Panasonic Intros 9 VIERA Flat Panel TVs

Panasonic, the leading brand by which Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. is known, today unveiled its new line of VIERA series digital high-definition flat panel TVs. The line includes three plasma and six LCD TVs ranging from 19 to 50 inches in screen size. Panasonic will meet rapidly growing market demand and more diversified consumer needs with these products. The new models will be available in Japan on May 1, 2005.

Mr. Shunzo Ushimaru, Director, Corporate Marketing Division for Panasonic Brand in Japan, said, "We have addressed challenges associated with plasma and LCD TVs. Our new plasma TVs use much less power to bring the movie theater experience in living rooms and our LCD TVs display crisper fast-moving images by significantly reducing the 'trailing effect.' We were able to achieve these improvements thanks to our own 'black box' technologies and integrated production including such core components as image processing chips and display panels." "Plasma TV demand in Japan is expected to almost triple over the next two years. Plasma TV shipments in Japan reached an estimated 350,000 units by the end of March 2005. They are expected to grow to 600,000 units by the end of March 2006 and one million units by the end of March 2007. Over the same period, LCD TV shipments are anticipated to double from 2.7 million units by the end of March 2005 to 5.5 million units by the end of March 2007. We believe plasma TVs are best in the category of 37-inch and larger screens especially for true cinematic experiences while the LCD TVs fit for 32-inch and smaller screens," said Mr. Ushimaru.

The VIERA TH-50PX500, TH-42PX500 and TH-37PX500 plasma TVs all feature Panasonic's latest PEAKS (Picture Enhancement Accelerator with Kinetic System) technology incorporating a new plasma panel, deep black filter and real black drive system. The deep black filter attached to the front protection glass reduces light transmittance, effectively suppressing external glare and reflection. The real black drive system has realized a high contrast ratio of 3,000:1 in the dark environment, creating deeper and richer blacks.

The new plasma TVs provide superb picture quality for the home theater entertainment in living rooms, where a typical luminance level is about 150 lux. Panasonic's proprietary technologies also save annual power consumption by up to 35 percent compared with the predecessors, PX300 series.

The TH-32LX500 and TH-26LX500 LCD TVs offer quick motion picture response and high contrast images that remain consistent at all viewing angles. The new PEAKS processor features a clear focus driver that reduces the image persistence to 7.8 msec, an improvement of 50 percent over the previous models. The advanced LCD AI technology makes bright scenes sharper and black scenes darker by automatically detecting the input signal brightness level and adjusting the backlight in real-time. The IPS (In Plane Switching) panel allows a bright and uniform picture over wide 176-degree horizontal and vertical viewing angles. With these LCD TVs, high-speed car maneuvering by the Panasonic Toyota Racing team at the Formula One Grand Prix can be seen clearly and vividly from any seat of the living room.

The VIERA PX500 and LX500 series have an SD Memory Card slot allowing MPEG4 recording onto an SD Memory Card while digital double tuners allow simultaneous recording and viewing of two different programs. The series has intelligent TV program guides, a universal design based easy-to-use remote controller, digital photo playback for viewing still photos, an HDMI terminal and an RGB signal input terminal for direct connection of the display to a personal computer.

The VIERA LX50 LCD TVs, available in 32, 26, 23 and 19 inches, lead the industry in energy efficiency and include a high quality video signal processing circuit to provide sharp images with high contrast. The 32 and 26-inch models feature an IPS panel. All the LX50 models are equipped with an SD Memory Card slot allowing access to digital still photos stored on SD Memory Cards.

All the nine new models receive the three types of digital broadcasting services on air in Japan, Broadcast Satellite (BS), 110-degree Communications Satellite (CS110) and terrestrial broadcasting, in addition to analog terrestrial broadcast that should cease by 2011.

"Our products are not only user-friendly but also easy on the environment. Panasonic plasma panels and LCD backlights have a long life of 60,000 hours and all the models incorporate various functions to save energy. We continue to take great care and pride in providing products that benefit consumers and the global environment," added Mr. Ushimaru

About Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., best known for its Panasonic brand name, is a worldwide leader in the development and manufacture of electronic products for a wide range of consumer, business, and industrial needs. Based in Osaka, Japan, the company recorded consolidated sales of US$71.92 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2004. Matsushita's shares are listed on the Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, New York, Euronext Amsterdam and Frankfurt stock exchanges.