Panasonic Uk Talks Zt60, Vt60, Gt60 & St60 2013 Plasma Range

>> DAVID: We're here with Fabrice Estornel, he's the head of TV at Panasonic UK, at the Panasonic Convention 2013 in Nice. Fabrice, would you be able to take us through the 2013 lineup and tell us what's new and improved? >> FABRICE: If we start with Plasma, we have a wider range. The new addition to the range is the ZT, the top end model, limited edition, available in 60". So, it's a new panel that we use on this product. There's no more air between the panel and the filter, so it gives us less reflections, better black level, better colour accuracy. That's the top end. For the rest of the range, we've made some improvement to VT and GT - same screen sizes available. We improved the brightness, the black level, but they still use a more traditional NeoPlasma panel. And the rest of the range: ST, goes up to 55", and there's still an HD Ready entry level model. For LED, lots more new products, a wider range. We've got some entry level models with direct LED or edge LED. After that, we move on up the range. All of the rest are Smart, so we have the brand new My Home Screen, which is the new smart interface, which is on the Plasmas as well. It starts on Plasma from the ST (series), and on LCD from the E (series). We have new screen sizes as well, 39", 50" on LED, and we've got a stronger lineup on the top end, with DT and WT, where we have, on top of My Home Screen, we have a built in camera on the WT, which we find on the VT plasma as well. And, we've got Twin Tuners on the DT and WT LCDs, and on the VT and ZT on the Plasmas. With Twin Tuners, you can watch two things at once, record one, record two, or watch one channel and send another one to a mobile device. So, a lot of new things, I can't even tell everything in one sentence, it's so much. >> DAVID: With our readers being enthusiasts, they'll be sitting behind their desks saying, "we want to hear about the ZT60!" The first question we always have from them is, when and how much? >> FABRICE: So, we're looking at launch in May (May this year!), and in terms of pricing, an RRP of about £4000 pounds. It's coming fairly quickly, top end LEDs are coming at the same time, and VT at the same time as well. All the top end will be coming in late April and early May. Some processes are almost hand-made (on the ZT60), so there's a strict selection of the panel. So it takes more time, and therefore we can't produce as much as we can do on more traditional plasma panels. We say "limited availability", but we'll have some, and in terms of distribution, we want to make sure the product is demoed, so you'll find this product in retailers that can demonstrate it and show all the benefits. So, limited yes, but if you want one, you should be able to find one, so it's not TOO limited, but less than you can find for VT, for example. >> DAVID: We've also seen here at the show, there's even a demo with the new ZT behind a Pioneer KURO display (KRP-600A). >> FABRICE: Oh, you've seen that? >> DAVID: "Them's fightin' words", to be blunt, I mean, it certainly demonstrates confidence in the product. The better black levels, how (are they) being achieved? Is it improvements to the filter, to the drive? >> FABRICE: It's part of everything, definitely the filter, the new way of putting the filter on the panel did improve that, the fact that there's less reflection as well. The drivers have been improved. So, it's the whole package. That's why we put this product slightly apart from the rest of the range, because it's a limited edition. Inside the TV you'll have a leaflet, signed by the engineer, and the brief for this product was to do something special - different from what we have already on the VT. To be fair to our engineers, I think they achieved that. >> DAVID: The high end plasmas last year were very well received by HDTVtest. The one criticism we had relating to the calibration modes, the Professional modes, there were all these picture setup controls, but if you wanted to use them on the GT and VT, you had to accept a slightly dimmer picture and slightly raised black level. Is that going to be improved this year? >> FABRICE: The true answer to that is, I don't know yet - I haven't tested the products. What is sure is that we gave the comments to the factory, so they are aware of your findings. So, let's see. When you have the opportunity to test the products, hopefully you'll find that's addressed. >> DAVID: The ZT60 features 3000hz Focused Field Drive, is that correct? How is that number reached? I understand there's a bit of marketing in there maybe? >> FABRICE: Well, it's always tricky because we