SECAUCUS, N.J., Oct. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Panasonic Projector Systems Company, Unit of Panasonic Corporation of North America, today announced that its new PT-AX100U LCD home cinema projector has garnered the highest, five-star rating and a Hot Product Award from the industry-leading publications ProjectorCentral and ProjectorReviews, respectively. The company's latest projector continues Panasonic's legacy of providing the highest-level picture quality for home theater systems in nearly any lighting environment.

As top projector industry authorities, ProjectorCentral and ProjectorReviews feature the most trusted, in-depth product reviews. For both of the honors, the publication's editors rigorously tested the new projector for overall performance, brightness, user-friendliness and innovative features.

"We're delighted to be recognized for a powerful, easy-to-use home theater display solution like the PT-AX100U," said Thomas Zitelli, president of Panasonic Projector Systems Company. "This new projector makes it a snap for anyone to savor Hollywood-quality entertainment anywhere in their home, especially as more high-definition content makes its way to market. We have a razor-sharp focus to provide consumers with affordable, cutting-edge home theater projector solutions."

In his recent review of the PT-AX100U, editor Evan Powell remarked, "We rarely rate any projector a full 5 stars across the board, but the simple fact is that we find nothing to complain about with the AX100U." Extoling the projector's sharp, film-quality images, Powell noted, "The AX100U delivers the most elegant and natural video image we have yet seen from LCD technology." Powell expounded upon the value of Panasonic's LCD technology over similar DLP projectors by noting, "Every DLP 720p projector we have seen in our lab thus far has more noticeable pixel structure than does the AX100U."

ProjectorReviews founder and editor-in-chief Art Feierman was equally impressed with the new projector in his September 27 review: "I have no trouble believing that this new Panasonic home theater projector will replace the older projector (PT-AE900U) as the best selling home theater projector in the U.S." Noting its high-quality images, ease-of-use and reliability, Feierman also sees the new PT-AX100U as "certainly priced right considering its impressive performance!"

Compared to the previous PT-AE900U model, the PT-AX100U produces brighter, more eye-catching images and offers consumers more places to view their favorite home entertainment. The projector's new 220-W UHM(TM) lamp and optical unit combine to generate 2,000-lumen brightness, unprecedented for an LCD projector with at least 720p native resolution(1). It also incorporates Panasonic's new Light Harmonizer image technology, which measures ambient light and adjusts the screen brightness so that images remain bright, crisp and vivid even in well-lit rooms.

The PT-AX100U projector reproduces Hollywood movies, independent films and other entertainment, including video gaming with exceptional color accuracy. Its new Pure Color Filter uses optical adjustment to achieve more accurate color reproduction, going a step further than conventional projectors that reproduce colors by adjusting the white balance. The new color filter achieves a higher purity level of the three primary colors - red, green and blue - displays deeper, purer blacks, and significantly expands the color gamut. In addition, the projector's Cinema Color Management feature helps reproduce images faithful to original film by easily correcting up to approximately 1,070,000,000 colors.

The home cinema projector's Smooth Screen technology uses crystal double refraction to arrange pixels on a screen with no gaps in between them - producing vivid, smooth images found in commercial movie theaters. The technology also deepens images, enhancing their three dimensional effect for a completely immersive viewer experience. The LCD projector's optical unit incorporates the Dynamic Iris, which adjusts the light output and gamma curve(2) 60 times per second to produce beautiful images with a 6,000:1 contrast ratio. The Dynamic Iris also improves sharpness by revealing more detail in both dark and bright images.

Set-up and installation are a snap with the PT-AX100U projector's 2x optical zoom lens and lens shift function, which enables viewers to conveniently place the projector on a coffee table, suspend it from the ceiling, or set it on a bookshelf. The projector can cast a 100-inch image at a range of three to six meters from the screen, and its new, pearl-white color and sleek cabinet design fit well in almost any room décor. The new model's remote control has powerful settings for different types of video such as television sports, home movies or commercial films.

The Panasonic PT-AX100U LCD home cinema projector is available now at authorized presentation systems dealers. The manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) is $2,999. Please visit http://www.panasonic.com/ for more information on local distribution channels and retail outlets. For more information on Panasonic's complete line of projectors, visit http://www.panasonic.com/projectors or call 888-411-1996.

Panasonic's next full high-definition (1080p) home theater projector, the PT-AE1000U, will be available later this year and is designed for savvy, home theater enthusiasts, avid gamers and audio-video professionals.

About Panasonic Projector Systems

Panasonic Projector Systems Company is a prominent supplier of projectors and presentation systems in the United States. It is a unit of Panasonic Corporation of North America, the principal North American subsidiary of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. of Japan, and the hub of its U.S. marketing, sales, service and R&D operations. For more information on Panasonic Projector Systems products, visit the company's Web site at http://www.panasonic.com/projectors.

(1) Applies to LCD projectors with 720p native resolution as of August 31, 2006. (2) A parameter for determining the brightness output gradation level based on the input signal.

CONTACT: Eric Doyle, +1-415-365-8526, eric_doyle@cohnwolfe.com , or Tara
Naughton, +1-212-798-9831, tara_naughton@cohnwolfe.com, both of Panasonic
Projector Systems Company

Web site: http://www.panasonic.com/projectors