Panasonic to expand image sensor plant
155709
Panasonic plans to spend $860 million to expand a Japanese site for manufacturing image sensors, with a new facility opening in 2009.
654078
(InfoWorld) - If you can't beat them, join them. That's the motto of two of the world's most renowned makers of analog cameras, Germany's Leica Camera AG and Denmark's Hasselblad A/S, which have used the Photokina imaging show in Cologne, Germany, to launch several high-end digital cameras in an attempt to counter the market dominance of Asian manufacturers. "Last year, we had serious economic problems to contend with," said Josef Spichtig, Leica's chairman of the management board at a news conference. "The key question was whether the company would be able to carry the values and quality characteristics it had developed in the analog world into the digital world. The answer is yes as our new products show." Spichtig's colleague, Ralph Nebe, director of marketing and sales, said that the six new digital cameras launched at Photokina show the company is pursuing "a course of its own in the changed camera market." At the top of the range is the Leica M8 digital single lens reflex camera (DSLR) with the Leica viewfinder system. A low-noise CCD (Charge Coupled Device) image sensor ensures a resolution of 10.3 megapixels. Leica has developed two new lenses for the camera, which can also be used with virtually all lenses in the company's M range produced since 1954. The M8 will start shipping at the end of November. No pricing information was available. Among Leica's other new digital cameras is the V-Lux 1, an SLR model featuring a swivelling 2 inch TFT (thin-film transistor) display, and the 10 megapixel compact D-Lux . Both cameras will start shipping next month. In a move to carve out its niche in the new world of digital photography, Hasselblad launched what the company claims to be the world's first 48 millimeter full-frame DSLR camera. The H3D is available in two models, the H3D-22, which offers a resolution of 22 megapixels, or the H3D-39, offering 39 megapixels on "the largest image sensor currently available in digital photography" -- more than twice the size of a high-end 35 mm camera sensor, the company said. The camera is built around a new digital camera engine. Information about lens and exact capture conditions are fed into the engine for ultra fine tuning of the auto-focus mechanism, taking into account the design of the lens and optical specification of the sensor. Another feature is Digital APO Correction (DAC). Pricing and availability information was not immediately available.
649275
LAS VEGAS - Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (Panasonic) and Microsoft Corp. are working together to realize digital rights management (DRM) system interoperability between Windows Media and SD (Secure Digital) memory card, Panasonic said Wednesday at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
189111
New sensor technology is not limited to tracking mileage.
652355
Panasonic will also acquire almost all the shares of IPS Alpha Technology, an LCD panel manufacturing joint venture between Panasonic, Hitachi and Toshiba.
510984
Device can improve the image quality of standard and high-definition images.
527641
Matsushita Electric Industrial's  Panasonic unit said on Sunday it developed a system allowing  consumers to send high-definition video to a television from a  video player or gaming console without cables.
334371
Blog: For those happy to cede initiative to the camera, a trio of new Panasonic compact models offers to automatically select scene types such as portrait or macro.
439529
The new dual-sensor approach helps improve live preview performance.
136059
Panasonic's new Lumix DMC-L10 has automatic face detection capablities and a 'live view' display.
688977
Panasonic is expanding its line of ruggedized notebooks and is aiming to dramatically increase sales of the devices worldwide.
423457
The two companies zoom in on semiconductor technology to help digital cameras and camera phones take better pictures.
660517
Company to release a second digital SLR model this year, bolstering efforts to penetrate a high-growth segment of the market.
460166
(InfoWorld) - Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.Â (Panasonic) and HitachiÂ have agreed to mutually supply PDP (plasma display panel) screens to each other as part of a deal reached to help boost profits in the competitive business area. Panasonic will start to supply Hitachi with 103-inch plasma panels this year and Hitachi will supply 85-inch panels to Panasonic from 2008, they said in a statement. The deal means that each company will be able to offer TV sets in each screen size without producing both size panels themselves. The relationship should also mean a stable supply of panels. While Panasonic and Hitachi compete on the shop floor for consumer PDP TV sales they have been working together behind the scenes on PDP research, development and production since 2006. The PDP industry is coming under increasing pressure from manufacturers of competing LCD (liquid crystal display) technology and that's pushing down prices and shaving profits. Deals like that announced on Thursday are intended to help keep the business profitable. The competition is being felt through the entire PDP industry. Last week South Korea's LG Electronics said it willÂ cut back production of PDP screensÂ by closing the oldest of its three plants but not increasing production at its other two factories to compensate. As a result, monthly capacity will drop from 430,000 panels to 360,000 panels. In JanuaryÂ Pioneer put plans to build a new PDP factory on hold. It blamed poor sales in the U.S. over the year-end holidays for the decision. In the first quarter of 2007 shipments of PDP panels fell 1 percent compared to the same period last year -- the first time the industry has seen a year-on-year decline, according to DisplaySearch. The drop was attributed to a loss of market share to LCDs at screen sizes over 37 inches. Total PDP shipments in the first quarter were 2.3 million, the industry researcher said. Â
443495
Sony Corp. said Wednesday it is investing nearly 500 million dollars to boost production of image sensors used in digital cameras and camera-equipped mobile phones.
280336
Blog: Camera maker will spend $450 million to build a new manufacturing site that will build 3 million CMOS sensors a year.
253625
(InfoWorld) - Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. (Panasonic) will open a testing laboratory Friday for Blu-ray Disc content in Hollywood. The center will verify whether the Blu-ray Disc content of providers like movie studios meets technical specifications and can be played on a range of Blu-ray Disc hardware, the company said. Panasonic said at present there is no way to do this before discs are replicated. The new center will be operated by Panasonic Corp. of North America and located within the existing Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory. Panasonic is one of the major backers of Blu-ray Disc and sits alongside companies like Sony and Samsung Electronics on the committee that sets the format. The number of Blu-ray Disc players in the U.S. grew slowly last year as did those for the rival HD DVD format. However Blu-ray Disc got a boost in November when Sony's PlayStation 3 went on sale.