Panasonic Blu-ray Players Add Vudu Service

Panasonic announced it has added Vudu's HD movie streaming service to its line of Viera Cast-enabled Blu-ray Disc players, beginning on Nov. 24.

Vudu is a video-on-demand service offering instant streaming (no download time) of movies and TV programs through IPTV-enabled HDTVs and Blu-ray Disc players with no computer or cable/satellite TV service required, and no subscription or monthly membership fees.

Vudu's service offers an extensive library of HD movies available for streaming to connected equipment, many of which are available at a $2 rate for a two-night rental. Additionally, many new releases are available on the service on the same day as they are released as DVDs.

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3D TV Channel coming to Europe

According to Broadband TV News, Europe’s first 3D channel will make its debut on October 1. Sky 3D will offer viewers a line-up of sport, movies, entertainment and the arts.

Consumers can watch 3D through their existing Sky+HD box. Sky 3D is compatible with all of the 3D TVs being introduced by Sony, Samsung, LG and Panasonic.

Sky 3D is the next revolution in television, enabling you to watch the best of TV in a more immersive way, with an incredible sense of depth that puts you right in the heart of the action. It uses the latest technology to create a full 3D experience in your home.

DIRECTV and Panasonic Launch Nation's First Suite of 3D Channels

DIRECTV, the world's most popular video service and Panasonic, a world leader in 3D TV technology, ushered in a new age in the rapid growth of 3D entertainment for the home with the launch of three 3D channels, including n3D powered by Panasonic – a linear channel dedicated exclusively to 3D programming and viewable on 3D television sets including Panasonic's line of award-winning VIERA Full HD 3D TVs.

n3D will also offer special events such as the running of the NASCAR Coke Zero 400, the local broadcast of the Yankees-Mariners series and DIRECTV's exclusive, national broadcast of FOX Sports 2010 MLB All-Star Game in 3D.

In addition to n3D, DIRECTV is also launching DIRECTV Cinema in 3D on channel 104, which is currently offering IMAX titles Deep Sea 3D and Under the Sea 3D and n3D On Demand on channel 105, which is currently delivering replays of ESPN's 3D coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup matches. DIRECTV also launched ESPN 3D on channel 106.

Panasonic is the exclusive presenting sponsor of DIRECTV's n3D channel. In January at the Consumer Electronics Show, DIRECTV and Panasonic announced their plans to launch 3D TV channels and have since worked together to leverage relationships with programming partners and movie studios to obtain new and existing 3D content. For more information on DIRECTV's 3D channels please visit here.

Last month, DIRECTV HD customers received a free software upgrade enabling them to have access to the 3D channels on DIRECTV. DIRECTV HD customers will need a 3D television set and 3D glasses to view 3D programming on DIRECTV.

Panasonic is a global leader in the development of end-to-end Full HD 3D technology solutions including the world's first Full HD 3D video camera that records to solid-state memory, Full HD 3D Blu-ray Disc authoring, and the award winning VT-25 Series of Full HD 3D VIERA Plasma TVs and 3D Blu-ray Disc Players. For more information on Panasonic's Full HD 3D technology, visit here.

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The Masters Broadcast In 3D

The Augusta National Golf Club just announced that the 2010 Masters Tournament will be produced and broadcast live in 3D for the first time.

Two hours of live afternoon 3-D coverage will be available each day beginning April 7 and continuing through April 11. Comcast will carry the 3D broadcast, and you'll need a 3D TV and glasses to see the effects. It is the first time a golf telecast has been shown in 3-D and will include multiple 3-D cameras placed strategically throughout the course, according to a club announcement.

Samsung and Panasonic just rolled out their $3,000 3D TVs into retailers last week, so we don't expect too many people to enjoy the 3D action from their living rooms. Even if big sporting events in 3D convince consumers or bar owners to pick up a few TVs, we still think 3D TV is dead on arrival.

For the full press release, click here.

