CES 2009

CES 2009 is officially over, so we can take stock of the major home video trends we saw at the show. The most obvious difference from CES 2008 is that now that HD DVD is dead, Blu-ray dominated the show like never before. While most of the major trends at the show basically matched up with our CES preview, there was one nice surprise that ended up being the Home Video Best of CES category winner.

Blu-ray trends

CES 2009 brought us the first portable Blu-ray player

If you've been confused by all the different Blu-ray profiles, you'll be happy to know that nearly all (tsk, tsk Philips) the players we saw at the show were Profile 2.0 compatible. That means you won't have to worry about buying a Blu-ray player that won't play Internet-enabled BD-Live features. We were also happy to see Blu-ray players with Wi-Fi from both LG and Samsung (via a bundled USB dongle), which also goes a long way toward making it easy for consumers to actually watch BD-Live features without dragging a long Ethernet cable to the living room. Our big miss in terms of predictions was that lack of a $150 Blu-ray player, but don't be surprised if the $200 Vizio VBR100 or Memorex MVBD-2520 hit that price point a few months after they're released.

We also saw Blu-ray break out of the strictly standalone form factor. Panasonic showed off the first portable Blu-ray player, the DMP-B15, although its 3-hour battery life seems pretty constricting. Panasonic had another first with its DMP-BD70V VHS-Blu-ray combination player, and overall we were surprised to learn that VHS still lives. The notable missing product was a U.S.-bound Blu-ray recorder, and we're starting to be skeptical that we'll see one in the first half of 2009. It's also worth noting that we saw Blu-ray built into HDTVs and HTIBs, further signaling that Blu-ray is going mainstream.

Netflix really is everywhere

As expected, we saw plenty of new products with built-in Netflix instant streaming. Blu-ray players from Samsung and LG included the feature, and we saw HDTVs with the functionality built-in too. We were also happy that other online services made their way to Blu-ray players, with LG's BD390 featuring CinemaNow, and YouTube and Samsung's BD-P4600 featuring Pandora.

No $100 Hulu box

Our biggest disappointment of CES 2009 is that there was no "$100 Hulu box." At the CNET offices, we've been talking about the mythical product for quite some time now and basically all we want is a little device that makes it easy to watch all the free online video content on our HDTV. We're still hoping this product shows up sometime in 2009, instead of waiting for CES 2010.

Sling in a DVR: The EchoStar SlingLoaded HD DVR 922

The product we didn't predict wound up winning the Best of CES award for the Home Video category: the EchoStar SlingLoaded HD DVR 922. The Slingbox's biggest weakness has always been that when someone was remotely watching their home TV, it meant the person actually in the room had to watch the same thing. The SlingLoaded HD DVR 922 gets around this by building Sling-functionality into the DVR, allowing someone to watch a program on their phone while someone is watching something else in the living room. It's also worth pointing out that the box has two ATSC tuners, providing an additional two sources for people to tune into. We also really liked the Wi-Fi-enabled LCD display that EchoStar showed, which uses Sling technology to access the 922--toss it in the kitchen or bedroom, and you get another way to access your DVR and TV programming with no pesky wires or boxes. We'll have to do a hands-on review to see how the whole system works in real-world conditions, but needless to say, it's our most anticipated home video product of 2009.

Shady video game console emulators at CES 2009--photos

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One of the interesting trends we saw at the lackluster gaming showcase at this year's CES was an abundance of Nintendo, Super Nintendo, and Sega Genesis hardware manufactured by third-party companies.

Some booths, which preferred to remain nameless, were showcasing 3-in-1 portable players as well, with slots to play all the above-mentioned consoles. All you need are the original game cartridges.

Perplexed as to how this kind of blatant patent infringement could possibly be tolerated, we asked these booth reps, "How can this be legal?" One booth rep immediately told us that "the patent for these consoles has since expired, essentially making it a free-for-all." At a different booth, a clearly uninformed rep responded, "As far as I know, all this is Kosher."

But is it? A while back in 2005 a Gamasutra article disclosed some research and uncovered that simply because a patent is expired doesn't mean protection of the patent has also. So what are these guys even doing at CES in the first place?

