Panasonic Announces Availability of PT-D7700U 3-Chip DLP Projector

Panasonic Broadcast is now delivering the high-resolution PT-D7700U, the industry’s lightest-weight large-venue 3-chip DLP™ projector.

The heavy-duty PT-D7700U offers an industry-leading 4000:1 contrast ratio and a 1400 x 1050 SXGA+ resolution in a native 4:3 aspect ratio, enabling it to work with existing installed screens, while its flexibility is ideal for rental and premium home theatre applications. Brighter and sharper than competitive models, the PT-D7700U is equipped with a three-chip DLP light valve to produce 7000 lumens of brightness and vivid, true-to-life images. Its dust-proof, sealed, fluid-cooled optical system offers high reliability for demanding applications like 24/7 command and control centers.

The projector combines theater-quality 4000:1 contrast ratio with a newly-developed Dynamic Iris, a Panasonic exclusive technology that constantly monitors the amount of light output and adjusts the intensity of the light source to match it. Dynamic Iris integrates with Dynamic Gamma correction to increase highlights so that as blacks get blacker, the bright areas remain bright. Its Dynamic Sharpness control increases image sharpness without adding noise.

The unit’s high-speed digital signal processing (with 16-bit color depth for wider dynamic range) and progressive cinema scan (3/2 pull down) capabilities team to produce rich, detailed blacks and to masterfully reproduce 24 frames-per-second film-based video.

The PT-D7700U incorporates Panasonic's BriteOptic™ dual-lamp system that delivers the power and reliability of two high-intensity 300W UHM lamps through a high-precision prism. Its lamp auto-changer alternates lamp operation to permit extended 24/7 use, and allows operation to continue without interruption even if one lamp burns out.

The projector offers built-in multi-screen color matching and edge blending for displaying uniform, natural-looking, full-motion images over a wide span without any discernible lines between overlapping blended images. An outstanding benefit of edge blending is that it increases the image's horizontal resolution while maintaining the maximum vertical resolution. Up to 100 projectors (10 x 10) can be edge-blended at one time using the projector’s built-in processor.

By adding the optional Ethernet network module, the unit is network-ready, enabling network administrators to centrally monitor it via LAN-based remote control over a web browser, thereby lowering support costs and minimizing any downtime. The projector can send e-mail messages to notify the user when the unit’s operating condition changes or a lamp needs replacing.

The PT-D7700U is easy to setup with one-touch auto-setup with horizontal/vertical lens shift and Digital Keystone correction. This HD-capable projector can automatically synchronize to display 1080/24p, 1080/24sF, 1080/30p, 1080/25p, 1080/60i, 1080/50i, 1035/60i, 720p, 480p, 480i and 576i video in the conventional 4:3 aspect ratio. It can project on screens from 70” to 600”.

Other standard benefits include RS-232C/RS-422 input/output control; mechanical shutter; 96 user memories; motorized vertical/horizontal lens shift and super-quiet operation. The projector weighs 48.5 pounds and measures 20-7/8” W x 7-7/8” H x 22-13/32 D.

In addition to a wide range of standard inputs (two RGB/YPbPr, S-video and composite video), optional input boards include HD-SDI, SD-SDI, RGB/YPbPr, DVI, Ethernet, and video/S-Video. Optional lenses available for both models include the: ET-D75LE1 1.5-2.0:1 zoom lens, ET-D75LE2 2.0-3.0:1 zoom lens, ET-D75LE3 3.0-5.0:1 zoom lens, ET-D75LE4 5.0-8.0:1 zoom lens, ET-D75LE8 8.0-1.0:1 zoom lens, and ET-D75LE5 0.8:1 fixed-focus lens.

The PT-D7700U has a suggested list price of $35,000. The PT-D7700U joins Panasonic’s new DLP projector line-up that also includes the PT-D5500U/PT-D5500UL (the brightest 1-chip, mid-to-large venue DLP™ projectors) and the PT-DW7000U (the first 16:9 3-chip DLP projector, available next month).

For information on Panasonic projectors, visit www.panasonic.com/projectors or phone 1-800-528-8601. About Panasonic Broadcast Panasonic Broadcast & Television Systems Co. is a leading supplier of broadcast, professional video and presentation products and systems. Panasonic Broadcast is a unit company of Matsushita Electric Corporation of America, the principal North America subsidiary of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (NYSE: MC), one of the world's leading developers and producers of electronic and electric products for consumer, business and industrial use. For an overview of Panasonic Broadcast’s product offering, visit www.panasonic.com/broadcast.