OSAKA: Panasonic is coming out with a 50-inch, hi-def, 3D plasma display, to be ready for the market next year. The company announced the product this week and intends to show it at the CEATEC convention near Tokyo Oct. 6-10. The TV will come with active shutter glasses that evolved out of Panasonic’s first 3D plasma home theater system, rolled out last year. That system included a 103-inch screen (shown at left). Panasonic said it believed the 50-inch would be the most popular size for home theaters.
From Panasonic’s press release about the set: “This 50-inch PDP uses Panasonic's newly-developed high-speed 3D drive technology that enables rapid illumination of pixels while maintaining brightness. The panel also incorporates a crosstalk reduction technology, allowing for minimizing double-image (ghosting) that occurs when left- and right-eye images are alternately displayed....
“To reproduce 3D images, Panasonic uses the Full HD x 2 frame sequential method that displays time sequential images, alternately reproducing discrete 1920 x 1080 pixel images for the left and right eyes on the display frame by frame. The frame sequential method is widely used in showing Hollywood 3D movies in theaters.”
Panasonic’s 3D development process:
September 2009: Development of 50-inch HD 3D PDP; prototype will be exhibited at CEATEC Japan 2009.
August 2009: Struck cooperative agreement in making and marketing Twentieth Century Fox’s new 3D feature film “Avatar,” directed by James Cameron. (See August 24, 2009, “3DTV Goes on the Road.”)
April 2009: Began development of professional 3D movie production system consisting of a twin-lens P2 camcorder, a 3D video recorder and a PDP that allows for evaluation of 3D video. Conceptual models were presented at NAB 2009.
February 2009: Established Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory Advanced Authoring Center to support Hollywood studios in developing 3D Blu-ray disc titles.
September 2008: Development of full HD 3D plasma home theater system based on a 103-inch PDP and Blu-ray discs, exhibited at CEATEC Japan2008.
