becoming the first consumer electronics manufacturer to make high definition television available to consumers,” said Bill Casamo, executive vice president for Directv. “We’re very excited about our new plan to develop DIrectv HDTV satellite receivers, as they will complement the already growing number of HDTV sets sold in the marketplace.”

Panasonic was the first to introduce a high definition digital television monitor in the United States in August 1998, followed by its first all-format digital television set-top box in October 1998.

This agreement with DIRECTV is another dynamic step in Panasonic’s commitment to provide consumers with the greatest choice and convenience to enjoy the full breadth of digital television programming,” said Bill Mannion, PCEC’s general manager, Television and Network Systems Division.

DIRECTV began broadcasting its first national high definition consumer channel to customers of its high-power satellite television service on Aug. 1. The channel, Home Box Office’s high definition “HBO HDTV,” features blockbuster Hollywood films and original movies from HBO in high definition format and airs on DIRECTV(r) 24 hours daily. A second DIRECTV high-definition channels, featuring pay-per-view movies and other select programming was launched for consumers Nov. 1.

With Panasonic’s DIRECTV-enabled set-top receiver, consumers will have an expanded number of viewing choices, including access to DIRECTV’s satellite broadcasts in both standard and high definition, as well as terrestrial broadcasts available in the local  area via a rooftop antenna. The Panasonic receiver is also the first to feature the Advanced Programming Guide, which seamlessly displays program information from all available sources.

We believe DIRECTV can play a pivotal role in the acceptance of HDTV technologies, added Mannion. With HBO and other program sources already broadcasting high definition via DIRECTV, the addition of DIRECTV-enabled set-top boxes to our comprehensive line of digital television products allows us to bring the excitement and benefits of high definition television to a much broader audience.”

DIRECTV is the only satellite TV service whose receiving system is being built into HDTV sets and DIRECTV/ATSC* set-top converter boxes, thus providing consumers with virtually instant access to DIRECTV programming and local digital terrestrial channels via a rooftop antenna, where available.

The Panasonic DIRECTV PLUS(tm) set-top box will be displayed at the 2000 International Consumer Electronics Show in DIRECTV Booth 5611 and Panasonic Booth 2001.

DIRECTV is the nation’s leading digital television entertainment service with more than 8 million customers, including customers subscribing to PRIMESTAR By DIRECTV. DIRECTV and DIRECTV PLUS are registered trademarks of DIRECTV, Inc., a unit of Hughes Electronics Corporation. Hughes Electronics is the world’s leading provider of satellite and wireless conference calling system and conference calling service . The earnings of Hughes Electronics, a unit of General Motors Corporation, are used to calculate the earnings per share attributable to the General Motors Class H common stock (NYSE:GMH). Visit DIRECTV on the World Wide Web at www.directv.com.

Located in San Diego, California, Matsushita Television and Network Systems conference call companies manufactures a wide range of television products, which are marketed and sold in the United States by Secaucus, New Jersey-based Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company (PCEC) or are exported to other countries. Both house insurance companies are divisions of Matsushita Electric Corporation of America (MECA), the principal North American subsidiary of Matsushita Electric Industrial Company, Ltd. (NYSE: MC), one of the world’s largest producers of electronic and electric products for consumer, business and industrial use.

Consumers seeking more information on the company’s products may contact Panasonic’s Customer Call Center at 800-211-PANA or access Panasonic’s home loans page at www.panasonic.com. Journalists interested in Panasonic press releases can gain information via the Panasonic Web site or through our toll free conference calls fax-back system, 888-734-7490.

Posted in Satellite Receiver Tags: , , , Comments Off

Panasonic Blu-Ray HTIB SC-BT100

December 19th, 2009 zou

How do you define high end? Is it the gear that delivers the highest performance, sells for the highest price, or represents the most agile and innovative thinking? If that last criterion means anything, the Panasonic SC-BT100 is the very definition of a high-end home theater systems in a box. It includes a Blu-ray drive, makes daring use of bamboo fiber speaker diaphragms, and employs wireless technology to deliver signals to those two lonely surround speakers in the back of the room. Moving backward to the second criterion, price, the system sells for $1,000, on the moderate to high side by HTIB standards. And what about the first criterion, performance? Sorry, but you’ll have to read the review. Throw me a bone here this is how I earn my living.