use hertz, but it's the way the panel technology works. What is sure is that it's an improvement compared to what we had before. There's always a bit of marketing involved in that. But in terms of motion processing, it's an improvement compared to the previous year, and that's what's important. The figures are the figures. Hopefully when you test the products, you'll see an improvement on that point. >> DAVID: So, in Europe, this is different to CES (in the USA), there we had an ST, which appeared to be plainer styled compared to what's here - and no GT. But in Europe we have an ST and a GT? >> FABRICE: You can't necessarily compare them, because it's not straightfoward. Even an ST in the US is not an ST in Europe - actually what they call ST in the US is closer to a GT, but with ST design. So, it's difficult to make some comparison - I know it's tempting - but it's difficult. The GT's been very successful in Europe and in the UK, so it was natural for us to replace it. We think there's a place for it in the market, so we kept the same screen sizes. We made some improvement on the panel in terms of black level and brightness, so it should be an improvement compared to the GT50. But it's a different range, but as you've seen, there were differences on the ZT, so it's difficult to make a straight comparison (between US and Europe), so even the same denomination can be a different product. >> DAVID: Sure. One thing... 3D. We don't hear much... certainly, Smart TV seems to have taken the focus away from 3D. Given that 3D hasn't been a complete runaway success (at least not yet), is that still being developed? Can we expect improvements in 3D picture quality on the new plasmas and LCDs, or is that going to be much the same as previous years? >> FABRICE: No no, we do. We keep improving 3D - 3D is here to stay. It's successful in terms of sales, the majority of TVs, certainly from a certain price point, are all 3D enabled. So, we're still developing 3D. 70% of our range this year is 3D, we made some improvement. The only difference is that all of our LEDs use passive technology, and all of our plasmas use active technology - which is good, because it gives us a bit of both. No, we still develop 3D - there's still a space on the market for 3D. It's true that the focus now moved to Smart, but you could almost see 3D as part of the Smart feature, and all (bar one range) Smart TVs will have 3D. Both go well together. >> DAVID: I'm going to ask you about the future of Plasma in general. We've been reading rumours, "R&D is stopping", "plasma's dead", this seems to come back every couple of years. >> FABRICE: I don't know how many times I've heard that, yes! >> DAVID: Do you have anything to clarify? >> FABRICE: Well, yeah, first, the range we have today is a statement of our attitude towards Plasma. We've never had such a wide range of Plasmas in the UK. We see that with the ZT that we can continue to push the technology, so we haven't stopped the R&D, as you can see. We just had to reshuffle R&D resources, but we still have people working on plasma, but now we've got people working on LED, working on OLED, so it's just a way to re-organise. We're still committed to plasma. I think we'll be selling plasma as long as we can, and we still really believe in the technology. I think that the technology still has more to offer, so for us it's very clear. We will continue to sell plasma. I've heard a lot of things, "OLED will replace plasma" - I mean, when OLED becomes mass market, it will replace everything anyway! It won't replace only plasma, even LED will go. So, there's nothing wrong with plasma, it's still alive and kicking, and we will continue to develop the technology. >> DAVID: That segways neatly into what I was going to ask you. The 4K OLED is here - I don't know if it's the same one that was at CES, I can't imagine there are many prototypes. >> FABRICE: Yes, it's the same one. >> DAVID: Are there any plans... Ultra HD, 4K, OLED... is there anything in the pipeline? >> FABRICE: Nothing that we can confirm now, but yeah, obviously the OLED 4K is a statement of intent from us. The product will come. We can't tell you when exactly now, but definitely that will come. And 4K, we're not showing 4K LED here, but watch this space. That'll happen. We're committed to new technology. We're a manufacturer that's very complete, we have the widest range of plasma on the market, one of the widest range of LEDs on the market, and we're developing OLED. As far as we're concerned, the future looks bright - where the market will go, we'll be there. >> DAVID: Fabrice, thanks very much for your time. >> FABRICE: Thank you.