Here at the Panasonic press conference at CES 2009, the company finally woke us up with a stunningly thin 1-inch thick plasma: the all new Z1, or the TC-P54Z1 VIERA, in particular. Little is being said about the panel for now, though we are told that it'll be wireless (via an undisclosed standard) right out of the box.

Today at CES, LG shared the details of its two new Network Blu-ray players that will be the first to support the new NetCast with content partners like CinemaNow and YouTube -- no love for the older players. The BD370 and BD390 are essentially the same with both featuring BD Live etc, with the main difference between the two being the BD390 includes 1GB of internal storage for BD Live, and 7.1 discrete analog output. No word on the price of either, but the BD370 is due in Q2 while the 390 is due in Q3. There are also three new home theater systems that feature Blu-ray players, which of course are also BD Live and feature NetCast, but more interestingly also sport TrueHD and DTS-HD MA. Unlike the LHB954, the LHB977 and LHB979 both feature Tallboy speakers and two HDMI inputs which will really come in handy for anyone with a game console or a STB -- so yeah like everyone. The LHB979 (picture after the break) distinguishes itself from the rest with speakers that were designed by Mark Levinson and has more power.

Just in case you haven't seen enough from JVC today, how's about a look at nine new TVs? From the top, we're look at four newcomers with 1080p panels -- the LT-32J300, LT-42J300, LT-46J300 and LT-52J300 -- all of which tout a dynamic backlight, the company's own Smart Picture technology, there HDMI inputs and a new cabinet with a snazzy new bezel and a black glossy finish. Moving on to more Apple-friendly pastures, we've got an all new TeleDock line that spans from 31.5-inches to 46-inches. All five models come with an integrated iPod dock for playing back portable media and recharging your player, and the whole crew should be in stores by April. Check the links below for all the minutiae.

Read - JVC's new Full HD line
Read - JVC's TeleDock line

So we heard that Sharp would be bringing a few Blu-ray-infused HDTVs to CES, but it's JVC breaking one out first. Here in Vegas, the company has introduced the 42-inch LT-42B300, which packs a 1080p panel, integrated ATSC-QAM tuner, a 5-band equalizer, dual 10-watt speakers, three HDMI inputs (with CEC) and an inbuilt Blu-ray player to boot. It'll be ready for consumption this June at an undisclosed price.

JVC has loosed three 5.1-channel HTIBs and a fashionable 2.1-channel rig at CES. First up, the TH-G31, TH-G41 and TH-G51 are all based around upconverting DVD decks. The TH-G41 and TH-G51 models add a repeating HDMI input and iPod/iPhone connectivity -- complete with a display of the iPod/iPhone UI -- into the mix. Capping off the tippy-top of the line, the TH-G51 also sports wireless surround speakers. If your fashion sensibilities are even more stringent than wireless surrounds, you might be able to accept the move to the 2.1-channel, so slim it's wall-mountable NX-T10. Don't run away from the 2.1-channel spec just yet -- the speakers are omnidirectional, so you'll still get some sense of envelopment. Full details in the links.

[Read - 5.1-channel HTIBs]
[Read - NX-T10 HTIB]

JVC's busting out a veritable plethora of camcorders today, with three in particular catching our eyes. The 60GB GZ-HD300, 120GB GZ-HD320 and the dual SD slot-packin' GZ-HM200 all record in Full HD and feature a 3.05 megapixel CMOS image sensor. If you're into the SD gig, it has five other models within the Everio G series and Everio S series, and the whole family will include a One Touch Export function that enables videos to be imported into iTunes and loaded directly onto an iPod / iPhone. Expect 'em all to be available by March at the latest for between $299.95 and $799.95.

Over here in the US, JVC fans have had to watch with lustful eyes at all the JVC Blu-ray products in the rest of the world, but no more. Today JVC has announced both a stand-alone Blu-ray player and a 3.1 home theater in a box. The XV-PB1 Blu-ray player will be available in March for $299 and as you'd expect, it will support BD Live content as well as playback AVCHD videos you create on your HD camcorder. We assume the new TH-SB100 is US version of the NX-BD3 previously available in Europe (pictured above) which is of course a BD Live player, but we're sad to say there's no mention of any support for DTS-HD or Dolby TrueHD. Nevertheless it will be available in April for $699.

Read - JVC XV-PB1
Read - JVC TH-SB100

While everyone else seems to be cutting back on energy consumption and adding some form of connectivity, JVC is doing something quite different with its 42-inch LT-42WX70. The 1080p LCD HDTV supposedly targets DSLR users by encompassing 100 percent of HDTV broadcasting's (sRGB.904) color space and a coverage rate of 96 percent for Adobe RGB -- much like those "pro LCD monitors" we see so often. You'll also find 52 picture quality adjustments properties, the company's own GENESSA Picture Engine, 120Hz Clear Motion Drive III, 4,000:1 contrast ratio, HDMI CEC support and a low-profile tuner (TU-CX100) that can be "separated from the monitor and placed horizontally or stood vertically on a tabletop, or hung on the wall." Mum's the word on pricing, but you can certainly say we're overly anxious to see how this puppy looks.