Kind of Blu, Kind of Bamboo

Thanks to digital amplifier technology, this system fits all of its amplification and that oh-so-desirable Blu-ray Disc drive into a box that’s one-third the height of a typical surround receiver. And that includes the sub amp. Digital amps are generally more energy efficient because they waste less power in the form of heat. They are well established in compact systems and have just started to take over the surround receiver category.

In one of many beautiful touches, Panasonic built a flip-down iPod dock into the center of the front panel. It operates through the onscreen interface via the system remote. There’s also an integrated SD card reader, so you can photograph unwary friends and family members, then remove the card from your camera, slip it into the HTIB, and provide your victims with instant replay on your mercilessly large screen.

Panasonic chose to make the drivers in the left, right, and center speakers out of bamboo fiber. The system has a not unpleasantly warm coloration. It can play loudly before it starts to break up and remains reasonably benign even when stressed at high volumes. When Panasonic introduced the SC-BT100 at a press conference, I was immediately impressed not only with how it sounded but with how it felt. When I turned it up moderately loud, it didn’t hurt. The front and center speakers are two-way models with 2.5-inch woofers and slightly smaller tweeters, while each of the surrounds uses a single full-range driver. All have plastic enclosures, and all but the center one rest on pedestals.

Panasonic notes explicitly that the subwoofer speakers is a Kelton type (bandpass), with a passive radiator on the side and an active driver inside the box. It draws its power from the main system unit, not internally, by using a speaker cable hard-wired into the sub. There are no controls on the sub itself.

For prospective HTIB buyers who are leery of running cables to surround speakers, Panasonic provides moderate relief. The system includes an almost wireless surround feature. The system comes with a transmitter card that attaches to the SC-BT100 receiver unit’s back panel. This flings the signal to a receiver/amplifier at the back of the room, which feeds the speakers. The receiver/amplifier (which Panasonic calls a transceiver) re-quires an AC connection, operates at 2.4 gigahertz, and uses cables to reach the speakers.

At about 9 feet, the cables may be on the short side for some rooms. They also have a proprietary connector at one end. If you need more cable, you’ll have to splice it onto the other end. Even though the system is designed for small rooms, this is one of its few design flaws Panasonic should have provided longer cables. On the upside, the closer-than-usual surround-speaker placement gave me a chance to test the resilience of the speakers. I knocked one of the speakers to the floor three times to no ill effect. You can extend the system from 5.1 to 7.1 channels with the addition of another (optional) transceiver and pair of speakers.

The main amp/disc/control unit is loaded with a Blu-ray player that’s capable of 1080p up conversion over HMDI. According to Panasonic, it is similar to the DMP-BD30 and includes that player’s UniPhier video processing technology. [See the April 2008 issue for a full review of that player.—Ed.] However, the HTIB player adds onboard decoding for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. The player is not BD-Live compatible, so this unit can’t play back the BD-Live interactive features we’ll see on some major Blu-ray releases later this year.

Setup is easy. Panasonic provides audio speaker cables for all channels, terminated with color-coded plugs. Each channel uses a different color. Panasonic designed the plug to fit only one way, so you can’t wire anything out of phase by accidentally inverting it. You could only invert it at the speaker end, where soldered wire tips fit into wire-clip terminals.

Bullies, Gangs, and Ad Men

The system booted up in about 15 seconds and displayed my first disc’s menu in less than 45 seconds. So, I counted down a minute before show time. That’s quite acceptable to me and far better than early- generation Blu-ray players. All my movie selections were on Blu-ray Disc with high-resolution soundtracks.

