Panasonic rides 'Avatar' 3-D craze

       Panasonic Corp has signed onTitanic director James Cameron and his upcoming film in an advertising blitz for its TVs equipped with 3-D technology,both sides said yesterday.
       The deal between the major Japanese electronics maker and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp's Avatar - the first major Hollywood 3-D release that's not animation - comes as competition heats up in flat-panel TVs that show threedimensional images, or stereoscopic vision.
       To watch 3-D TVs, viewers must wear special glasses that block vision in one eye and then the other as the TVs switch rapidly between images for each eye to create an illusion of depth.
       Panasonic is planning to start selling 3-D TVs next year. Rivals, including Sony Corp, which has its own movie division,and Samsung Electronics Co of South Korea have shown prototypes and may offer similar products.
       The problem is the scarcity of content to view in 3-D. Sceptics say a number of Blu-ray discs of appealing 3-D movies must come out for 3-D TVs to catch on.
       Several animation films are already being shown in theatres in 3-D, but Avatar , set for release on Dec 18, will be the first major non-animation film debuting worldwide in both 2-D and 3-D.
       "I believe 3-D is how we will experience movies, gaming and computing in the near future.3-D is not something you watch. It's a reality you feel you could step into," Cameron said on video.
       "Panasonic is hoping its collaboration with Cameron will give it an edge in brand image as a 3-D leader as well as in obtaining suggestions for technological improvements for home TVs," said general manager Masayuki Kozuka.
       "We want to get global interest rolling,"he told the Associated Press."For people to want to watch 3-D at home, the movie has to be a blockbuster."
       Panasonic plans to have several trailervans driving around in the US and Europe next month with large-screen 3-D TVs inside showing Avatar . In Japan, footage from "Avatar"-a science-fiction Pocahontas -like romance set in a futuristic jungle inhabited by creatures evoca-tive of Cameron's Aliens - will appear in ads for 3-D TVs.
       Details on the 3-D Blu-ray release of Avatar for TVs have not been set.