Budget minded customers waiting for VIZIO's 2008 LCD lineup can rest easy as all the details of new VL, VT, and EcoHD lines are official. All the lines feature either SRS TruSurround XT or HD and multiple HDMI inputs. But while the VL and VT series are all 1080p and feature VIZIO's version of 120hz technology called Smooth Motion II, the EcoHD series is the new eco-friendly version we've heard about which is up to 25 percent more energy efficient than Energy Star 3.0 requires. The VL line ranges from 32 to 47 inches, with retail prices between $599 and $1099. The VT however is only available in 42 and 47-inches, which are $899 and $1099. The EcoHD line however really spans the gamut ranging from 19-inch all the way up to 32-inches and from $249 to $449.

Read - VIZIO EcoHD
Read - VIZIO 120hz 1080p LCDs

Put down the bubbly and nearest willing stranger for a moment, if you're a Time Warner Cable subscriber, you may have noticed that your MTV Networks channels -- including everyone's favorite Palladia / MHD -- are still there, even after a very public squabble threatened to turn them dark around the same time everyone's Zune started working again. Both sides have confirmed the cable giant reached an agreement in principle with Viacom, without revealing how it happened. How much did Viacom end up getting? We may have to wait for the next TWC rate hike to know for sure. [Disclosure: Engadget is part of the Time Warner family]

Bad news, Time Warner Cable subscribers. The cable carrier notorious for resisting HD expansion until a competitor rolls into town is getting ready to pull all 19 MTV Networks channels (MTV, Nickelodeon, VH1 and Comedy Central just to name a few, presumably including the HD versions). Viacom has just unleashed a scathing announcement that calls the carrier's refusal to pony up "outrageous," and publicly pleads for its bigwigs to reconsider and open up the checkbook. In essence, Viacom is asking for a fee increase of just under $0.25 per month, per subscriber -- which, admittedly, sounds rather high given the lack of MTV-related content that's a) watchable and b) in high-definition -- but TWC is straight-up refusing.

Now, we've no qualms with a provider balking at price increases, but while it's planning to let content vanish from lineups, it's also raising monthly rates by $3 in Raleigh, Orange County, Los Angeles and New York City. Ahem, TWC -- could you bother justifying these hikes by allowing us to keep our content? And don't even come at us with the "we just added more HD!" comment -- after all, you blast us everyday with ads proclaiming that your HD "is free." [Disclosure: Engadget is part of the Time Warner family]

Never satisfied with offering only a Blu-ray disc player (see 2007's BH100 Blu-ray + HD DVD combo and 2008's Netflix-streaming BD300), LG is upping the ante for '09, promising support for YouTube and CinemaNow videos on its next gen decks. Along with the now-standard Netflix, owners can browse CinemaNow pay-per-view offerings (or other stores powered by the service) abd thumb through YouTube's catalog directly from the device. Unmentioned in the PR fluff is additional info like price and more detailed specs, but expect all to become (hopefully) clear January 7 in Las Vegas.

Missed your opportunity to score a low-cost Blu-ray player on Black Friday? Worried senseless about how you're ever going to get a BD deck for that special someone at a price you can stomach? Chill, please -- you're making us all anxious around here. As you can see above, Target is planning to slash the price on the Olevia BD-100 starting Sunday to a totally delicious $149.99. Granted, the cut is slated to be for "a limited time" only, but that's all the time you need to get in, right?

Great googly moogly, we wrote about this very application like fifty weeks ago. Fifty, people! Of course, with the drawn-out SlingCatcher drama, lengthy Sling product cycles aren't a terribly big surprise, so we should just all thank our lucky stars we're going to be getting our hands on SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry before the year's out. The app officially enters its public beta cycle come December 30 for the Bold, the Curve 8320 / 8900, the Pearl 8120 / 8220, and the venerable 8820, piping your home teevee right to your handset and usurping any semblance of productivity your BlackBerry otherwise stands for. A 3G or WiFi connection is "strongly recommended" -- which we take to mean "go ahead, give EDGE a whirl" -- but BlackBerry OS 4.5 is a hard and fast requirement, so make sure you come equipped with the goods if you want to waste some quality time in front of the small screen when this goes live.

Just like it did to the one day Blu-ray sales record, The Dark Knight Blu-ray disc jumped even Warner's projections for its first week, selling 1.7 million copies worldwide, topping Iron Man's 500,000. Apparently undeterred by any claims of issues fans jumped on the release, with DVDs added it moved a total of 13.5 million on both formats. No word yet whether there's still space to chat with director Chris Nolan on the 18th, but Warner's also claiming 300,000 digital copies activated, and the number on spot on iTunes. Not enough celebratory back slapping for you? Check the press release after the break while we try to figure out what movie has a chance of breaking the #1 sales figure next.