Despite my previous post which spoke of this year’s smaller and less-crowded CES, it seems that foot pain and backpack weight are inversely proportional to show attendance. Go figure.
Since my last report, I’ve had the opportunity to attend a few more press conferences and I’ve even managed to spend some time on the show floor, navigating this year’s sea of new gear. I still haven’t seen anything which has impressed me more than Yahoo’s Connected TV interface, but there’s just no way to see everything on display at Las Vegas’ sprawling Convention Center. Here’s a few more highlights of what I did get to see during the past two days:
Blu-ray Disc – After attending the Blu-ray Disc Association’s (BDA) annual press conference and the Digital Entertainment Group’s (DEG) annual industry update, one thing is clear: despite the harsh economic climate everyone continues to bemoan, 2008 was a banner year for Blu-ray and 2009′s prospects look even brighter.
The BDA reported that 10.7 million Blu-ray Disc players have now shipped since June 2006 – two and a half years ago. BDA chairman Andy Parsons pointed out that after its first three full years, DVD had only shipped 5.4 million players. More than 1,100 Blu-ray titles are now available and more than 30 million Blu-ray discs have sold since launch. The breakdown of that 30 million tells you all you need to know if you’re wondering if Blu-ray is catching on: 5.67 million discs were sold in 2007 and 24 million were sold in 2008.
If you’re looking for additional Blu-ray statistics and industry insight, be sure to check out The Digital Bits where Bill Hunt has done a first rate job compiling all that was said in Vegas. You can find his coverage HERE. Bill’s been a key player in the industry for more than a decade and he certainly knows his stuff when it comes to DVD and Blu-ray. And you’d be hard pressed to find a nicer guy.
In light of 2008′s promising sales figures and the unveiling of no fewer than eleven new Blu-ray players at CES, the future continues to look bright for packaged media and the Blu-ray Disc format.
JVC – Although there wasn’t too much news on the display front from JVC, they did have some interesting new toys to talk about. First off, JVC introduced their long-coming first Blu-ray Disc player, the XV-BP1. The unit is effectively Profile 2.0 "ready" in that a USB memory stick is required to take advantage of BD Live, but that’s not uncommon; players such as Sony’s BDP-S350 take a similar approach. It should be available in March for $299. Joining Sharp in a sure-to-be-popular new product category, JVC too introduced a combination 42-inch LCD TV with a built-in Blu-ray Disc player. This 1080p display combo is expected in June, but pricing is still being determined. Falling into the "future tech" category, JVC also showed a prototype for a sleek, ultra-thin flat panel which mounts on the wall using a large magnet on its backside. Very cool.
Pioneer – In addition to a trio of new Blu-ray Disc players, Pioneer had a quartet of aggressively-priced and full-featured A/V receivers on display in their booth. Although a $199 model is also available, the best value of the bunch seems to be the $299 VSX-819AH. For less than three hundred bucks, you can now have Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD decoding plus the coveted iPod and iPhone (yes, iPhone) compatibility. The unit also features three HDMI inputs, speaker/room calibration capabilities and 110 watts x 5 channels of amplification.
Sony – Sony’s elaborate booth featured flat panels aplenty, but the product that most caught my eye was their new VAIO P Series notebook PC. Weighing just 1.4 pounds, the P Series features an LED-backlit, 8-inch widescreen display with a screen resolution of 1600×768. Featuring built-in wireless WAN 3G Mobile Broadband, 802.11n wi-fi, Bluetooth capability and a four hour battery life, this svelte new VAIO looks to be the ultimate travel companion.
AOC Displays – Celebrating sixty years in the display business, AOC is making a push to increase their visibility in the increasingly-crowded LCD TV market. AOC had several LCD panels on display ranging in size from 19-46 inches, including their new 961 series which includes two 1080p models at the top end of the size range. AOC’s extremely attractive Verfino (V Series) monitors were also on display – reportedly the world’s slimmest WLED monitor. Featuring 2ms response time, HDMI connectivity and very low power consumption, the V19 and V22 should be ideal for gamers and business types alike.
Back to the zoo…
Pioneer blue ray disk player is awesome. Despite the price, you can be enjoying true hi-definition DVD right how with the Pioneer BDP-HD1 or other Blu-ray Disc or HD-DVD player, especially if you have a large screen HDTV or HD-Compatible video projector.