There are three ways to draw attention and traffic to your booth. The first is a time honored method of having someone loud and/or amplified shout interesting sounding things over the din. These barkers have a long history, rarely loved. The second, hardly less passive way, is having scantily clad, attractive women prance around your booth. Being a predominately male industry (though the ratio is changing rapidly), this at the very least slows down would be passers by. The final way, creativly, is having an interesting product.

I honestly think that the unsung heros of CE tradeshows (and most tradeshows in general), are the booth babes. I’d like to use a less sexist term while I praise their profession, but that one is so self explanatory. Booth hostess maybe. These women are hired to dress ridiculously and stand for 9 hours a day while creepy men gawk at them. Really, you’d think that we men in this industry have never seen a real woman before. Oh, wait. . . They are often asked technical questions (seriously) that even the engineers would have difficulty answering, while having seedy, sweaty, shady, men photograph them without asking. Try doing that to some woman on the street. Yet here, that’s somehow “OK.” Then again, if they dressed up the engineers in sexy outfits to draw attention to the booths, I think trade shows would become a lot less frequented.

One last thing, who ever invented rollybags, or at least the morons that thought it a good idea to give them away at shows, should be, well, forced to walk around, over, and bump into all the inconsiderate people that have them. It’s hard enough navigating the throngs of people without the help of the added space taken up by these bags. If I sound bitter (surprise), it’s because it’s after midnight and I’ve been walking all day, being jabbed in the ankles and tripping over rollybags. Though I suppose had there been no rollybags I would have just been tripping over people, but that’s a different neurosis. It was worth it, as I saw a lot of really cool stuff today.

Sharp
First up was Sharp’s Z20000 1080p DLP projector (pictured). It was purrrrty. They were showing Blu-ray on it. The combo looked incredible. On a 123-inch screen (or so), the extra resolution was really noticeable. Skin texture was the biggest difference. You can count the pores on someone’s face. They also let it slip that the price was going to be about $12000. They were also showing an LCD panel with an alleged contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1. I don’t know about that, but that, but it sure had a great black level. It was mostly a technology statement, but it hints at where LCD could go in the future.

Epson
Epson had a 1080p LCD RPTV. It looked really good. They also made it a point to mention that it will accept 1080p on the HDMI and RGB inputs, something that the other manufacturers are mentioning if you press them on it, but certainly not about the current generation of products. I see some irony that two historically computer companies are the only ones that are doing the resolution thing right in the CE world. This set will be out in March, and we’ll hopefully have one in to test around then.

HP
Speaking of companies that do the resolution thing right, HP was talking about a new way to do DLP rear-projection. Instead of the troublesome UHP lamps that everyone uses now, HP (and a few other companies) are going to start using an array or LEDs instead. The obvious benefits are, well, obvious. There will be no bulb to replace, and much longer lifespan. Even if you lose one LED in 50,000 hours, it will just be ever so slightly dimmer, as there are still many other LEDs creating the light. Better still, there should be less power consumption, instant on/off, and less noise (no or quieter fans). But get this; no more color wheel. Instead of shining a white light through a spinning color wheel, you’ll have red, green, and blue LEDs on the array, and flash them instead. How cool is that?

Hitachi
Not to be left behind of the other Big Three plasma makers, Hitachi showed off a 55-inch 1080p panel. Disappointingly there was no word on price or street date. For those that are still interested in picture quality, Hitachi still has three CRT RPTVs in the lineup. Get them while you still can, as they won’t be for too much longer (at least a year, probably more, but not by much).

I saw a bunch more that I’m not going to write up now (being 01:00 and all). But I will in the future. New (ok, not so new) CES motto: “Who needs sleep when you have caffeine!”

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CES: Day One Posted Fri Jan 6, 2006, 3:48 AM ET

I imagine most of you have gone to or regularly go to some kind of trade show. If you’ve never been to one, let me just say they are extreme workouts for feet and immune systems. I found that there are two groups of people at trade shows; those with an agenda, and those without. Those with have a place to be, and a limited time to get there. Those without, the lookie-loos/leaf peepers, don’t. The latter tend to walk very slowly, and stop in the middle of the narrow isles blocking the way for those with a place to be. Now, don’t get me wrong, everyone has a right to be there. I just don’t what their “there” were I need to go as I’m late for a meeting. Gawk away, just please put your blinker on, and walk to the side of a booth before stopping.