We'll be in touch with Nintendo for some further explanation and a statement, but as far as we can tell, some of these vendors appear to be breaking the law with these devices. We'll update this story once we hear back.

Meanwhile, check out our slide show highlighting some of these suspect products for sale from various vendors on the showroom floor.

(Credit: Mad Catz)

To celebrate the release of Street Fighter IV, Mad Catz has teamed up with Capcom in order to roll out a collection of branded FightPads and FightSticks emblazoned with various Street Fighter characters.

The FightPad and FightStick will be available for both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 platforms in addition to the Tournament Edition FightStick, which features the exact hardware found in arcade cabinets.

Look for these licensed items to go on sale next month and be sure to check out our slide show of the entire line of Street Fighter IV accessories.

Seagate just announced two new additions to the Seagate Pipeline group of hard drives made to fit in digital video recorders. The Pipeline HD mini and Pipeline HD.2 focus on acoustics to attract consumers.

Seagate managed to keep the sounds of operation down to a silent 21 decibels while at the same time increasing the amount of recyclable materials used to build the drives. Both drives are made of 50 percent recyclable materials and achieve a 52 percent power-saving improvement over its last iteration.

The Pipeline HD mini uses a 2.5-inch hard drive in either 160GB or 250GB capacities, allowing generous room to store up to 10 simultaneous stream of HD video, and the Pipeline HD.2 is Seagate's second generation of 3.5-inch DVR hard drives. The HD.2 will also be available in 250GB, 500GB, and 1TB capacities. Both drives are designed to work seamlessly with Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system.

This the card used for the photo version of Eye-Fi, but the video version will likely look similar.

For the last year or so Eye-Fi SD cards have allowed users to wirelessly upload photos straight from their digital cameras to their hard drives and photo sharing services like Flickr and Webshots. Now Eye-Fi is applying its technology to videos and YouTube.

At CES this week, Eye-Fi, inc. announced that it is developing a way for users to wirelessly upload their videos straight from their digital cameras to YouTube. There will be no need to dock your camera or even turn on a computer before millions of users are watching a video you probably had no intention of showing to anyone except the person you filmed it with. Well that's my fear anyway. Not that I shoot inappropriate videos...I'm just looking out for all you folks that do.

The company plans to implement the feature the same way it has for photos: through an SD card. Eye-Fi says it is designing the service to fully support HD video, which YouTube now also supports.

Eye-Fi, Inc will be demoing the feature this week at CES.

LG Electronics will add video streaming features from CinemaNow and YouTube to its 2009 lineup of networked Blu-ray players, the company said Tuesday.

The company will be showing off the new functionality at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) next week in Las Vegas. (Click here for CNET's complete coverage of CES 2009.)

LG launched its first network-connected Blu-ray player in July with partner Netflix. As part of the deal, viewers get access to more than 12,000 movies and TV shows from Netflix.

With Tuesday's announcement, LG Blu-ray customers will also get access to 14,000 movies and TV shows from CinemaNow. And they will be able to stream millions of Web videos directly from the Internet to an LG Network Blu-ray Player so they can watch it on their TVs.

The current economic slump is driving some consumers to and look for video content online. LG believes it can capitalize on this trend by making it easier for consumers to find entertainment online that can be viewed on their TVs.

"As millions of U.S. consumers view and download movies or TV shows through the Internet, they are demanding easier ways to access content and more home entertainment options," Tim Alessi, director of product development for LG Electronics USA, said in a statement. "From Blu-ray to instant streaming from Netflix to CinemaNow and YouTube, LG is bridging the gap between packaged media and video-on-demand services to provide entertainment solutions for consumers' demand for content."

Finally, a pair of video glasses that don't make you look like an extra on an '80s sci-fi B movie.

(Credit: Vuzix)

There's little doubt that as we inch closer to the technological singularity, video-enabled glasses will play a part. Unfortunately, manufacturers have yet to produce a pair that don't make you look like a complete idiot, and bionic eye camera implants still seem a ways off.

Luckily, the folks at Vuzix must have grown tired of all the Geordi La Forge jokes, as their latest pair of video glasses look astonishingly normal. While there's no guarantee that the Vuzix Wrap 920AV won't induce muffled laughter from everyone around you, they do promise to combine virtual reality capabilities and augmented reality features into one of the least obnoxious designs we've seen yet. The Wrap 920AV glasses will supposedly connect with almost any media player, and include built in headphones and individual focal adjustments.

