The UK’s First Freesat TVs Beamed In By Panasonic May 08, 2008

Read more Entertainment , Gizmodo UK , HD , HDMI , HDTV , TV

Hot on the heels of the launch of the eagerly awaited Freesat digital TV service yesterday, comes the first UK TVs to have Freesat support in-built.

Panasonic has taken the wraps of three new HD plasma tellys, the PZ81 series, with in-built Freesat tuners, allowing buyers to receive free standard-def (SD), high-def (HD) and radio channels without buying a new satellite box. Freesat is kicking off with up to 80 channels of digital goodies but hopes to push that out to 200 by the end of the year.

The PZ81 series of TVS comprises the 42in TH-42PZ81 and 46in TH-46PZ81 which are shipping in June and the 50in TH-50PZ81 due in July. All models are Full HD, sport 100Hz double Scan technology for smoother playback of motion video and there’s support for 24 frames per second (fps) playback so that you get see movies the way director’s intended. The V-Real Pro 3 processor also offers upscaling capabilities to boost standard definition TV and DVD pictures.

The TVs boast a staggering contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1 for those true blacks and there’s an Ethernet port for hooking up to a broadband router. They each come with 3 HDMI ports, optical output, SD Card slot and a claimed panel life of 100,000 hours. No prices yet though.

If you already have the HDTV, you can now opt for one of the four new Freesat boxes launched yesterday.-Martin Lynch

[Panasonic]

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