CES 2010 latest news
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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.
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.
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