Posts about Panasonic

Photos: Behind The Scenes At CES 2012
In a few hours, the folks at the Consumer Electronics Show will fling open the doors to the Las Vegas Convention Center and a crowd the size of a small city will begin gawking and toying with the latest in doodads and whatsthats. But for the second year in a row, me and my trusty camera phone were able to convince someone I had a reason to be on the show floor so I could snap a handful of last-minute preparation pics before anyone caught on to my antics.
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Panasonic Has No Idea Why Your 3D TV Keeps Adding Phantom Channels
Josh really enjoys having a 3D television in his home, and spent a lot of money for the privilege. About six months after purchase, the set began adding phantom channels to his lineup. Not a catastrophic problem, but not a problem that's easy to ignore when you dropped more than two grand on the TV set less than a year ago. But Josh is apparently the only one on the planet with this problem, and while Panasonic can't figure out the cause, they're not about to send Josh a new TV or even send someone out to his home to fix it, even though his service agreement states that's sort of what they have to do. More »

Panasonic Marketing Guy: Lack Of Good 3D Movies Makes 3D TVs Sell Poorly
A Panasonic marketing executive says it's Hollywood's fault you don't want to buy a 3D TV. If there were more Avatars and fewer Clash of the Titanses, he insinuates, you'd feel compelled to spring for the expensive products and their obnoxious accompanying glasses. More »

Star Wars Coming To Blu-ray; Greedo Still Shoots First
Fans who've been waiting 12 parsecs and more to watch Star Wars in HD video can finally cut their thrusters. All six movies — the three real ones, and the three that kids under 12 refer to as Parts 1-3 — will be available on Blu-ray in September. Pricing for the sets, which were introduced by Darth Vader at the Consumer Electronics Show, will be priced at $139.99 for the six-disc set, and $69.99 for the each three-disc set. More »

Why Does Digital Camera Repair Cost More Than Just Buying A New One?
Dan writes that he was very happy with his Panasonic camera, a point-and-shoot with a nice zoom lens. He would have been happy to pay $100 to get it back in working order and avoid buying a new one. Alas, this was not to be. Since a special part needed to be ordered from Japan, Panasonic wanted $488 to repair a camera that originally cost $300. Dan is better off buying a new camera—which won't be a Panasonic. More »

Panasonic: If We Had Actually Helped When You Called For Support, Your TV Would Be Under Warranty
James has a sweet Panasonic 42" plasma screen TV. He writes that the device has an exciting new feature: it now refuses to turn on. Back in January, he called Panasonic support, who were able to help him unplug and reset the TV a few times. That helped, but it broke for good back in May. Now Panasonic says that his warranty is up, but they totally could have helped him if the set had broken closer to the end of this one-year warranty. Say, two months after the warranty ended in November 2009. Also known as January—when he originally called Panasonic about the problem. More »

New 3D TVs To Cost You $1K Per D
Colin Boyd of Get the Big Picture put together a roundup on the upcoming home entertainment craze of 2010, 3DTV. The verdict: New bigscreen, 3D-capable TVs in the 46 to 50-inch range from Panasonic and Samsung will cost about $3,000. And the early industry standard seems to be that the sets will come with two pairs of glasses. Additional glasses, required for watching in non-blurry vision, will cost an extra $150. More »

Panasonic & Best Buy Really Want To Sell You A 3-D TV
Okay, so Avatar was a big blue dud at the Oscars last night. But that still doesn't change the fact that the 3-D spectacle has made more money than some small countries. And with Alice In Wonderland raking in over $100 million in its opening weekend, the U.S. movie audience has shown it's willing to embrace 3-D. That's why Panasonic has teamed up with Best Buy to push its new line of 3-D TVs. More »

E.E.C.B. Forces Best Buy To Finally Replace Defective TV

—>It took an Executive Email Carpet Bomb to convince Best Buy to replace Bryan's Panasonic LiFi LCD Projection TV after it ate through four lamps. Bryan had purchased Best Buy's extended warranty, which contains a no lemon clause that promises a replacement after three failed repairs. Best Buy conveniently insisted that replacing the broken lamp did not count as a "qualified repair." Bryan first escalated his complaint through normal channels; when he had no other choice, he launched the mighty EECB.  More »

Watch Out For Panasonic's Proprietary Battery Cameras

—>Many of Panasonic's cameras will only work with official Panasonic batteries—the newest models require "an embedded security ID chip," while older models have been issued a firmware upgrade that locks out third-party vendors. This is already pretty obnoxious, but what makes it even worse is Panasonic can't keep up with demand, so the batteries they insist you buy for your camera aren't available.  More »

Panasonic Won't Replace Defective DVD/VCR Combo

—>David in Massachusetts bought a Panasonic combination VCR/DVD player about a year ago. It came with a special feature none of his previous Panasonic VCRs had: it randomly freezes. A lot.  More »

Panasonic Solves Gadget Problem Sent Through Generic Email Address!

