AVRant #36: Live from CES 2008
Live(ish) from the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Clint, Gene, and Tom talk about some of the great (and not so great) products that they’ve seen including HD DVD news, Blu-ray player pricing dropping, wireless HDMI, HDMI over coaxial cable… In fact, it seemed that everyone wanted to send HDMI over just about anything BUT HDMI. We also saw some really high resolution displays that were essentially four 1080p monitors combined into one single screen. Toshiba worked the cell processor (yes, the one in the Playstation 3) into some very unique video processing features to enhance standard definition picture, and LCD and plasma are getting thinner – way thinner. Tom talks about his favorite product of the show which was a gaming device that, in our opinion, could change the way every first-person shooter (FPS) is played. Projectors were at CES, but we were particularly impressed by some new commercial short-throw systems that could throw down a large image onto a wall from just about 12-inches away. New AV receivers from Pioneer are bringing features like HDMI switching down to the $249 price point and 1080p Faroudja-based HDMI upconversion and HD audio decoding to just over $500. Dish network has a few new products including coupon-eligible digital converter box as well as a DVR upgrade box to upgrade your HD receiver to an HD-DVR. THX introduces a new video calibration program, and Gene gives us a breakdown of some cool high-end audio products he saw at the Venetian as well as some of the items that were, shall we say, not as impressive.
Make sure you check out the full coverage on Audioholics.
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30″ Pizza! Now that is exciting!
1) If Blu-Ray is in, when does the average consumer purchase a Blu-Ray player? Most people aren’t going to spend $299 for a DVD player.
2) What does one do with the HD DVD player purchased for Christmas? Use it as a plant stand?
So what you are saying is that companies are going to quit making HD DVDs? They will make them in basic format for most of the population and then also in Blu-Ray for those few consumers that actually want great movie quality? is this right?
What did people do with their laserdisc players? Where are your parents’ 8-tracks?
When the next big studio jumps ship, HD DVD will be relegated to the annals of history as a failed consumer format. Microsoft won’t be able to buy them back into significance. In fact, it’s likely Microsoft was knowingly playing both sides of the coin when it (to-date) refused to integrate HD DVD into a higher-model of Xbox 360.
RIP HD-DVD 🙁
I should have know that once Tom get a player the game is over.
No doubt.
RIP HD-DVD. Yay! 🙂 Now I don’t have to buy a dual player.
Personally I couldn’t care less which one died as long as one gave up the ghost sooner rather than later. Now, maybe, high def DVD’s may take off when the fence sitters start to buy and there’s less confusion in the market,
Didn’t you guys get to see the new Pio concept super black plasma demo?
I saw something like that at CES but our contact at Pio didn’t mention it when we were in the booth. Marketing people suck.