CES 2009: Sights and Sounds, Part One

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Greetings from sunny Las Vegas! This was intended to post yesterday, but an abundance of press events and hotel room snafus prevented me from doing so, so what are you gonna do?  I’ll be posting more throughout the day, but here’s a look at some of the more interesting things revealed during yesterday’s "Press Day" at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show. Although things are just getting underway here in Vegas, there are already a few trends and tidbits worth noting.

In keeping with everyone’s fondness for thin technology, CES is itself a thinner show this year, with reportedly 300 fewer exhibitors as compared to last year. In these dire economic times, it’s not surprising that some companies have decided not to exhibit at this year’s show and those that are exhibiting are wasting no time acknowledging the current economic slump. Instead of diving right in with buzzwords such as "1080p" or "120Hz," CEO’s and marketing execs are kicking off their press conferences with phrases such as "economic uncertainty," "downturn," "malaise," "challenging market" and "difficult times."

In light of these less-than-rosy economic times, the big name electronics makers seem to be de-emphasizing cool-but-impractical products (such as 150" plasmas) and instead putting "a strong focus on the needs of the mainstream consumer" – to quote one Sharp executive. Fortunately for you and me, that’s marketing speak for "exciting technology at realistic price points."

MONSTER - If you seek evidence of big name companies targeting bargain hunters – of which there are sure to be many in 2009 – look no further than Monster. Monster, a company that epitomizes a ‘bigger and faster is better’ mentality introduced a new "HDMI Basic" cable, packaged in a brown, unassuming, no-frills cardboard box.

Monstrous? Hardly. Affordable and practical? Absolutely. For shoppers on the other end of the spectrum, Monster also unveiled their new flagship "Hyper Speed" -rated HDMI cable boasting a whopping 21 Gbps throughput. The question is, what’s going to top Hyper Speed next year? Plaid? Finally, as a follow-up to their Beats by Dr. Dre headphone product, Monster introduced an attractive new in-ear model, aptly named the "Turbine."

LG - As Toshiba’s Scott Ramirez said at the Toshiba press conference, "240 is the new 120." He appears to be right, as LG kicked off the day by showing off their 240Hz TruMotion technology with frame interpolation – and several other TV makers followed suit throughout the day. We’ll see how it performs once I take a closer on the show floor later today or tomorrow.

Then there was LG’s NetCast internet technology, which incorporates Netflix video streaming, Yahoo Widgets and YouTube content directly into select LG flat panels. In addition to a pair of promising new Blu-ray players, LG also gave us an intriguing sneak peek at a new noise-canceling, dual-microphone technology coming to LG cell phones later in 2009. And last but not least, LG was proud to demonstrate a working prototype for their stylish 3G wrist phone – very cool, very Dick Tracy.

Toshiba – Toshiba took the wraps off their newest Regza flat panels and they appear to be a significant improvement over last year’s lineup. Among the myriad new technologies being incorporated into the displays, two stood out as particularly exciting.

First is something Toshiba is calling "InstaPort" – an extremely fast HDMI switching process, where the HDMI "handshakes" for each port are done upon TV startup instead of when you actually switch inputs. This makes perfect sense and promises to reduce HDMI switching time from the typical 5 seconds to less than once second. Smart. Select Regzas models are also the first displays to incorporate the impressive new Dolby Volume technology, which I wrote about when it debuted at the CEDIA Expo in September.

Toshiba capped off the proceedings with talk of their new "Cell TV" prototype, which will reportedly be on display in their booth. This next-gen display boasts an outboard HD server driven by a cell processor, a "4k x 2k" resolution panel and the unit can record six high definition video feeds simultaneously. Whoa. I’ll definitely be checking this beast out before the show is over.

Sharp – The big news from Sharp was the introduction of the world’s first HDTV line with a built-in Blu-ray Disc player. The AQUOS BD series contains five models ranging in size from 32-52 inches. Each models sports a 1080p panel coupled with a side-mounted, slot-loading Blu-ray player. There was no mention of whether the player will be Profile 1.1 or Profile 2.0, but since these displays seem ideal for a secondary system such as the bedroom, my guess would be Profile 1.1. If I’m wrong on that front, I’ll be sure to let you know. One Blu-ray player that definitely IS Profile 2.0 compliant is their new BD-HP22U, which should be available in May for $299.

Samsung – Samsung’s press conference featured quite a few interesting products and a refreshing consistency throughout much of their product line. Sony Xross Media Bar definitely started this trend, but Samsung appears to be running with it, bringing an attractive, intuitive and consistent User Interface (UI) to most of their audio, video and mobile devices.

Samsung showed off their new Luxia LED TVs, which feature LED backlighting and local dimming. Even in the less-than-ideal setting of a brightly-lit press conference, these sets looked stunning with surprisingly rich, deep blacks. I’ll definitely be looking at these closer later today.

Several of the 2009 Samsung displays will also feature "Internet@TV," which brings internet content from service providers such as Yahoo and YouTube directly to your TV screen. (See more below.) Samsung also introduced a gorgeous new Blu-ray player, the BD-P4600. A mere 1.5 inches thin, the curvaceous BD-P4600 is wall-mountable and it’s also wi-fi ready, the first stand-alone player to make such a claim unless I’m mistaken.

Yahoo! Connected TV – Who would have thought Yahoo would deliver the Must Have, "I want THAT!" technology of the show? Well, they did. Yahoo’s new "Connected TV" made its big debut this week and it is, quite simply, incredible. The new poster child for convergence, Yahoo Widgets and the Connected TV platform slaps an attractive and easy-to-use "Widget Dock" along the bottom of your television image. Track your favorite stocks, view Flickr albums, get your weather forecast, read the news headlines, track your Ebay listings – all from your sofa using your TV remote.

This is, finally, the internet on your television. This game-changing technology platform will be incorporated into select Samsung displays and you’ll also see the Widget Engine appearing on a slew of new displays from the likes of Sony, LG and Vizio. This is the highlight of the show for me, thus far at least. I want it. Now.

More to come, so stay tuned!