Drillbit Taylor (Dolby TrueHD) presents the Owen Wilson charm machine in a goofy comedy with bullied school kids secured loan. It took me half the movie to fine-tune the volume for dialogue clarity. I’m so used to adjusting systems with harsh-sounding tweeters that these relatively benign bamboo-infused drivers threw me off. My final volume preference was notably louder than my initial one. I also spent time fiddling with the sub. I had to turn it down more than once. The system ships with the sub boost switched on and a very aggressive center volume setting. I used a front-panel button (not duplicated on the remote) to switch off the boost. Then I used the remote to knock the sub level down a couple more decibels. Oddly, the sub channel is the only one you can’t adjust in the onscreen menu. But along with the other channels, you can easily access it via a dedicated button on the remote in conjunction with the navigation keys and front-panel display.

Gangs of “New York”(Dolby TrueHD) is full of wild dynamic swings, from Daniel Day Lewis’ definitively threatening sotto voce to the “film” riot scenes. With this system, even loud effects were rarely fatiguing. A cleverly mixed gunshot presented four separate events in the space of a second: the shot and its reverb, followed by the ricochet and its reverb. Shattering glass almost sounded musical. This film also includes a variety of traditional music such as Irish, Chinese, and early-American fife-and-drum music. And the sweetening the Panasonic provided was just what the doctor ordered. War drums gallop through the movie’s action scenes and the sub delivered them powerfully.

Mad Men is the first TV-show-on-disc I’ve heard in DTS-HD Master Audio. Here, I made very few volume adjustments for dialogue, presumably because the show was produced for cable, and TV shows tend to have more idiot-proof vocal mixing. The varied music that accompanies the story of ad execs in the early 1960s came through well, especially the vocal-oriented jazz, which took on a creamy Madison Avenue suaveness. However, the sub revealed the limits of its pitch definition on string basses. A higher-end sub would have done this better. And it was still pretty loud, especially on the Lions gate logo, so I knocked it down another decibel to –3 dB.

iPod Savvy

Normally the practice of dismembering classical works to generate mood-oriented releases nauseates me. But Decca’s two-disc set of Mozart Adagios (and a similar set called Vivaldi Adagios) is an exception. The source recordings and the sense of flow are both satisfying—making these excellent albums for low-level background listening on an iPod. When I plugged in my first-generation Nano, I heard the sweetening of the Panasonic sys-tem, with its bamboo drivers, slickly mitigate the “MP3″ artifacts at 192 kilobits per second. Even at foreground levels, the overall feel was non fatiguing and listenable.

I like the beautifully designed full-color 16:9 onscreen display. It shows track, artist, and album name, along with an elapsed-time bar. There’s even a graphic that displays the remote’s navigation cluster—just in case you need to be reminded that the center button is Play, or that the Return button (comparable to the iPod’s Menu button) is on the lower right of the navigation wheel. The system also charged the iPod while the music played.

Not for Kids Only, the charming all-ages folkie CD by David Grisman and Jerry Garcia, bore the brunt of my experiments with stereo and the Dolby Pro Logic II Music mode. A lot of systems change their character completely when they switch between stereo source material in two channels and the same stuff processed into multiple channels via Dolby Pro Logic II (despite the fact that DPLII is tonally close to neutral). With this system, the soundfield opened up (of course), and the detail sharpened. But the album worked equally well in either mode; it imparted a golden warmth to the creaky vocals and the expertly wielded mandolin and acoustic guitar. I’m guessing this system will make a lot of folkies happy. Although the system uses different speaker designs in front and back, the timbre matching was quite good.

Once again, I turned to my Blu-ray copy of David Gilmour: Remember That Night–Live at the Royal Albert Hall and its Dolby TrueHD multichannel soundtrack. The Dark Side of the Moon side-one trilogy responded to the SC-BT100’s treatment with slightly rolled-off highs, a gorgeously communicative midrange that reveled in the lush Crosby/Nash vocal harmonies, and an open concert-hall feeling. I knew the system traded off some detail in the lossless soundtrack for soundfield size. Still, I liked the result.