Panasonic opens Full HD 3D Theatre at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games

World invited to experience highlights of the Olympics in full HD 3D at Panasonic's Olympic Pavilion

Panasonic Corporation, the Official Worldwide Olympic Partner in the Audio and Visual Equipment category for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, opened the doors of its Olympic Pavilion "Panasonic FULL HD 3D THEATRE" featuring two 103-inch full HD 3D theatres at LiveCity Yaletown, official celebration site of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

Panasonic's Full HD 3D Theatre at the 2010 Winter Games offers the public the first opportunity to experience a new era of immersive visual entertainment that will soon be available for consumers to enjoy at home. It is a 3D experience that easily rivals the best that can be seen in cinemas.

With Panasonic's frame sequential technology, images are alternately reproduced at 60 frames per second for each eye for a total of 120 frames per second. These images are viewed alternately through high-precision 3D eyewear with shutters driven in synchronization with the video. As a result, each eye views a separate 1920 x 1080 full-HD image for beautiful, clear 3D images with no degradation in quality.

Highlight videos of 2010 Winter Games screened in the full HD 3D theatre are sourced from the International Olympic Committee.

Paul Liao, CTO, Panasonic, to introduce HomeGrid Forum Initiative in CONNECTIONS™ Keynote

New initiative promotes unified standard for networked multimedia products in the home...

Parks Associates and CEA® announced Paul Liao, CTO, Panasonic North America, will provide the Closing Keynote on June 25, 2008, at CONNECTIONS™ in Santa Clara, where he will discuss the new HomeGrid Forum initiative.

In his presentation “Uniting the Industry to Accelerate Home Network Adoption,” 5:00 p.m. on June 25, Mr. Liao will discuss the efforts of the HomeGrid Forum, which aims to promote a single, worldwide standard for networking digital content over coax, phone, and power lines in the home. Mr. Liao will outline the benefits of the initiative in driving worldwide adoption of networked multimedia products and specify the steps necessary for the industry in reaching a mass market.

HomeGrid Forum has 11 founding members. Infineon, Intel, Panasonic, and Texas Instruments are on the board of directors. Aware Inc., DS2, Gigle Semiconductor, and Pulse~LINK are Promoters. Ikanos Communications, Inc., Sigma Designs, and Westell are Contributors.

Info about HomeGrid Forum can be found at http://www.homegridforum.org/

Paul Liao Accepts Keynote Invitation from CONNECTIONS 2008

Parks Associates and CEA welcome Mr. Paul Liao as a keynote speaker at the June 24th-26th CONNECTIONS event.

Mr. Liao represents Panasonic North America as the Chief Technology Officer. He will address the entire conference on Wednesday, June 25th as the closing keynote speaker.

Home Networks Heating Up

Today, the HomePlug Alliance announced that a joint proposal from the Alliance and Panasonic is the sole MAC/PHY proposal remaining in the IEEE P1901 work group process for creating an international standard for in-home and access powerline communication technologies. This is significant, because Panasonic was pursuing its own proprietary powerline solution (HD-PLC) after its submission to HomePlug for the HomePlug AV specification was not selected. For awhile, we had three competing solutions - HomePlug, Panasonic, and the solutions from Spanish chip developer Design of Systems of Silicon S.A. (DS2).

Although DS2's underlying technology was not selected by the IEEE P1901 work group, the company isn't sitting still. It indicates that it will have a 400 Mbps solution out soon. And, DS2 has an impressive list of European service providers that it says are taking a look at its solution. Europe may be where this market is won or lost. Given the strong emphasis on solutions such as bridges for IPTV and multi-service residential gateways, Europe is likely to be the leading market for powerline solutions. We're waiting to see which service providers and CPE vendors are willing to go public with their support for either the HomePlug or the DS2 solution. One suspects that many are waiting for a standards resolution in the IEEE before making a public affirmation of either technology.

In the meantime, both Entropic/MoCA and CopperGate/HomePNA were quite visible at last week's TelcoTV conference. CopperGate has announced 2 million HomePNA 3.1 chipsets shipped, and indications are that it is receiving favorable attention from the smaller telco community. As in the case of the powerline solutions, we're evaluating based on real deployments. So far, Verizon with MoCA is the only public deployment of which we're aware to date.

~Kurt Scherf, Vice President, Principal Analyst, Parks Associates