panasonic

LAS VEGAS--Day 1 of the Consumer Electronics Show has begun, and we're broadcasting another live show straight from the South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

We'll begin by wrapping up yesterday's press conferences with a lukewarm announcement from Panasonic and Justin Timberlake, then throw it over to our guest of the day, Kevin Pereira from G4's Attack of the Show!

But first we have to make fun of Panasonic's lukewarm announcement with Justin Timblerlake about MySpace TV. The idea of social networking isn't new, and Panasonic was hazy on the details, but basically it allows couch potatoes to share what they're watching, assuming it's something you want to share with the world.… Read more

Dish launches the "Hopper," with the first live kangaroo ever on stage at CES; Steve Ballmer explains why this is Microsoft's last CES keynote; and Justin Timberlake takes the stage at Panasonic's press event to announce MySpace TV.

Links from Tuesday's episode of Loaded, from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas:

LAS VEGAS--LG has its Magic Motion, and Sony has its Google TV nub. And until now, Panasonic hasn't had an effective way to navigate Web content. Enter the new Panasonic touch-pad remote control.

Available on Panasonic Blu-ray players--DMP-BBT01, DMP-BDT500, DMP-BDT320--and select televisions, including the WT50 and the VT50--the new remote offers a simple touch-pad surface, with a couple of additional buttons.

This year's Viera TVs and Blu-ray players feature a beefed-up Viera Connect smart-TV service and an onboard browser, and the touch pad is designed to make it easier to navigate around Web pages and services like … Read more

Panasonic announced four converters at CES to make its Lumix G series lenses photograph subjects that are farther, closer, and wider.

The four converters increase the flexibility of the lenses--and of Panasonic's Lumix G series of Micro Four Thirds. These cameras, one of the early entrants and now strong players in the interchangeable lens camera (ILC) market, forsake SLRs' reflex mirrors for a smaller design. So far even relatively strong ILC companies like Panasonic can't match the range of lenses available to SLR leaders Canon and Nikon.

Enter the converters, which will ship sometime in 2012 for as-yet … Read more

Just because you bring out a superstar like Justin Timberlake doesn't mean anyone is going to care about what you announce.

At the end of a long and droning CES press conference today, Panasonic tried to pull off a little Steve Jobs "One more thing" magic by announcing its partnership with and support for what's being called MySpace TV.

With rock and movie star Timberlake taking the stage to explain the service, the audience laughed at the mere mention of the MySpace name. Still, what the service--and Panasonic--is attempting is ambitious: a truly social integrated TV … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Panasonic has this thing going where it releases two versions of the same camera, in which one seemingly exists solely to upsell to the other. Case in point, the new Lumix FH8 and FH6.

The 16-megapixel FH8 features a bright (at least at the wide end) f2.5-6.4 24-120mm Leica lens with a 5x zoom; a 3-inch LCD; 720p HD MP4 movie capture with a one-touch record button; USB battery charging; a tilt-shift-like Miniature Effect for photos and movies; and its Intelligent Auto mode has AF tracking helping you keep moving subjects in focus till you shoot. It'… Read more

LAS VEGAS--The slim Panasonic Lumix SZ7 is intended to grab snapshooters back from the convenience of their smartphones. The main lure: an ultrawide-angle Leica lens.

The long-zoom-in-the-skinny-body thing is nice and all, but I'm more interested in the new AF system. Dubbed Light Speed AF, it promises a "superfast focus response time of approximately 0.1 second." I was able to briefly get my hands on the SZ7 and it really is impressively fast to focus and shoot. Hopefully, it won't slow down much in low light.

Other highlights include a fast, 14-megapixel MOS sensor that … Read more

LAS VEGAS--With updated naming conventions and fewer offerings than last year, Panasonic's somewhat stolid lineup resists jumping on the Wi-Fi bandwagon.

This year's camcorder lineup from Panasonic is a refreshing change from previous years. Not only did the company take the opportunity to rationalize its offerings, simplifying its nomenclature with the convention that "M" indicates the model with built-in memory, but it's also pruned the number of models. Plus, this year it joins the march of companies declaring the death of the hard-disk camcorder.

One thing that hasn't changed is Panasonic's annoying practice … Read more

LAS VEGAS--In the past, Panasonic's GT variants have been almost as good as the flagships they supported, and at much more affordable prices. We anticipate that this trend will continue with the new GT50.

The GT50 will come in four sizes from 50 inches to 65 inches and ships with an "Infinite Black Pro" panel. The full-HD 3D panel features 2D-to-3D conversion and a new louver filter designed to provide better contrast in lit environments.

With the exception of the Z1, design wasn't a key consideration for Panasonic plasmas until last year, with the "metallic … Read more