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Panasonic announced this morning that Amazon Video On Demand streaming has been added to the company's Blu-ray players, including the DMP-BD60K, DMP-BD80K, DMP-B15, DMP-BD70V, and home theater systems with integrated Blu-ray, such as the SC-BT200 and SC-BT300. Amazon streaming is integrated into Panasonic's online media portal, VieraCast, that already includes content from YouTube, Picasa, weather, and Bloomberg stock quotes.

We have the SC-BT200 on hand, and we took the Amazon streaming service for quick spin. The experience is essentially identical to what we experienced when reviewing the TC-PV10 series of Panasonic plasmas. The pay-per-view movie and TV service includes access to so-called high-def content, and can supplement or supplant cable or satellite PPV offerings with its significantly larger catalog. We appreciated that, unlike some implementations of Amazon VOD, VieraCast allows you to preview content before purchase--either showing a trailer or the first few minutes of the movie. Video quality was acceptable for a streaming service, but eagle-eyed videophiles will easily spot its deficiencies compared with, say, a Blu-ray of the same film.

One advantage to using VieraCast on a Blu-ray player or HTIB is that you still retain access to your TV's aspect ratio controls; on Panasonic TVs, using VieraCast disables many of these functions. This is especially useful on some of Amazon's content that is windowboxed (black bars on all sides).

While VieraCast's selection of online content is certainly better than Blu-ray players that lack any streaming content, we still prefer the combination of Netflix and Pandora that is available on Samsung Blu-ray players and LG home theater systems. On the other hand, the VieraCast platform is completely server-based, so we wouldn't be surprised to see Panasonic add more services in the future.

Panasonic's VieraCast with Amazon Video on Demand is one slice of the Internet on TV.

(Credit: Panasonic)

A new study by the Consumer Electronics Association, the industry group representing electronics manufacturers, finds that nearly half of prospective TV buyers say they want to buy an Internet-connected TV.

The study, conducted in December 2008, asked respondents to say how they'd use their connected sets, and the most popular answers included accessing information about current TV shows or identifying a song played on a show (48 percent) and finding out more about the actors (44 percent). Asked whether they currently surf the Web while watching TV, 30 percent of "online adults" responded "always or usually" while 32 percent answered "sometimes."

Activities likely to be moved from the PC to the living room TV include watching online video (62 percent), getting weather updates (59 percent), and playing online games (57 percent).... Read more

Panasonic's TC-PG10 series vies for the picture quality crown.

(Credit: CNET)

Ever since we called the Pioneer Elite Kuro PRO-111FD the "best flat-panel HDTV ever," we've been comparing the most expensive challengers on the market directly against it, looking to see if any could topple the champ. When Panasonic announced the TC-PG10 series at CES, we immediately knew it would go up against the Kuro in our lab. What we didn't know is that Pioneer would stop producing HDTVs, leaving the hill wide open for anybody to claim the king's throne.

The Panasonic G10 series is the new king. No, it's not as good overall as the soon-to-be-extinct Kuro Elite, but it comes closer than ever in the arena of black-level performance, and mounts a good fight in just about every other field of picture quality, with the exception of some color accuracy issues.

Panasonic steeped the G10 in extra features compared with its less expensive brethren, adding a THX mode that's largely responsible for its excellent picture, along with VieraCast for access to a limited range of Internet extras. The downside, as always, is that it costs significantly more than lower-end models, but if you're looking for the best picture quality in a post-Kuro world, the Panasonic TC-PG10 series is the safest bet so far this year.

Read the full review of the Panasonic TC-PG10 series

Panasonic TC-PG10 series photos

At the end of last year, Panasonic's DMP-BD35 earned the first Editors' Choice award given to a standalone Blu-ray player, because of its excellent feature set and reliable playback. The DMP-BD60 is the follow-up to the DMP-BD35, offering nearly the same feature set plus access to VieraCast, Panasonic's proprietary video content portal. So it may be surprising to see that the DMP-BD60 scores significantly lower than the DMP-BD35 did when it was first released--but that's just how fast the Blu-ray market is moving. While competitors are adding Netflix streaming, Wi-Fi connectivity, and onboard memory, the DMP-BD60 is mostly a retread of the DMP-BD35. It's also worth pointing that the DMP-BD60 just feels slow compared to the new Samsung players, which are beginning to rival the PS3 in operational speed. The Panasonic DMP-BD60 is still a reliable Blu-ray player with excellent image quality, but those looking for the newest features will have to look elsewhere.

Read the full review of the Panasonic DMP-BD60.

Panasonic DMP-BD60 photos

(Credit: Masa Fukata, Panasonic)

Watch your latest YouTube creation, show the photo album of your trip to Thailand, and then check in to see how far your Yahoo stock has tanked--all without leaving your couch or using an external box (e.g. Apple TV). That's Panasonic's new Viera Cast system in a nutshell--just don't expect an ideal experience with this first generation technology.

Available on the high-end TH-46PZ850U and TH-50PZ850U plasma televisions, Panasonic's Viera Cast system isn't exactly the first of its kind--Sony's Bravia Internet Link and HP's MediaSmart TVs, and Samsung's A650 line all offer varying degrees of online connectivity and/or digital media access. The concept, however, is as old as Microsoft's attempt to bring the Internet into the family room with WebTV. Unlike Microsoft's old external box, Panasonic has its web features built into the television itself. Like Apple TV or Roku's Netflix Player, don't expect to use a mouse or keyboard. Navigating through several YouTube videos is done with the standard thumb pad on the remote. If you find using the system menu on most televisions cumbersome, like we do, don't expect any difference with Viera Cast.

The display itself is set in a grid pattern: YouTube on the right; Picasa on the left; and on the bottom, Bloomberg News reports. Above that, in the right hand corner, is a banner for Panasonic's concierge service (currently inactive)--Panasonic's repair service that may include a live chat module in the future. We have to give credit for Panasonic's slick navigation design: windows slide in and out (similar to the Xbox 360's menu) with a relatively quick response time. We did, however, notice some occasional lag when retrieving our Picasa photo albums, which we intend to test more thoroughly in the future.

Of course, you'll need to enter your account information to access most of these features; you can't see your Picasa photos without entering your account name and password, for instance. It's enough of a chore to enter the information using a standard remote and onscreen keypad, but the fact that it doesn't retain those settings is unforgivable (yes, powering off the TV wipes the info). If you do want to show that photo album of your latest trip to Thailand to family and friends, expect a lot of weary expressions by the time you punch in your letters and numbers.

Once you do open up a photo album and begin the slide show, we recommend that you push down on the mute button. That's because there's no way to change the music for the Picasa slideshows--and after hearing the folksy, new-age instrumental music loop for three hours, we imagine a lot of people would agree. It would have been nice if Panasonic provided an option to include your own music collection, or at least a more varied playlist to change things up a little.

On the plus side, rather than pulling up Weather.com from your browser or waiting for the forecast to appear on the weather channel, simply press the Viera Cast button and view today's forecast--a necessary feature if you're rushing to work in the morning. The same goes for your stocks and business headlines from Bloomberg. There are two boxes available displaying "Coming Soon," so we envision that future content from other content providers could be included (no word on whether--or if--this will be happening, though). And, because the television is connected to the Internet, it'll be easy for Panasonic to update both its firmware and content. Stay tuned for a full review.