The Panasonic SC-BT100 puts together a highly desirable feature package for $1,000, including Blu-ray playback, iPod compatibility, wireless surround-channel transmission, digital amplification, and speakers with bamboo drivers. I’ll go out on a limb and say that the new approach to HTIB speakers is the part that impresses me the most. And I’m far from unimpressed with the other stuff. This is one of the best in-a-box systems I’ve heard. It arguably makes the other disc-drive-inclusive models on my short list obsolete, since they only do standard-def DVD. So now I’ve got an HTIB short list of one. This system is it.

Features & Connections

Features

BD-Live: No

BonusView: Yes

Firmware Version: 1.1

Audio Decoding: Dolby: TrueHD, Digital 5.1, EX, Digital Plus, Pro Logic IIx; DTS: DTS-HD Master Audio, DTS, ES, Neo:6; Other: 4 EQ modes, 7.1-channel virtual surround, real center focus, whisper surround

HDMI Video Resolutions: 1080p/24, 1080p/60, 1080i, 720p, 480p, 480i

Compatible Playback Formats: BD-Video (Final Standard Profile), BD-MV, DVD-RAM, DVD Video, CD, CD-R/-RW, SD Memory Card

Number of Amp Channels: 5.1

Rated Power (watts, per channel): 250 into 6 ohms, front/center/sub; 125 into 3 ohms, surround

Specified Frequency Response: 120 Hz to 20 kHz

Dimensions (W x H x D, inches): 16.94 x 3.56 x 12.88

Weight (pounds): 9.1

Price: $1,000 for system

Connections

Inputs: Video: None Audio: Optical digital (1), stereo analog (1), Additional: iPod integrated dock (1), SD card

Outputs: Video: HDMI (1), component video (1), composite video (1) Audio: Surround mini-jack (1), back-surround mini-jack (1)

Speakers

SB-HF100

Type: Front Satellite

Tweeter (size in inches, type): 2.38, bamboo fiber cone

Woofer (size in inches, type): 2.5, bamboo fiber cone (2)

Full-range driver (size in inches, type): None

Nominal Impedance (ohms): 6

Recommended Amp Power (watts): 250 peak

Available Finishes: Black

Dimensions (W x H x D, inches): 4.78 x 12.94 x 5.09

Weight (pounds): 3.7

SB-HC100

Type: Center Satellite

Tweeter (size in inches, type): 2.38, bamboo fiber cone

Woofer (size in inches, type): 2.5, bamboo fiber cone (2)

Full-range driver (size in inches, type): None

Nominal Impedance (ohms): 6

Recommended Amp Power (watts): 250 peak

Available Finishes: Black

Dimensions (W x H x D, inches): 11.88 x 4.38 x 5.28

Weight (pounds): 3.5

SB-HS100

Type: Surround Satellite

Tweeter (size in inches, type): None

Woofer (size in inches, type): None

Full-range driver (size in inches, type): 2.5, paper cone

Nominal Impedance (ohms): 3

Recommended Amp Power (watts): 125 peak

Available Finishes: Black

Dimensions (W x H x D, inches):4.78 x 12.94 x 5.09

Weight (pounds): 2.2

Manufacturer Info

Panasonic

(800) 211-PANA

www.panasonic.com

search Keyword:

Posted in Satellite Receiver Tags: , , Comments Off

Panasonic DVR/DVD Recorder DMR-E95H

November 12th, 2009 zou

I have a confession to make: I never took offense at having set the clock on the VCR. I set myself. I set my mother. I’m even known to sneak into my friends and manage their homes while they sleep, taking joy in the knowledge that they can finally live the VCR to the actual potential function so I’ve put the blinking 12:00 out of suffering.

A lot of people aren’t like me (in more ways than I can count, actually). They don’t enjoy exploring their electronic devices; they’d prefer the gear jump out of the box, connect itself to their TV, and be as invisible as possible. Thanks to certain giants in the DVR industry, these people now expect their electronics to figure out what they should watch, too—which is a tad too Orwellian for my tastes.

The DMR-E95H isn’t designed for these people. It doesn’t value simplicity over all else. It caters instead to the more-advanced user who knows his or her way around a DVD device and will gladly exchange a bit of simplicity for greater functionality.