Samsung
Someone at Samsung thought it a good idea to hold a press conference in their booth on the middle of the first day of the show. The booth was already packed, there were no seats to speak of, and other than those in the front, you couldn’t see anything. I left. I’ll go back for a booth tour and let you know what they have that’s new. I did hear that they’ll have a Blu-ray player in April and a DVD player that will upconvert to 1080p. They claimed the latter a first, but I beg to differ.

Toshiba
SED was on the show floor this year, creating lines of people trying to get into the demo. It was a new demo reel, but it was the same SED. Gorgeous, but the same 37-inch panels we’ve been seeing for over a year. They did promise a 50-inch or above SED panel some time this year. I hope so. They also had the actual HD-DVD players out on the floor. The difference between the two players is a slightly different build, more interactivity, and RS232 on the more expensive player (shown above). They also promised 30 titles at launch, and 200 by years end.

Xscreen
I can’t talk too much about what I saw at Xscreen other than it is really interesting and quite innovative. Something I hadn’t seen before, and an idea I had never thought of. The company has many InFocus ex-patriots, so I think it’s a pretty safe bet to expect good things. Check out their website here.

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CES –1: Press Day Posted Thu Jan 5, 2006, 3:53 AM ET

There is a freeing moment, after you’ve shaken off the last of LA’s urban tendrils, and all that’s left is a savage high speed burn through the desert. It’s a freedom that stays with you. It stays with you till you at last come over the rise, and there before you, where no city has any right to be, is the impossibly large buildings and freshly minted sprawl that is Las Vegas. Old Ben said it best: “You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.” Gotta love it.

Press day is the day before CES actually opens, and it give us journalists a chance to gossip, whine, and kvetch while shuffling from press conference to press conference. For the most part these are like listening to the most boring teacher you had in high school, when you know they’re going to give you the test and all the answers (in the form of a press kit) at the end of class. At least this year the big press conferences had a lot of good info to present. So this list is just a quickie, as I see the products in person as the days go on, I’ll post more info. Whatever I miss, check the news section, as Darryl is going to be doing some show coverage too.

Toshiba
Toshiba’s big news was an actual date for HD-DVD: March. They even had prices, a model for $499 (HD-A1) and one for $799 (HD-XA1). The consensus among us journalists using the information given was that the major difference between the two players was $300. Thomson also announced a $499 player, for release at the end of the year. Interesting thing about Toshiba’s two HD-DVD players, no mention at all of 1080p. In fact, it specifically said 720p and 1080i. Interesting.

Pioneer
Not surprisingly, Pioneer announced a 50-inch 1080p plasma for $10,000. Don’t worry, I’m positive that will street for a lot less. They also announced a Blu-ray player for, get this, $1,800. I’ve never understood Pioneer’s pricing strategy. What are the trying to do, give us palpitations?

Sharp
XV-Z20000, a 1080p DLP front projector. Drool. They also have a bunch of interesting LCD stuff that I’ll talk more about when I see it.

Panasonic
Ever wanted a 103-inch plasma? Me either, but Panasonic made a few, was showing them, and claimed that they’ll make and sell more. My question is why? The picture above is this behemoth, the “small” plasmas above it are 65-inchers. Wrap your head around that. Speaking of 65-inch, they announced a 1080p version for later this year. No word on the 50-inch 1080p I saw at CEATEC in October.

Sony
A huge Sony booth, an hour long press conference, and even a dedicated “PlayStation 3” section, and they didn’t mention the next-gen console AT ALL. Thanks. Sony is saying they’ll have Blu-ray players by the summer. They kinda laughed at Pioneer’s pricing, just saying that theirs will be cheaper. Yeah, try $399 in the form of PS3 (allegedly). I did find out later that all of Sony Pictures releases will be 1080p native on the disc, which is pretty cool. Also, I talked them into sending me another SXRD RPTV, this time a definite production model, to finally put this whole color accuracy thing to rest. That, and they’re sending me their SXRD 1080p front projector. With any luck that review will be in the April issue.

Check back tomorrow, I’ll hopefully have more info. I’d love to be able to take requests to “see this” and “check out that,” but I don’t even have time to see all the stuff I want to see. Sorry.

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1080p Plasmas? Posted Wed Dec 28, 2005, 2:35 PM ET

We’ll skip over the fact that you don’t need 1080p in screen sizes less than 60 inches and move on. After all, I don’t think any of you care that you can’t see the extra resolution in smaller screen sizes. Honestly, I know I don’t.

At CEATEC this year several companies were showing off 1080p plasmas. In fact, you could have bought a 1080p plasma for months now. Could have, if you flew to Japan to pick it up and can read Japanese to navigate the menus. I’m sure at CES next week we’ll see 1080p plasmas all over the place.

