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Panasonic and Internet search engine Google have announced that they are to jointly develop televisions that display Internet content such as photos and videos together using a system called Viera Cast.
The TVs will allow users to directly browse and access videos from YouTube, a video-sharing Web site owned by Google, and view Picasa Web Albums, a free online photo-sharing service from Google, Panasonic said in a statement on Monday.

“Panasonic’s cooperation with YouTube and Google’s Picasa Web Albums exemplifies our commitment to leading the natural evolution of the Internet and extending it to the High Definition television,” Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company’s Vice President Merwan Mereby said in the statement.

Panasonic Viera PZ850 series Internet-connected HDTV

Panasonic’s new Viera PZ850 series Plasma HDTV’s with Viera Cast will allow customers, using the Viera Cast interface, to browse, find and watch free videos from YouTube and view photos from their Picasa Web Albums in their living room.

“We’re dedicated to providing users around the world with a great YouTube experience no matter where they are,” said Steve Chen, co-founder and CTO of YouTube.

“One of the most powerful things about the Internet is the access it enables, and the family TV is a fun and useful way to access your photos,” said Mike Horowitz, product manager for Picasa Web Albums at Google.

The first generation of Panasonic Viera PZ850 series Internet-connected HDTV’s will be available to US consumers in spring 2008.