Panasonic, Google Team on Internet TVs

By Geoff Duncan January 8, 2008

Folks who want their Internet and their TV too may want to note a new partnership between Internet titan Google and Matsushita’s Panasonic business unit: the two companies plan to bring the Panasonic Viera PZ850 plasma television to market in the second quarter of 2008, with the capability to directly access YouTube and video-sharing site Picasa without an intervening PC or media server.

“We are thrilled to introduce Panasonic Viera PZ850 series Internet-Connected HDTV’s with virtual one-click access to YouTube and Picasa Web Albums from Google,” said Panasonic AVC president Toshihiro Sakamoto, in a statement. “This is the first time mainstream consumers will be able to easily enjoy YouTube videos from the living room with the enhanced quality of a fully integrated widescreen TV experience.”

Consumers will connect to YouTube and Picasa using Viera Cast, an “elegant” on-screen interface that enables users to browse, find, and display free online content.

Panasonic has provided no other technical or pricing details of the television, although since it’s a plasma set we’re going to bet it’s 50-inches or larger and at least 720p resolution, although the company also makes 1080p plasma units. Reports from CES have the units sporting a 30,000:1 contrast ratio, HDMI connectivity, and an integrated SD slot for displaying digital photos. Matsushita has invested heavily in plasma development for large-screen televisions, only recently investing in LCD technology intended for smaller displays.

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TCL Google TVs are back at Best Buy, following software fix

TCL's 6-Series Google TV with mini-LED backlighting.

After a brief hiatus, TCL's Google TV models are back on the shelves at Best Buy -- at some of their lowest prices of the year. They had been pulled from both physical stores and online earlier in December over performance issues that made the TVs feel laggy and unresponsive to many users. A software fix has since been issued by TCL, and it is beginning to roll out to all affected models. It apparently addresses these performance concerns.

In an email to 9to5Google, TCL described the software fix that it has developed for its Google TVs:
TCL is committed to delivering premium products with world-class experiences, and the new product featuring Google TV is certainly no different. Recent software updates have allowed us to make significant improvements on the stability and speed of the TCL televisions featuring Google TV. With these updates, this product now represents the powerful performance that TCL and Google believe is the future of TV. -- TCL
Google TV models that can benefit from the software update should receive and install the new software automatically, but if you'd like to double-check your TV's status, here are instructions from TCL:

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Why Best Buy just pulled TCL’s Google TVs from stores

TCL's 6-Series Google TV with mini-LED backlighting.

TCL's 5-Series and 6-Series Google TVs are no longer available at Best Buy. The retailer has pulled these models from its stores and website. Clicking links that previously worked for the product pages in question now result in a "We’re sorry, something went wrong" message. The reason for the removal of these TVs is ongoing software problems that have led to degraded performance, according to 9to5Google.

Digital Trends reached out to TCL for its comments on the situation. "We do not comment on the actions of our retail partners," a TCL spokesperson responded. "However, we can confirm that TCL Televisions featuring the Google TV OS remain available for sale around the world." This seems to be true -- Best Buy Canada still lists the 5-Series on its site
. We also reached out to Best Buy for its comments, but we have yet to receive a response.
"TCL is committed to delivering premium products with world-class experiences and the new product featuring Google TV is certainly no different. We are sorry to hear that some users are facing challenges with the stability of the user interface featured on TCL sets with Google TV. Our high-performance TVs are constantly evolving and recent software updates have allowed us to make significant progress, but we will continue to refine our products featuring Google TV. Patience is appreciated, as customers will see marked improvements in the weeks to come." -- TCL
The removal of TCL TVs does not affect the company's other smart TVs, like its line of Roku TVs or its Android TV-based models.

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Google TV integrates Pluto TV’s 300 free channels

Pluto TV on Google TV.

As had been foretold, Google today announced that it's integrated Pluto TV — the ad-supported video service from Viacom CBS — into the core Google TV experience. That means you'll have access to more than 300 free (again, as in supported by advertising) "live" channels in the "Live" tab of the Google TV home screen.

So far, it doesn't appear to be all that different from the Pluto experience that's been available on all streaming platforms for the past several years. You'll still have to have the Pluto app installed, but the channels are surfaced at a much higher level. And to be clear, the integration into Google's live tab is, indeed, quite excellent. Google's blog post didn't mention any sort of compensation either to or from ViacomCBS, but suffice it to say there was some in one direction or the other.