Without a Guide
Don’t get me wrong, though. The DMR-E95H isn’t terribly difficult to use. My review sample showed up without a manual, and I was able to set it up and figure out most of the basic operations just by exploring the onscreen menus. Exploring is the key, though, as the menu structure isn’t as cleanly organized or novice-friendly as the TiVo interface, the defacto standard in the Security DVR business. When the manual finally showed up on my doorstep, I was less than impressed: This 64-page wonder is thorough, to say the least, but it’s not the most organized or straightforward document I’ve seen.

I ran cables from the unit’s highest quality outputs—component video and optical digital audio to my receiver. The unit has both RF and A/V inputs to connect your antenna, cable, or satellite feed. I ran S-video and stereo analog cables from my Motorola HD cable box into one of the Panasonic’s input sets, which provided a better-looking picture than the RF input. The audio quality was fine but a couple of decibels lower than my cable box’s direct output.

Upon powering up the unit, you’re taken to the TV Guide On Screen setup page. Earlier Panasonic DMR models lacked this user interface, which downloads up to eight days’ worth of program material without requiring a phone or Internet connection (the TV Guide interface will not work with a satellite receiver). Once this setup is complete, you can immediately watch TV or a DVD and manually record content. However, you need to turn off the unit overnight so that it can download the programming info. Panasonic says that the initial download process can take up to 24 hours, and they aren’t exaggerating.

In my case, the DMR-E95H repeatedly failed to download the TV Guide info from my Motorola DCT5100 cable box. Some online searching revealed that other Panasonic DMR-series owners had the same problem with certain Motorola cable boxes.When I tried it with the non HD digital cable box in my bedroom, it downloaded the info without incident, but I never successfully downloaded it through my primary box.

If you find yourself in a similar predicament (there are an awful lot of Motorola cable boxes out there), you have two options. You can go ahead and connect the DMR-E95H to your cable box and live without the TV Guide On Screen programming info; however, you’ll have to manually set the timer to record future shows, as opposed to simply highlighting the desired programs in the grid. You also can’t enjoy the user interface’s other conveniences, like the ability to set daily or weekly recordings of the same show (no first-run-only option, though) or utilize the various search parameters (search by title, genre, scheduled recordings, etc.).

The other option is to split the cable signal from the wall, running one into the cable box for daily viewing and one directly into the Panasonic for recording. The obvious drawback to this approach is that, when viewing the signal through the DMR-E95H, you won’t get all of your cable channels. I only got the non-encrypted cable channels the main networks and a few other local stations. The plus is that you now have a two-tuner setup: You can watch one thing through the cable box while you record something else on the DMR-E95H.

Neither is an ideal solution, as you’re forced to decide what matters the most to you: the TV Guide On Screen interface or access to your entire channel lineup. Where’s the CableCARD when we need it?

Edit Away
The DMR-E95H has four drives: DVD, HDD (hard disk drive), and SD and PC card slots. You can switch between drives via buttons on the front panel or remote. Regardless of which drive you select, the DMR-E95H plays the TV signal when you’re not utilizing the drive’s specific function—i.e., watching a DVD or viewing photos from a memory card.

Using the SD/PC slots is a straightforward affair. Simply select the drive you want to use, insert the card or PCMCIA adapter in the slot, and hit the remote’s Direct Navigator button to pull up the images. (I originally hit the play button, and an onscreen note kindly told me to try the Direct Navigator button instead how’s that for user-friendly?) Transferring photos to the hard drive, a DVD, or even another memory card takes just a few steps.

When you put a DVD-RAM disc in the disc tray, the functionality of the HDD and DVD drives is basically identical. You can record live TV (the hard drive doesn’t automatically back up the TV signal; you must hit the record button), watch one recorded show while the DMR-E95H records another, or watch an in-progress recording from the beginning. You can access all recorded content through the Direct Navigator. Hit the Time-Slip button while you’re watching a recording, and a window appears in the bottom right corner that shows you what’s currently playing on live TV. The only difference between the two drives is the amount of storage at your disposal: 160 gigabytes on the hard drive; 4.7 or 9.4 GB on a single- or double-sided DVD-RAM disc.