The question is: When can we see the real deal?” I’m going to sound like an actual journalist for a second and report that “undisclosed sources” inside two of the main plasma manufactures say we should see 1080p plasmas here mid-year. Ok, so it’s not that much of a secret, but it is undeniably cool.

Oh, and it doesn’t look like much, but the picture above is a 50-inch Panasonic 1080p plasma. Next to it was a 65. They looked very pretty...

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Call Me Jaded Posted Wed Dec 21, 2005, 3:05 PM ET

Console gamers are typically younger, which is really only saying that the average age of a PC gamer is older, not that console owners are young. The games written for each platform vary to some degree, with PCs being better for first person shooters, real-time strategy, and really anything that requires patience or thought. Oops, slipped my hand there a little. Console games, and their controllers, are better for fighting games, driving games, and anything that doesn't require precise aim.

Unfortunate for us, the console market is MUCH bigger than the PC market, hence, it's where the majority of money goes. Many incredible franchises have been bastardized over the years for more success on the console side at the expense of gameplay on the PC. Ironically, almost every game that was dumbed down for its sequel for presumed better sales in the console market, did poorly across all platforms. Not surprisingly, this makes for a testy PC gamer crowd. Further irony is that because of the incredibly high licensing fees that Sony and Microsoft charge only a blockbuster success makes any money for the developer, while selling just a few hundred thousand copies on the PC side yields a profit.

Much hoopla has been made about the 360's graphics, 720p required resolution, and 5.1 surround sound. Wow, how amazing. My computer has been able to do that for years now. I've read many people's reviews on how the 360's graphics are as good if not better than the graphics in computer games. Sure, now. In a year the PC will surpass the console yet again. In four years PC graphics will look so much better than consoles, there will be no comparison (like today's PC games versus the current Xbox). That doesn't even count the fact that a decent PC today can do 1080p and 7.1 surround sound.

And what's inside the 360 anyway? A triple core 3.2 GHz PowerPC chip, ATI graphics, and in most instances, a 20-GB hard drive. If any of that looks familiar, it should. That's a computer. The only difference is that a decent computer today will be faster, have more RAM, and have a significant amount more storage space. It will also be upgradeable.

Of course, it will also be a lot more expensive. And then there's the compatibility issues, the bugs, the driver updates, the nearly instant obsolescence. . .

Oh, I get it now.

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Stop Blaming Video Games Posted Fri Dec 16, 2005, 8:37 PM ET

Unfortunately up to this point, there was nothing I could really do or say. I was considered a “biased” proponent for video games. After all, I was a gamer. As if the ratings driven news media and grandstanding politicians have nothing to gain pointing fingers. There is nothing I hate more than people bitching about something they know nothing about.

Thankfully, someone smarter and with more free time than I, actually did research to see if any of the claims made by these blowhards had anything resembling truth in them. SURPRISE! They pretty much don’t. Another biased gamer venting his opinion? Maybe so, but he’s an MIT professor, and he has sources. Sources like the FBI and the U.S. Surgeon General. But what do they know, and what do I. So here, check it out for yourself.

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Sony Color Fun Posted Mon Dec 12, 2005, 5:53 PM ET

As happens sometimes, I was sent a pre-production model for review. Personally, I hate this, as I can’t be sure what I’m seeing is what will be in the final version. In reality, and about 99% of the time, it is exactly same as the production model, minus a bit of fit and finish. After I commented about the oversaturated color, Sony said it was something in the pre-production model I had.

Since that time, I have measured a KDS-R50XBR1 for our February face off, and have talked with a colleague at a different magazine (yes, we do talk. Usually cordially) who measured another KDS-R50XBR1. The results were so close that it seems like that’s how Sony wanted the colors to look, oversaturated and all. This isn’t terribly surprising, really. I can count on one hand the number of displays that have come through here with accurate color points. Keep in mind that while the TV isn’t particularly accurate, it does look excellent. Each color is over saturated, but not “off” in any direction (i.e. red isn’t reddish orange). So everything looks really vibrant.

If I find out any new info, I’ll post it here.

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Presidential TiVo Posted Wed Dec 7, 2005, 7:36 PM ET

Now the real question is, why don’t more people have TiVo (or some other PVR)? I guess it’s a good thing that most people don’t. According to the networks and content providers, if people started fast forwarding through commercials fire and brimstone would come down from the skies, rivers and seas would boil, forty years of darkness, earthquakes, volcanoes, human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together - mass hysteria. Or something.

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