Commercial Integrator Europe Q&A: Panasonic’s Hartmut Kulessa on the 4K revolution

With the launch of the first 6500lm 1-Chip DLP full laser projector and the introduction of more 4K products, it’s been another monumental year for Panasonic.

David Davies

With the launch of the first 6500lm 1-Chip DLP full laser projector and the introduction of more 4K products, it’s been another monumental year for Panasonic. Hartmut Kulessa, marketing manager for Panasonic Visual Systems Europe, reflected on these and other developments in his conversation with Commercial Integrator Europe.

As far as commercial integration (CI) goes, what has been Panasonic’s most significant product launch of the year to date – and why?

This is difficult to answer with one product. The implementation HDBaseT connectivity into our display and projector range is a big step forward for integrators in many verticals; we launched a revolutionary software kit that allows automatic setup of edge blended and/or geometrically adjusted projections; and we have put to market a system that monitors your video assets and gives you an early warning long before an incident like a bursted projector lamp appears.

If you had to select one professional projector product that sums up what Panasonic can offer to the CI community, what would it be and why?

That would be the PT-RZ670 – the world’s first 6500lm 1-Chip DLP full laser projector. It finally provides the advantages of solid state light sources, long life, no maintenance, to high brightness applications. Now heavy duty applications with long running hours in digital signage (eg. airports, train stations etc) become commercially feasible as the total cost of ownership are dramatically reduced.

How would you assess the impact of 4K at this time, and how long do you think it will be before it is a day-to-day household reality?

4K will be the next big thing in terms of picture quality. You can bring you customer even closer to the content as the recommended viewing distance will be half. That allows immersive visual applications in museums, theme parks, retail, events, exhibitions etc. In the beginning this will be premium market. Customers with high demand for picture quality – like car manufacturers and luxury retail brands – will be first to adopt this technology. Once the whole production process is shifting – content creation, handling distrbution etc – the whole market will follow quickly.
How is Panasonic responding to the 4K revolution in terms of its own product range?

At Panasonic we are at the forefront of the developement. Within this year we are going to launch 84” and 98” professional display. In the next year 4K projectors will follow. [In addition to] the visual product category you do find 4K computer products and 4K camera products from Panasonic as well. So we are an essential driver of the 4K movement.

Finally, what should CI people be looking out for from Panasonic as we approach the final quarter of 2014?

As I mentioned the LQ-series professional display with 4K resolution and 84- and 98-inch size, as well as the RZ670 Laser projector which can operate for 25,000hrs without any maintenance are groundbreaking products that will make an impact on the market.

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