Panasonic CES 2009 Blu-ray / HTIB lineup eyes-on

We were able to spot a few of Panasonic's latest innovations in the home theater space back at CES 2009, but we got a much more intimate look at things during a recent New York showcase. The new Blu-ray decks look nice, if not a touch plain. Not that everyone wants an Alienware-esque BD deck or anything, but we digress. The Blu-ray HTIB systems were particularly of interest, as these things are perfect for sneaking BD into homes that are currently DVD-only, and while we longed for more information on the portable DMP-B15, the on-hand reps didn't seem too anxious to gush over technical specifications with us. Their loss, totally.

Panasonic SC-PT1050 DVD Home Theater System

Boasting the only wireless subwoofer in this category, Panasonic's five-disc system removes one more cable from the equation. Setting it all up took some deft button pushing, but the 2.4-GHz RF transmitter connected immediately and without interference, sounding as snappy as the hardwired speakers up front.

WIRED: Midrange and highs are respectable at low and moderate volume. Swank setup: Microphone (included) measures sound levels and adjusts each speaker accordingly.

TIRED: Cheap-looking DVD player/control unit betrays flimsy overall construction. Flabby subwoofer performance. Upping the volume quickly exposes other flaws — were those drums or garbage-can lids?

CES 2009 Home Audio Wrap-UP

With its unique design, built-in BD-Live Blu-ray player, Netflix onboard, and Wi-Fi compatibility, the Samsung HT-BD7200 encapsulated cutting-edge home theater this year.

Wireless speakers.

Panasonic showcased the SC-ZT1, a unique "4.4" speaker system with wireless speakers (except for that pesky power cord, of course). But the bigger trend was wireless subwoofers: Samsung, Philips, and Polk Audio (among others) all showed surround systems with wireless subs, enabling more flexibility when placing them in the room.

Network audio.

Whether it was more affordable tabletop Internet radios from the likes of Sanyo and Acoustic Research or impressive streaming audio systems from Linksys or Philips, network audio was on the rise in 2009. If you don't want a dedicated network audio product, that's OK; products like Samsung's Blu-ray home theater systems have Pandora streaming built-in, obviating the need for other hardware. And the pre-CES announcement that Apple's iTunes Store is going DRM-free means that all major music download purchases are now basically free of copy protection, making streaming between multiple devices easier than ever.

iPod- and iPhone-ready.

Compatibility for Apple's iPod is essentially ubiquitous, but manufacturers are offering some incremental improvements. LG and Panasonic are including slide-out iPod docks (rather than add-on cabled cradles) on many of their home theater systems, while Pioneer's A/V receivers offer improved on-TV screen navigation for attached iPods and iPhones.

Blu-ray compatibility.

Samsung and Panasonic offered the first home theater systems with built-in Blu-ray players in 2008, but they were expensive systems that were full of compromises (namely, the older Blu-ray spec). The picture is much improved for 2009: systems from JVC, Panasonic, LG, and Samsung are all Profile 2.0 (BD-Live) compliant, and many offer additional content from the Internet (Netflix and Pandora on Samsung; Netflix, YouTube, and CinemaNow on LG; Amazon and YouTube on Panasonic). Samsung upped the ante with Wi-Fi options available via an add-on dongle.

Single-speaker audio and virtual surround.

Another trend that's showing no sign of abating in 2009 is single-speaker and virtual surround systems. Polk Audio, Samsung, Philips, Panasonic, LG, and Sharp were among the manufacturers showing either speakerbars, 2.1, or other configurations that aim to deliver a 5.1- or 7.1-channel experience from one, two, or four speakers. A related trend: More audio systems are being touted as wall-mountable, presumably to sit underneath a wall-mounted flat-panel TV.

Panasonic SC-ZT1 Full Wireless Theatre System

Panasonic has unveiled its new Wireless Home Theater System, the SC-ZT1, which is specially designed to do away with the trouble of speaker cables. The system sends uncompressed audio data over a wireless 2.4-GHz frequency band to ensure high-quality sound.

The SC-ZT1 will give you a lifelike virtual Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD 7.1 channel surround sound from its four ultra slim antenna looking speakers, which come with an integrated subwoofer for generating sounds from the low-frequency range. You can purchase the Panasonic SC-ZT1 when it is released in Spring 2009.

Panasonic XR55 7.1 Digital Receiver

7.1 Channel Surround Sound or Stereo / 100 Watts per channel in either mode / Dolby Digital EX / DTS ES / Dolby Pro Logic II / BLACK

# Panasonic SA-XR55K Home-theater Receiver for A/V Surround Sound - If you use a DVD player on your TV or plan to Upgrade to HDTV soon, having multichannel surround sound is extremely important to complete the truest home-theater experience. Though HDTV offers a 5.1 channel surround mode, this receiver can deliver76.1 Channels for new DVD output. So you've got the choice of your surround mode. This receiver also has a Stereo mode for your Audio recordings. Let's call this a receiver for all seasons! 100 Watts per channel in surround or stereo modes.

# Port for adding a powered Subwoofer.

# Digitally-tuned AM/FM Tuner with up to 30 User Programmable station Memory presets.

# Convenient terminals for connecting surround sound speakers (speakers not included).

# Jack for listening in privacy with Optional Headphones.

# Rear Audio Inputs - RCA: 4, Coaxial: 1, Optical: 2.

# Rear Video Inputs - Composite: 3, S-Video: 3, Component: 2# Selectable DSP modes.

# Port for adding external FM antenna.

# Slim Design - 2.9" H x 16.9" W x 14.7" D.

# Weighs 8.8 Pounds.

# Includes Remote Control.

Panasonic SC-HT680 5-Disc DVD Home Theater System

Bring amazingly clear surround sound to your home at an affordable price with the Panasonic SC-HT680 Home Theater System, which features 390 watts of total power output (600 watts peak) and a 5-disc progressive scan DVD player/changer with integrated reciever. It includes two tower front speakers with height-adjustable stands, two satellite surround speakers, one center channel speaker, and one passive subwoofer (which lacks a built-in amplifier) with sound level control.The 5-disc DVD player/changer is compatible with a wide range of disc formats, including DVD-Audio, DVD-RAM, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, and CD-R/RW, as well as HighMAT, JPEG, MP3 and WMA file formats. You find more info and reviews on this Panasonic DVD Home Theater System here. Big thumbs up

Free Style

Freestyle Audio has made one super tough MP3 player that’s built to handle just about any extreme activities you can dish out. They show examples of using it while surfing, swimming and they have a video below showing it being dropped off of a 3rd story building onto concrete (they drop and iPod nano as well). The results of the video shows the Freestyle MP3 player turn on, but it really doesn’t say if it still plays music. Either way the fact that it didn’t break apart and still powered up is impressive.Features of the Freestyle MP3 player are nothing spectacular - On/Off, Volume and skip ahead songs in the loaded media. It has associated software for managing music and works with a Mac and a PC.