At a posh hotel in downtown Toronto on September 8, Panasonic Canada Inc. kicked off a four-city tour promoting its 3D products. The 3D Product Showcase included a new value series of 3D-capable plasma TVs and new 3D eyewear, plus two 3D camcorders.

"Broadcasters have always tried to bring you closer to the live event," commented Barry Murray, Director of Marketing for Panasonic Canada's A/V Group. "We believe pictures with the third dimension will allow this to happen more than ever in the past." Murray said Panasonic expects that 3D models will account for 10% of its TV sales in 2010, growing to 70% within three years.

The new GT series of 3D plasmas includes the 42-inch TC-P42GT25 at $2,000 MSRP and the 50-inch TC-P50GT25 at $2,500. These offer the 3D capability of the pricier VT25 series, which continue in the line, and employ the same fast phosphors as the more expensive models. The newly developed phosphors have lower persistence than the ones Panasonic uses in its 2D-only models, including the G series.

That's very important for 3D, noted Bill Schindler, VP of Electrical Engineering for Panasonic Corporation of America, because it's vital that the screen contain no vestige of a left-eye image when it's showing a right-eye image. If that happens, one eye will be seeing aspects of an image intended for the other, resulting in blurring and other visual artifacts.

The showcase included a convincing presentation by Schindler on the advantages of the company's plasma technology over LCD. The presentation included a fairly controlled comparison between Panasonic's 3D plasma and a 3D LED-edgelit LCD from an unnamed competitor (the set's identity, however could be determined by its menus and sounds). A pixel on Panasonic's 3D plasma can burn on and off in about a millionth of a second, Schindler said, compared to about a thousandth of a second for LCD.

Despite the LCD employing 240Hz processing, crosstalk between the left- and right-eye images was visible as artifacts such as halos around some objects. This was not visible on the Panasonic 3D plasmas, thanks to their fast processing and phosphors. This could conceivably lead to viewer fatigue, Schindler speculated.

Schindler also pointed to advantages of the new TVs for 2D viewing. A test pattern for determining resolution of moving objects was clearer on the Panasonic 3D plasma than on the competing 3D LED. The Panasonic 3D plasmas also showed better motion resolution than a Panasonic G-series 2D-only plasma, though the difference was much smaller.

Schindler used other test patterns and footage to show the plasma sets' advantages over the LED model in viewing angle and in contrast ratio (the plasmas had deeper blacks and more brilliant whites).

Besides the necessity of glasses, the other big question about 3D TV is content. This question has arisen with every new format, Murray noted, from VHS to DVD to HDTV to Blu-ray. But Murray said we'll see new marquee Blu-ray 3D titles this year, including Avatar, which will be out in time for Christmas.

At the 3D showcase, Panasonic also showed a professional 3D camcorder. The AG-3DA1 twin-lens full HD camcorder, which just began shipping, records separate full HD images for the left and right eyes onto two SD cards, which are linked by a time code. Users can edit footage for one eye, and the footage for the other will automatically conform to the edits.

Terry Horbatiuk, National Sales Manager for Panasonic Canada's Professional Imaging Division, told attendees of a Saskatchewan producer who had originally planned to shoot one episode of a 13-epiosde series in 3D. After using the AG-3DA1, he opted to record the whole series in 3D. Horbatiuk says he expects that the bulk of Panasonic Canada's shipments of the $22,000 cam will go to rental houses, who will rent it to pros at about $1,000 a week.

Terry Horbatiuk, National Sales Manager for Panasonic Canada's Professional Imaging Division

In October, Panasonic will begin shipping its first 3D camcorder, the HDC-SDT750. The $1,600 camcorder ships with a 3D conversion lens, which users thread into the fixed 12x Leica zoom lens. Zooming is not available in 3D mode. In 3D, the camera captures separate 960x540-pixel images for the left and right eyes. During playback, these are expanded into 1080x960 pixels, and shown in side-by-side format on a 3D TV. To watch their 3D creations, viewers set their TV into side-by-side mode, and put on matching glasses.

At the showcase, Sean Clayford, Product Manager in Panasonic Canada's Imaging Division, showed 3D footage he captured of his daughter and Australian shepherd in his backyard. The 3D effect was compelling and commendably natural, and the colours were glorious.

Sean Clayford, Imaging Product Manager, Panasonic Canada Inc., holds his company's new HDC-SDT750 3D consumer camcorder.

Article Tags:  Panasonic, Viera, plasma, camcorder, 3D, VT25, GT25, AG-3DA1, Bill Schindler, Barry Murray, Sean Clayford, Terry Horbatiuk, HDC-SDT750