As you can see from our own Jon Snyder's super snaps (more below), Panasonic's new Z1 Viera is quite the supermodel, and just as deep. The plasma TV, announced today at CES 2009, is just 1 inch thin and can sit happily on either wall or stand.
Because it's so skinny, you don't want a rat's nest of cables cluttering things up. Panasonic fixes this by using wireless HD streaming -- the set top box hooks up to the cables and then you hide the thing at the back of the room, from where it beams a (presumably proprietary) HD signal to the TV set.
The Viera also gets Vieracast, a fancy name for a walled garden of
Internet services. Panasonic takes video from the internet, puts it on its own server and then sends it on out to the Vieras. You know, like
AOL for TV. We suppose that it should mean you'll get an easy, streamlined UI slipped over the 'net, but why not put in a web browser?
Finally, there is a Viera Link, an extra layer on top of HDMI which allows compatible peripherals (Blu-ray players, perhaps) to send signals to the TV, which will then change to the correct channel.
Again, Panasonic, you're late to the game. My parents' VCR has done the same thing for years.
Photos: Jon Snyder/Wired
