Panasonic Wins Big with Two Awards from Popular Science

Panasonic certainly has something to brag about today. Two of their products, the TC-P54Z1 VIERA Plasma HDTV and the LUMIX GF1 digital camera, were just named "The Best of What's New" in the Home Entertainment and Gadgets categories by Popular Science magazine.

The winner in the Home Entertainment category is the Panasonic TC-P54Z1 VIERA Plasma. Sporting an ultra-thin 1-inch profile, this Plasma can be placed in areas you never would have considered before! And, it uses wireless technology with a maximum transmission rate of approximately 4Gbs, allowing full-HD uncompressed video and audio signals to be transmitted up to 30 feet from the TV. Also, the remote is RF, so the external box that houses all the electronics and connections can be placed out of sight.

The TC-P54Z1 has Panasonic's VIERA CAST technology for internet content such as Amazon VOD and You Tube, and includes 600Hz Sub-field drive that produces full 1080 lines of motion resolution. Also, the TC-P54Z1 is one of the few HD displays with THX certification, an audio and video standard set by THX Ltd.

Get more information on the Panasonic TC-P54Z1 VIERA Plasma here.

The award winner in the Gadgets category is the Panasonic LUMIX GF1. The GF1 is the world's smallest and lightest digital camera with built-in flash (as as of September 2, 2009), and packs in DSLR-like features and HD video capability. The GF1 features the interchangeable lens system based on the Micro Four Thirds system standard, for a much smaller camera body and lenses. In fact, the LUMIX GF1 is Panasonic's most compact LUMIX G Series digital camera.

Features include the new My Color mode with seven preset effects – Expressive, Retro, Pure, Elegant, Monochrome, Dynamic Art, Silhouette and Custom – all of which let you manually set the color, brightness and saturation levels. You can also see how the settings look before you shoot with the Live View function. The camera has nine Film modes, and you can set the contrast, sharpness and saturation levels for each one. A custom function lets you store your favorite settings in memory. Also, the exposure meter can be displayed in other shooting modes and the correlation between shutter speed and aperture is shown, with a color-coded warning that alerts you when the settings are not correct.

Get more information on the LUMIX GF1 here.

"For 22 years, Popular Science has honored the innovations that surprise and amaze us − those that make a positive impact on our world today and challenge our views of what's possible in the future." said Mark Jannot, Editor-in-Chief of Popular Science. "The Best of What's New Award is the magazine's top honor, and the 100 winners − chosen from among thousands of entrants − represent the highest level of achievement in their fields."