No word on pricing or exact specs, but more details are sure to be revealed at CES.

For the last few years, the format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray monopolized home video coverage at CES. Now that HD DVD is dead, we can finally get back to focusing on new technology, rather than which studios are backing which format. Blu-ray should have a big presence, along with its new competitors, Internet-powered video-on-demand boxes.

Blu-ray goes mainstream

Blu-ray isn't just for home theater geeks anymore.

It's hard to believe, but just one year ago, HD DVD was selling tons of $99 players, Blu-ray players cost an unreasonable $400 or more, and we were advising buyers to hold off going Blu because the format wasn't quite ready yet. Since then, Blu-ray has made huge leaps, with standalone players available for less than $250 and a feeling of inevitability in the consumer electronics world.

That trend is likely to continue, with Blu-ray becoming truly mainstream in 2009. We wouldn't be shocked to see a $150 standalone Blu-ray player announced or home theater systems with built-in Blu-ray hitting the $500-and-below price point.

On the innovation side, we have to imagine we'll see standalone players start including Wi-Fi rather than the standard Ethernet connection. This will make it easier to access not only BD-Live, but also any additional streaming services available, such as Netflix or Pandora streaming. 2009 maybe also be the year we see Blu-ray recorders hit the US, although if the rumors are true prices are likely to pretty high. Less likely, but still possible, would be some early attempts at portable Blu-ray players, allowing you to take your new movie collection on the road.

Netflix is everywhere

The end of 2008 has seen a string of new devices featuring support for Netflix's Instant Streaming functionality, including Blu-ray players, TiVos and even the Xbox360. This year we expect to see the Netflix Instant Streaming logo on nearly everything with a video output, including budget HTIBs and possibly even some DVD players. The biggest announcement in this area would be Netflix announcing substantial deals to get more titles available for streaming, but that's probably unlikely.

The $100 Hulu box

It's become obvious to nearly everyone that one of the next big things in the home video space is finding a way to make online video content easy to access in your living room. Around CNET offices, it's referred to as "the Hulu box" and we fully expect companies to roll out hardware that tries to accomplish this. While the SlingCatcher already does this to some extent, it costs $300--we're more interested in a low-cost ($100) solution, using something like the boxee software to get our internet video fix. We also wouldn't be shocked to see to see existing products like the TiVo HD or Xbox 360 get upgrades in this direction.

Wireless HDMI materializes from the vapor?

In our CES wrap-up blog last year, we speculated that "wireless in-home HD video is getting closer to the mass market." Oops. Aside from Sony's super-expensive DMX-WL1 and Samsung's "wireless plasma", basically all the products we saw last year never came to fruition. Given how little progress was made in making the wireless dream a reality, this prediction is probably more of a wish, but we'll definitely at least see companies promising this technology.

The Kama Wireless Nunchuk was our favorite gaming product from last year's show.

(Credit: Nyko)

While last year's CES didn't offer much in terms of gaming, it would appear that CES 2009 has a lot more in store. This is partially thanks to the Nintendo Wii, which has not only solidified itself as the best-selling console of this generation, but because the system lends itself so well to third-party accessories. We expect to see plenty of new products announced exclusively for the Wii from companies like Mad Catz and Nyko.

It's possible that Microsoft may reveal some new info regarding the Xbox 360 hardware. Rumors of a Blu-ray drive continue to swirl, so it's always a long shot.

Sony will certainly have a presence at this year's CES, so we hope to see some new information regarding the console as well. With the PlayStation 3 now in full swing, we'd imagine the company will show off some first-party accessories, possibly even an announcement about Remote Play, which lets you use your PSP along with your PS3 in real-time gaming scenarios.

With Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 both heavily invested in digital media, we think a lot of third-party manufacturers will announce new solutions for managing your content as well as new ways to stream the multimedia to your console of choice.

Of course we expect to see dozens of new entries for all consoles in terms of charging solutions and alternative game controllers, so be sure to check with us every day of the event for the latest and greatest from the showroom floor.