Panasonic Touch the Future Tour
By Jonathan Weichsel

With the 3D television sets, 3D video games, and internet enabled TV, I really felt like I was peering into the future at the Panasonic Touch the Future Tour at the Hollywood and Highland Center.

Of course, the highlight of the tour was the first ever consumer 3D TV set, the VIERA VT25 Full HD 3D Plasma TV. The image quality of this television is crisp and clear, with some of the best contrast I have ever seen in a TV set. But of course it was the television set's 3D feature that really got everybody in the room excited. Once you put on a pair of these 3D glasses, you won't want to take them off. The glasses are battery powered and use a shutter system, as opposed to the polarized glasses they give you at the movie theater. Each lens has a shutter that opens and closes rapidly, alternately darkening over one eye and then the other creating the 3D effect. This system creates a much richer 3D experience than what you get at the movies. There is none of that annoying 'ghosting' effect that you get in the theater, where rapidly moving images seem to flicker and leave trails. The objects that are standing out all look more solid than they do in the theater, and you don't get the kinds of distorted shapes you often do at the movies. The end result is a more realistic, more satisfying, and more immersive 3D experience than what you get at the theaters.

The first HD 3D channels are set to debut in June, and the Panasonic 3D Blu-ray Disc Player is out now, so people who buy 3D TV's now won't have to worry about there being content to watch. The new 3D channels are set to show sports, movies and entertainment, and documentaries, all in 3D.

If video games are your thing, you might want to check out a device I played with for a bit on the showroom floor called NVIDIA 3DTV Play. This device will let you play any PC game on your television, converted into 3D. Just use the device to hook your laptop up to your television set, and your PC game gets converted into 3D instantly.

One of the most exciting features of the new Panasonic line of televisions is that they are no longer merely televisions. In many ways they are also computers. These new TV's are VIERA CAST enabled, which means that as well as being TV's, they are also communication devices. For example, you will be able to stream movies from Netflix and Amazon straight to your TV without needing any kind of extra appliance. You will also be able to watch you tube videos on your TV, get updated stock listings, and check the weather. You will also be able to Twitter through your TV, and create your own web photo albums.

As yet another added bonus, select Panasonic 2010 VIERA HDTVs will be Skype enabled. In case you don't know, Skype is a kind of internet telephone service that lets you call other computers or telephones from your computer. People who purchase a Skype enabled TV will be able to place free Skype-to-Skype voice and video calls, make calls to landlines or mobile phones at Skype's low rates, receive inbound calls via a user's online Skype number, access Skype voicemail, and participate in voice conference calls with up to 24 other parties.

The VIERA VT25 Full HD 3D Plasma TV will keep the kids occupied, provide a lot of useful grown-up services, and serve as an excuse to invite a bunch of friends over to watch a movie or sporting event.

You can find The VIERA VT25 Full HD 3D Plasma TV and Panasonic 3D Blu-ray Disc Player at a Best Buy near you.

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