So it finally happened. The BETA - VHS battle of the 21st century, Blu-Ray v. HD DVD gets settled by none other than WalMart. Hard to figure this decision. Why make a choice in a technological environment that about having many choices?
Not that anything’s wrong with Blu-Ray, it’s beautiful and perhaps superior to HD DVD, but why would WalMart piss off all those Best Buy customers (who represent the same market) and make all those HD DVDs they got for Christman obsolete? Way too much power in the hands of one company.
Our best advice - buy a PS3, which doubles as a BluRay player. That way you get Guitar Hero and all your movies all in one.
Pioneer ups the quality factor in what it’s much better known for - music. Along with new products for launched the new flagship Pioneer Elite SC-09TX AV receiver, one of the best affordable high end receivers on the market.
Navigation and multimedia control in a single after market package.
The Argo Cinema 2 3D Private Viewer, billed as the world’s first private entertainment system, takes the idea of tuning out to a new level. An inspired mesh of 3D glasses meets earphones meets DVD player, the Argo’s screen can only be seen by you, letting you watch R-rated movies on the airplane without getting dirty looks from the person sitting next to you. From company 22moo International. The set will retail at $549.00.
From 3DV Systems, the ZCam uses high speed, high resolution body-tracing technology and uses it to eliminate both the gaming system and the controllers from video gaming. The system captures your real time movements and puts you image in the game in 3D. In this demonstration, a tester challenges a boxer blow for blow.
ZCame doubles as a web conferencing tool, but that’s nowhere near as fun.
The HT-X715, Samsung’s solution for small room all-in-one surround home theater systems.
Aside from the ability to watch Thelma on Good Times in lifesize, there are other practical applications of 108″ of TV screen: The Aquos Wall. With the Wall technology, Sharp comes up with about the closest thing to actual interactive television, by turning the screen into a widget-based interface, similar to the dashboard on a Mac. In this formation, the TV monitor function shrinks to 52″ while web-connected screen widgets pull down news, weather, calendars, photos, maps and other useful content from the web.
*A clear Contender for My Coolest Things at CES
Most popular photo opportunity, other than the booth girls - the 8-foot tall Ironman prototype from the upcoming movie, in the LG booth.
A lovely bunch of flowers. Well, yes, but this a picture of the screen of a new Sharp high contrast HD LCD TV prototype with the most incredible color of anything in the show. A crowd of admirers stand in front of it every few minutes and just murmur to themselves “Omigod, Omigod.” Sharp is known for its deep blacks, but this is in abyss deep - a jaw-dropping 100,000:1 contrast ratio. For comparison, that flat screen in your basement is - if you’re real lucky - no more than 30,000 to 1, more likely 5000:1.
LG, the electronics company that’s been popping out of nowhere to get serious attention in the affordable high end market has teamed up with audio design guru Mark Levinson on a series of all-in-one home theater systems that your normal HTIB (home theater in a box) can’t hold a candle to. The focus here is not only on sound but (as is this year’s trend), a real look toward integrating home theater design into the current state of home decor - i.e. - chick friendly so guys can spend the milk money without sleeping on the couch.
