Panasonic Announces Two 7.1 Channel Blu-ray HTiB Systems

Written on Jan 9, 2009 by Brian and filed under News, Panasonic

Panasonic has announced the SC-BT200 and SC-BT300, two new 7.1 channel Blu-ray Home Theater systems with wireless ready rear speakers, integrated iPod dock, and access to BD-Live content. The BT300 offers 1250 watts of power while the BT200 hums along at 1000 watts.

In addition to the BD-Live content and extra goodies from Blu-ray disks, both systems can connect to the Amazon VOD service and users will have access to the other partners in the VIERA Cast network including videos from You Tube, access to online photos via Picasa Web Albums, financial information from Bloomberg News, as well as local weather updates.

From a performance perspective, Panasonic has created front and center channel speakers that are made with a bamboo diaphragm, which provides a tightly intertwined fiber to deliver greater rigidly and accuracy, resulting in clear reproduction of sounds over a wide frequency range. The subwoofer features a Kelton system with a dual diameter structure to deliver a deep powerful bass.

The systems are also easy to setup, thanks to Panasonic’s “Smart Setup” guide that uses graphical navigation to allow users to set up their SC-BT200 or SC-BT300 home theater for optimum performance.

The BT300 and BT200 offer improved environmental performance too. Refinements to the power board dramatically reduce power consumption in standby mode. And by adjusting power consumption as the audio signal changes, these models save power during operation as well. As a result of these improvements, the BT300 and BT200 consume about 20% less power than last year’s SC-BT100 Blu-ray theater system.

Both models will be available this spring but pricing has not been announced.

Update 3/11/09 – Pricing and Availability have been released

Update – 12/21/09 - Panasonic SC-BT300 Review Posted (covers SC-BT200 also)