Plasma Lives

Panasonic’s lineup for 2009 includes a slew of LCD and plasma flat panel sets, with more models sub-branded with their Viera moniker.

Click through for all the info.

The top model Z1 wireless 54" plasma set features THX certification and a slender 1" cabinet depth, receiving its video signals via 60GHz millimeter radio waves from the companion set top box. The Z1 is just one of 42 new flat panel models that Panasonic plans to ship in the first half of this year.

An ardent Blu-ray supporter and developer of many key Blu-ray technologies, Panasonic bowed three new BD players, including the DMP-BD60, DMP-BD80 and DMP-BD70V, the latter model being the world’s first (and probably the last) dual VHS/Blu-ray player – no pricing as of yet on any of the trio.

Touting their Hollywood studio HD equipment expertise, Panasonic’s press conference included a taped segment from director James Cameron, from the set of Avatar.

Avatar is an A-list casted sci-fi adventure set to debut in December, and slated for the full 3Dⁱ treatment.

3D is a growing trend that Panasonic is promoting heavily as the next big thing. While no home 3D standard yet exists, Panasonic is proposing a unified standard (based on their technology, of course), and their Hollywood 3D authoring studio is set to open on February 1st.