Where the DMR-E95H stands out is in its editing features. Want to remove commercials or insert chapter breaks before you watch a recording? Want to transfer multiple family videos from your digital camcorder via the FireWire connection, edit them, and then combine them into one playlist? These processes are a little time-consuming but not difficult, although I did have to refer to the manual at this point.

Last but not least comes archiving. DVD-RAM isn’t the most compatible format on the block. If you wish to burn content to the more-universal DVD-R format for permanent storage, the DMR-E95H provides several options. High-speed recording lets you burn the disc quickly (4x to 32x, depending on the DVD-R you use); I transferred a 45-minute recording in less than 10 minutes. You can continue to watch TV and record to/view content from the hard drive during this process, but you can’t switch drives, and it only burns content in a 4:3 screen shape. You must remember to turn this function on via the setup button before you record any programming.

If you want to preserve a letterbox aspect ratio (which the manual claims is lost during high-speed dubbing), choose the normal-speed process: It burns in real time at XP, SP, LP, EP, or FR (flexible recording, which automatically determines which mode to use to fit the program on the disc). When you choose a lower-quality setting, you can store a lot of content on one disc. During a normal-speed burn, the DMR-E95H inserts manual chapter breaks (overriding any that you inserted), and you can’t perform any other operations during the process.

To play the DVD-R on another machine, you’ll need to finalize it. Unlike other DVR/DVD recorders on the market, you can burn multiple items to the DVD-R during different sessions, as long as you wait to finalize the disc until it’s full.

In Need of Resolution
Underneath all of those recording, editing, and archiving functions lies a DVD player begging not to be forgotten. The DMR-E95H navigates through DVD menus quickly, and it didn’t have trouble reading any discs I fed it, be they DVD-Videos, DVD-RWs (even though the manual says it won’t read them), or MP3-encoded CD-Rs. The player also reads the DVD-Audio format; however, in an antiquated move, it only allows for two-channel audio playback, down converting multichannel tracks. It doesn’t read Kodak Picture or other photo CDs. The player passes PLUGE in both the 480i and 480p modes.

Using Video Essentials’ resolution chart, in 480i mode, the player exhibited very little roll off until the highest frequencies; however, in 480p mode, rolloff was more of a concern. Using the Avia Pro resolution tests from 1.5 to 6.5 megahertz, the DMR-E95H starts an almost-immediate, albeit gradual, rolloff at 1.5 MHz. Although it doesn’t reach the –3decibel point until just over 5.5 MHz, it drops quickly after wards (–6dB at just over 6 MHz). The 6.75-MHz circle showed noticeable banding, further evidence that the player can’t resolve the finest details in progressive mode.

To test its processing, I called up VE’s Snell & Wilcox Zone Plate test. With film-based material, the DMR-E95H instantly picked up the 3:2 sequence, but it never locked onto the video-based signals. Actual demo material supported these findings: The rooftops and Colosseum shots in chapter 12 of Gladiator weren’t completely free of stair-stepping, but the player was above average in its handling of this scene. Likewise with the diagonal lines of the building in Armageddon’s opening sequence and the ornate European buildings in Bourne Identity. Video-based material, on the other hand, exhibited numerous jaggies. Even though the player’s processing is solid with film-based material, if your display has a good processor, you might want to keep this player in 480i mode to enjoy the improved resolution.

Stay in Control
In case you were wondering, the DMR-E95H does have an automatic clock setting for those of you who believe in an automated world. But you know what? It also has a manual setting for all of us tweaks and geeks.

I’m not knocking automation. It’s just that, when things are completely automated, there’s no room to experiment and play around with your gear. The DMR-E95H strikes a good balance between logical, easy use and flexible, enhanced functionality, not sacrificing too much of one for the sake of the other. If you want more control over the content you’re recording and archiving, you’ll appreciate everything that this device can do.

Posted in Satellite Receiver Tags: Comments Off