Panasonic Skype in TV hands-on

on 01/07/2010, filed in Home > Computers

[CES 2010] We went to check the live demo of Skype embedded in Panasonic’s HDTVs. It seems very simple to use (more so than on a PC), and you really get full screen video, but that’s definitely not in HD. The content was in SD, and upscale with filters to prevent blockiness by adding… blurriness. The new PC Skype has HD video, but I have not had time to test it yet. To capture the video, there’s a wide-angle camera accessory designed to show people in “full-body” form, depending on the distance obviously. In the end, this looks like a good implementation and I like the direction in which this is going. As HDTVs become more programmable, they will have more apps, and services. You will pay a premium at first, but this will soon be a standard feature.

CES: CES is the acronym for the (International) Consumer Electronics Show, one of the largest consumer-electronics shows in the world. Although it is held in Las Vegas today, the first CES happened in June 1967 in New York City and Bob Gavin, the CEO of Motorola was the opening keynote speaker for that first edition. Subsequently, CES was held twice a year: the summer edition was in New York, and the winter edition was in Las Vegas, that is, until 1998 when CES became a once-a-year show. CES has been the introduction place for key products and technologies, including: Pong (1975), Nintendo NES (1985), Tetris (1988), Compact Disc (1991), HDTV (1998), Xbox (2001), Blu-Ray (2003), OLED TV (2008). Check our latest CES Coverage

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