Audio Video News

Last week, Matsushita, known to most consumers by its Panasonic brand name, announced the establishment of the Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory in Universal City, CA. The company says that the new lab, a division of Panasonic Technologies, will conduct research and development on "next-generation digital video compression and technologies" for broadband distribution of video and other digital content.

Matsushita's Yoshiaki Kushiki explains that "to help consumers enjoy the full benefit of rapidly expanding broadband applications, we need to collaborate even more closely with Hollywood movie studios and other content providers to develop new digital content distribution services." Universal Pictures' Jerry Pierce adds, "the opening of the Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory will provide even more opportunities for studios to participate in engineering and development work, which can result in new and better products and systems for consumers as well as the industry."

Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory will focus its research and development efforts on "high quality" digital video compression, as well as new content distribution formats and applications that utilize broadband digital network technologies, including mobile communications and digital TV. According to the company, the new lab will also have an internal Digital Image Quality Lab that will allow "an ongoing exchange with video industry professionals related to evaluating High Definition image quality for digital cinema, digital TV, and next-generation DVD, as well as highly compressed imaging for next-generation mobile devices."

Matsushita had previously established the High Definition Telecine Center on the Universal Studios lot in 1993 with the goal of converting film-based content into High Definition video. In 1996, it also opened a DVD authoring center on the same lot.