Panasonic Unveils Prototype 42-Inch 1080p HD Plasma At 2007 CES

January 12, 2007

Panasonic, the leading brand for which Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. is known, announced today it has developed a prototype 42-inch Plasma Display Panel (PDP) with 1080p (progressive) HDTV resolution. The 42-inch 1080p HD Plasma can deliver more than two million pixels (1,920 x 1,080), more than twice the pixel count of a 42-inch HD PDP (1,024 x 768). Panasonic will reveal the prototype at its booth at the 2007 International CES, Las Vegas from January 8 to 11. Since a Plasma Display Panel is a self-illuminating device, it offers superior characteristics such as dynamic contrast, high moving-picture resolution and wide viewing angles. These characteristics make it an ideal device for large screen TVs. As pixels get smaller, the area they illuminate also becomes smaller. For this reason, the technical challenges in securing brightness and stable discharge made it difficult to obtain 1080p resolution in 42-inch PDPs. Panasonic has overcome these technical hurdles. By developing a new rib and phosphor materials, Panasonic succeeded in producing smaller ribs. In addition, by improving the aperture ratio, Panasonic succeeded in realizing a 42-inch 1080p HD Plasma with both the high density of two million pixels and the same high brightness as the current 42-inch Panasonic HD model, TH- 42PX600. The prototype also incorporates the 1080p HD high-speed pixel drive Panasonic developed for its 1080p HD plasma TVs to ensure stable light emission from all the pixels. These technologies have enabled Panasonic to offer Plasmas in the popular 42-inch size without compromising the high- quality images that only Plasma can deliver. Masaaki Fujita, Senior Vice President, Panasonic AVC Networks Company, said, "As High Definition is going to become the norm for broadcasting and next-generation video recorders such as those based on the Blu-ray Disc standard, the screen size and resolution of the flat-panel TVs are getting higher at an accelerated rate. In the living room, the most popular screen size is now 40-inches and above. To realize true 'high definition,' there are many critical factors other than pixel count. They include high moving-picture resolution that can clearly reproduce fast moving images like sports scenes and the ability to deliver superb color reproduction and contrast that are consistent when viewed from any angle." With the development of the 1080p HD Plasma in the popular 42-inch screen size, Panasonic will accelerate its efforts to further enhance its high- resolution and high-quality picture technologies and continue to offer enhanced value to customers. When this becomes available as a product, Panasonic's 1080p HD Plasma line-up will be completed from 42-inch to 103- inch. About Panasonic Based in Secaucus, N.J., Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company is a Division of Panasonic Corporation of North America, the principal North American subsidiary of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (NYSE: MC) and the hub of Panasonic's U.S. marketing, sales, service and R&D operations. Information about Panasonic products is available at http://www.panasonic.com/.

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