—>Emailing a company about a product problem via their front-facing email address usually has about as much effect as wishing your way out of debt (just don't tell the producers of The Secret). But Steve emailed Panasonic and instead of getting nothing or a generic response back, he actually ended up sending a series of emails back and forth with a product engineer who solved his consumer conundrum. Amazing! Here's his story.  More »

TVs Will Be Cheap, But Will Anyone Buy Them?

—>Everyone seems to agree— this year will be the year of the cheap big-screen tv. The only question remains... will anyone buy them?  More »

Morning Deals

Highlights From Dealhack

• Abt Electronics: Sony Cybershot S750 7.2MP Digital Camera $129 Shipped
• Office Depot: HP AMD Dual Core Widescreen Notebook $550 & Free Shipping
• B&H Photo: Panasonic Viera 42-inch Plasma HDTV $830 Shipped

Highlights From Buxr

• Amazon: J.A. Henckels 8 Piece Stylus Block Set for $49.99 w/ Free shipping
• Walmart: Eastsport Mesh Backpack for $9.88 + $0.97 Shipping
• Timberland: 30% Off Coupon w/ coupon code: FALLEVENT4

Highlights From Dealnews

• Geeks.com: Four Wireless Day / Night Color Security Cameras with receiver for $130 + $11 s&h
• Newegg: Creative ZEN X-Fi 8GB Portable MP3 / MP4 Player for $112 + free shipping
• Buy.com: Refurbished SanDisk Sansa MP3 Players from $22 + free shipping

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Morning Deals

• Apple: Refurbished iPod touches on sale, 8GB for $180, 16GB for $240, 32GB for $320
• Amazon: Rewards points upgrade for existing Amazon.com Visa holders
• Apple: Free Select iTunes TV Shows in HD (requires iTunes 8

Highlights From Dealnews

• Travelocity: United Airlines Sale: Round-trip flights from $108
• Amazon.com: Amazon.com Men's Watch Deals: Timex, Marc Ecko, more from $40 + free shipping
• Sears: Seven7 Women's Jeans for $18 + $6 s&h, more

Highlights From Buxr

• Budget Truck Rental: $50 Gift card when paying w/American Express
• Reverie: T-Shirt Sale: Buy 1 TEE get 1 free TEE
• BestBuy: Westinghouse 42" 1080p LCD HDTV and portable DVD Player for $749.99 + shipping

Highlights From Dealhack

• Drugstore.com: New Customers: Save $5 or $10 off First Order
• Vann's: Panasonic FZ28 10.2MP Digital Camera $340 Shipped
• Amazon: Get Savings of up to 75% off Bargain Books

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Morning Deals

• 6PM.com: DC Brand Shoes $20 + S/H, all sizes/styles, 856 to choose from
• Nicorette: free pack of Nicorette White Ice Mint (warning, site is slow)
• Circuit City: Panasonic SH-FX85 Wireless Multi-Room Speaker Kit for $44.96, requires in-store pickup

Highlights From Buxr

• Hewlett Packard: $400 Off $999 or more for Desktop Purchase w/ coupon code: DT1158 (Good for 2250 uses)
• NewEgg: Targus Notebook Wireless Optical Mouse for $8.99 w/ Free shipping after $20 off coupon code: EMCAKAKAK
• Buy.com: Av Lab Solar Backpack Charger for $29.99 w/ Free shipping after rebate

Highlights From Dealhack

• Best Buy: Toshiba Satellite Dual Core Notebook PC $500
• Geeks.com: Canon Pixma iP6210D Color Inkjet Photo Printer $35 with Coupon
• Musicnotes.com: 20% or 30% off Guitar Guru Interactive Lessons with Coupons

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6,000 Panasonic Laptops Recalled

—>Out of concern that the batteries might combust, Panasonic announced a recall of Japanese models of CF-W4G Let's Note W4 laptop sold between April and May 2005.  More »

Ask The Consumerists: When Is Hi-Def, Not?

—>Like many others, Andy's not getting that amazing hi-def signal on his hi-def TV. His 42 inch, plasma, 2 grand plus, hi-def TV.   More »

The News; Myspace Eats Lead
• Just make sure your kids eat the lunch, not the box. [ABC] "FDA Warns Lunch Box Makers About Lead"  More »