New smart TVs, Blu-ray recorders, home theatre systems, speakers, WiFi cameras and waterproof camcorders are among new offerings for Australia announced by Panasonic.
The Japanese multinational's range of new devices were shown to journalists yesterday that included a $399 camcorder that not only is waterproof to 10 metres, shockproof and freezeproof, but WiFi enabled as well.
The WiFi functionality lets users control the camcorder from a smartphone and enables real-time broadcasting of streamed vision to families and friends. Users also can shoot and later share the footage with WiFi.
Panasonic announced 7 new compact cameras, including three WiFi ones.
They can be controlled with an app available for iOS and Android smartphones. One model, the Lumix DMC-TZ40, incorporates WiFi, near field communication for linking the camera with other devices, and GPS, all in a compact camera.
Competition in the Wi-Fi compact camera market is becoming fierce. Samsung, for example, announced its new range of WiFi enabled cameras a week ago. It seems manufacturers believe there is a strong future in offering features such as WiFi that consumers already have in smartphone cameras, including the ability to quickly upload photos to social networks.
In all, Panasonic says it is offering 78 new products in Australia. They include a new smart VIERA Plasma TV range and a line-up of LED LCD TVs with panel sizes from 24 to 60 inches.
Higher end models have features such as instant access to users' favourite content on a personalised TV screen, an ability to control the TV using voice, and 'swipe and share', which lets users display media held on their smartphones and tablets on their TVs using DLNA (digital living network alliance) protocols.
The Blu-ray player lineup includes a flagship 3D model, the DMP-BDT330, which has a built-in 4K2K upscaling feature that can convert video resolution to four times that of full HD for displaying on new ultra high-definition TVs. Panasonic is yet to announce the release of UHD TVs.
Blu-ray recorders, 3D Blu-ray home theatre systems, sound bar systems, and a swag of speakers were among other new products.
The new products come at a time Panasonic and other Japanese consumer electronics manufacturers are desperately seeking to revive their businesses which have floundered due to flagging demand particularly in Europe and the strong Japanese yen.
Last month Panasonic said it had lost about $6.52 billion in the nine months to December last year, and was on track to lose a whopping $8 billion.
It was reported that Panasonic's nine-month net loss nearly doubled its year earlier shortfall, while sales slipped 8.8 per cent.
