PANASONIC REVEALS WORLD’S* FIRST HIGH BRIGHTNESS COMPACT LCD PROJECTOR WITH HDBaseT™ TECHNOLOGY

Las Vegas, NV, June 13 2012 – Panasonic, a provider of professional projector solutions, today announced its new PT-VW431DU, high brightness, 4,300 lumen, WXGA resolution compact body projector. Through Panasonic’s new Digital Link technology, the device helps simplify projector installation, wiring and ongoing maintenance by sending audio, video (including uncompressed HD video), Internet, controls and power over a single Cat5e/6 LAN cable. For customers in corporate and education markets, where the number of installed projectors are high, the efficiency and reduced cabling costs can be significant.

Panasonic Digital Link

Based on Valens HDBaseT™ technology, Panasonic’s Digital Link is embedded in the PT-VW431DU, allowing a single cable to transmit uncompressed videos signals, audio, and control commands up to 100m (328ft). The need for an external receiver is eliminated when the PT-VW431DU is used together with Panasonic’s new ET-YFB100 switcher box or other switchers with HDBaseT™ chipset.

Panasonic has partnered with industry-leading manufacturers of HDBaseTä solutions including Crestron, Extron, and AMX, to insure the interoperability of PT-VW431DU with Crestron’s DigitalMedia 8G+™ compatible switchers, Extron’s XTP Systems and AMX’s Enova DVX and DGX Digital Media Switchers.

“The Panasonic projectors team strives to improve our end-user’ AV experience by helping eliminate common installation challenges they face,” said Scott Wellington, Sr. Product Marketing Manager, Panasonic. “With rapid adoption of HDBaseT embedded products within a variety of markets, we saw a need to support this technology with our projectors. By providing our first projector launch with Digital Link compatibility, we are in a great position to lead the market into a new era of simple yet dependable connectivity.”

“The adoption of HDBaseT technology by industry leaders such as Panasonic confirms and assesses HDBaseT’s status as the de facto standard of digital connectivity industry,” said Dror Jerushalmi, CEO and co-founder, Valens Semiconductor. “Device adoption in the professional AV space marks a significant step in HDBaseT’s migration to the consumer electronics market.”

Excellent Image Quality in Varied Lighting Conditions

The PT-VW431DU offers high brightness of 4,300 lumens and a high contrast ratio of 3,500:1. In addition, the device ensures high image quality even in bright environments, thanks to Panasonic’s Daylight View Basic technology which uses a built-in sensor to detect and measures the amount of ambient light, adjusting the image according to light condition.

Eased Installations and Reduced Maintenance To ease permanent and temporary installation challenges, the PT-VW431DU features a vertical lens shift function, which moves the image position +48% vertically without distorting the image. The device also offers a 1.6x manual zoom lens, allowing a wide range of projections, from 2.5m (8.2ft) to 4.1m (13.5ft) to project a 100” diagonal image. To reduce maintenance costs, the projector is equipped with a pleated micro cut filter, which delivers of up to 4,000 hours of service.

Other useful features include HDMI input terminal, easy remote monitoring and control over a LAN, Extron’s GlobalViewer® and Crestron’s Connected capability which lead the way to cloud-based connectivity, direct power off, and built-in 10W speaker for effective presentations.

The PT-VW431DU and ET-YBF100 are planned to begin shipping in October 2012.

For more information on Panasonic’s professional projector solutions go to: http://panasonic.net/avc/projector/