BRACKNELL, UK, 20 AUGUST 2012 Panasonic Systems Communications Company Europe (PSCEU), today announced a new Digital Link compatible projector, the PT-VW431D, that has high brightness of 4,300 lumens and WXGA resolution all in a compact body. The PT-VW431D is designed to bring a whole new experience of long distance, digital connection with extremely clean wiring. Education and corporate users who had long lengths of multiple wires running to the projector will enjoy the benefit of Digital Link’s efficiency and saved cabling cost.

Panasonic’s Digital Link, based on Valens HDBaseT™ technology, is built into the PT-VW431D for easy and simple digital connection of HDMI, other full uncompressed HD videos, audio and control commands all via a single Cat5e/6 LAN cable. These signals can be transmitted up to 100m (328ft). Used together with the new ET-YFB100 switcher box, or other switchers with HDBaseT™ chipset, the installation of this projector is easier than ever without any need for external receivers.

Panasonic has partnered with industry leading manufacturers of HDBaseT solutions including Crestron, Extron, and AMX, to insure the interoperability of PT-VW431D with Crestron’s DigitalMedia 8G+™ compatible switchers, Extron’s XTP Systems and AMX’s Enova DVX and DGX Digital Media Switchers.

“We’re always looking for ways to improve the user experience with our projectors. With rapid adoption of HDBaseT embedded products across the industry within a variety of audio/video (AV) markets, all with the end purpose of providing solutions for these common installation challenges, we saw a need to support the technology with our projectors,” said Hartmut Kulessa, Marketing Manager Projectors, PSCEU. Hartmut continues: “By providing the first projector launch with Digital Link compatibility, we are leading the market into a new era of simple, yet dependable connectivity.”

“The adoption of HDBaseT technology by industry leaders such as Panasonic confirms HDBaseT’s status as the de facto standard for digital connectivity in the industry,” said Dror Jerushalmi, CEO and co-founder, Valens Semiconductor. “Device adoption in the professional AV space marks a significant step in HDBaseT’s migration to the consumer electronics market, concludes Dror.”

The PT-VW431D offers high brightness of 4,300 lumens and a high contrast ratio of 3,500:1. This compact projector is equipped with a pleated micro cut filter which maximises its replacement cycle up to 4,000 hours as it helps to reduce maintenance time and cost. In addition, the PT-VW431D ensures image quality even in the environment where rooms are brightly lit, thanks to Panasonic’s Daylight View Basic technology. The built-in sensor in the projector detects and measures the amount of ambient light and the Daylight View function adjusts the image according to the light condition.

The PT-VW431D offers installation flexibility for portable and ceiling mounted applications. The 1.6x manual zoom lens allows wide range projection from 2.5m (8.2ft) to 4.1m (13.5ft). Furthermore, the PT-VW431D features vertical lens shift function, which moves the image position +48% vertically without distorting the image quality.

Specification for PT-VW431D:

Model PT-VW431D
Brightness 4,300 lm
Resolution 1,280 x 800 pixels
Contrast Ratio 3,500:1
Lamp 280W UHM x 1
Lens Manual 1.6x zoom
Digital Link (powered by HDBaseT™) Yes

The PT-VW431D and ET-YBF100 will be available in October 2012.

*As of June 13, 2012