The digital home

Latin Trade, August, 2004

Although sophisticated home entertainment centers used to be prohibitively pricey, technological advances have now created products for almost every budget.

Home theaters "in a box"--a 32-inch screen TV with DVD player, a stereo receiver or amplifier, five speakers and sub-woofer--can sell for as low as US$1,000. Custom-designed systems with real theater seats, front projection, controlled lighting and theater curtains can cost as much as US$40,000.

With more options now offered to consumers, worldwide home entertainment equipment sales are expected to soar over the next several years as products are becoming more affordable and easier to purchase close to home and over the Internet.

"Quality home entertainment products are more accessible now than ever before due to the revolution in price and distribution channels," says Desiree Ortiz-Rodriguez, director for Latin America and Canada for InFocus, the worldwide leader in digital projection technology and solutions. The company, which has won 28 awards over the past two years for its home projection products, has been distributing its world-renowned products in Latin America for several years.

Throughout the region, electronics industry experts have recently noted the increase in the sales of top quality home entertainment products--such as cutting-edge DVD recorders, high definition and enhanced definition digital televisions, plasma televisions and high quality home projectors.

Quality has become a particularly important issue to the Latin American consumer of home entertainment products, according to Jose Jaramillo, assistant chief for marketing and planning for Pioneer in Panama. Pioneer recently launched new plasma televisions and a new DVD recorder in the region.

"Each year we see that customers in Latin America are requiring better quality equipment with better features," he says. "We have developed our products to satisfy this very specific demand."

Panasonic Latin America, with headquarters in Panama, has launched its new line of television sets, VIERA-A whole new VISUAL ERA-which includes Plasma and LCD TVs. This new line features innovative design, as well as incredible contrast and sharpness thanks to its capability to display over a billion colors, for outstanding image quality. This is according to Maria Alvarez, advertising, public relations and sales promotion manager for Panasonic, who also added that "the trend towards the use of digital products is growing by leaps and bounds in Latin America, which is why, at Panasonic, we strive to offer our consumers the latest in digital technology to satisfy this new lifestyle and keep in step with countries like Japan and the United States.

INFOCUS SCREENPLAY 4805

www.infocus.com

The InFocus ScreenPlay 4805 projector is a great addition to a home entertainment solution because it connects into nearly any home electronics device including: DVD players, satellite receivers, high-definition broadcast receivers, TVs, computers and video game consoles, to project everything from sports to movies and event television in gigantically clear proportions. Game enthusiasts love using the InFocus ScreenPlay 4805 with their video game systems because it projects super sized characters that make the experience come to life n a way not possible with a television or other smaller display devices.

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PANASONIC VIERA PLASMA FLAT PANEL DISPLAY TH-50PX20UPN

www.panasonic.com.mx

Panasonic Mexico's VIERA plasma digital televisions take flat panel display television to new levels of performance. Featuring sophisticated design, a fully integrated ATSC tuner for high definition reception and built-in SD and CableCARD slot, the VIERA line features contrast ratios from 3000:1 to 4000:1 for brilliant, razor-sharp pictures. The concept behind VIERA can be summed up by the phrase "a whole new visual era."

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PANASONIC LCD TV TC-20LA2

www.panasonic.com.pa

Panasonic Panama's newest LCD TV offers exceptionally high-quality visuals and stereo sound with two built in front stereo speakers that allow precise reproduction of audio from your favorite movies. The model's stunning design houses an integrated NTSC tuner, a 3D Y/C digital comb filter, and a high moving picture response speed (16m/sec.). To guarantee maximum enjoyment of the scenes it projects, this Panasonic LCD TV offers image resolution of 640 x 480 pixels, a 700:1 contrast ratio and 500 cd/m2 brightness.

The model is part of Panasonic's VIERA: A Whole New Visual Era line, which includes plasma screens and LCD screens that offer high-quality image and reflect cutting-edge design.

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PANASONIC DMR-E100 RECORDER

www.panasonic.com.pa

Now it is easy to create your own DVDs with Panasonic Panama's DMR-E100 Recorder. The DMR-E100 includes a 120-GB hard drive, which provides 160 hours of recording time, In addition, it is able to record 16 hours in DVD-RAM format, 9.4 GB, with two sides, in EP mode. This Panasonic recorder also includes a Time Slip function for simultaneous recording and playback, direct navigator for fast, easy operation, and 4 additional recording modes (XP/SP/LP/EP). It also has SD and PC card slots, an electronic programming guide function, an image viewer, and DV input.