CES 2010 latest news

With its unique design, built-in BD-Live Blu-ray player, Netflix onboard, and Wi-Fi compatibility, the Samsung HT-BD7200 encapsulated cutting-edge home theater this year.

(Credit: Samsung)

The 2009 Consumer Electronics Show is history. As far as the home audio world is concerned, the product lineup and trends were pretty much right in line with our predictions.

Wireless speakers: Panasonic showcased the SC-ZT1, a unique "4.4" speaker system with wireless speakers (except for that pesky power cord, of course). But the bigger trend was wireless subwoofers: Samsung, Philips, and Polk Audio (among others) all showed surround systems with wireless subs, enabling more flexibility when placing them in the room.

Network audio: Whether it was more affordable tabletop Internet radios from the likes of Sanyo and Acoustic Research or impressive streaming audio systems from Linksys or Philips, network audio was on the rise in 2009. If you don't want a dedicated network audio product, that's OK; products like Samsung's Blu-ray home theater systems have Pandora streaming built-in, obviating the need for other hardware. And the pre-CES announcement that Apple's iTunes Store is going DRM-free means that all major music download purchases are now basically free of copy protection, making streaming between multiple devices easier than ever.

iPod- and iPhone-ready: Compatibility for Apple's iPod is essentially ubiquitous, but manufacturers are offering some incremental improvements. LG and Panasonic are including slide-out iPod docks (rather than add-on cabled cradles) on many of their home theater systems, while Pioneer's AV receivers offer improved on-TV screen navigation for attached iPods and iPhones.

Blu-ray compatibility: Samsung and Panasonic offered the first home theater systems with built-in Blu-ray players in 2008, but they were expensive systems that were full of compromises (namely, the older Blu-ray spec). The picture is much improved for 2009: systems from JVC, Panasonic, LG, and Samsung are all Profile 2.0 (BD-Live) compliant, and many offer additional content from the Internet (Netflix and Pandora on Samsung; Netflix, YouTube, and CinemaNow on LG; Amazon and YouTube on Panasonic). Samsung upped the ante with Wi-Fi options available via an add-on dongle.

Single-speaker audio and virtual surround: Another trend that's showing no sign of abating in 2009 is single-speaker and virtual surround systems. Polk Audio, Samsung, Philips, Panasonic, LG, and Sharp were among the manufacturers showing either speakerbars, 2.1, or other configurations that aim to deliver a 5.1- or 7.1-channel experience from one, two, or four speakers. A related trend: more audio systems are being touted as wall-mountable, presumably to sit underneath a wall-mounted flat-panel TV.

The high-end: While we mostly stuck with mainstream brands and products, rest assured that there were plenty of high- and superhigh-end audio products on display at this year's show--everything from $1,400 headphones to stereo systems that cost $300k.

CNET chose the Pioneer VSX-819H AV receiver, the Panasonic SC-ZT1 wireless speaker system, and the Samsung HT-BD7200 Blu-ray home theater system as the finalists in the Best of CES Home Audio category. The Pioneer receiver delivers an impressive feature list (three HDMI inputs, lossless Blu-ray audio decoding, onscreen iPod navigation) for less than $300--one of the best bang for your bucks, and especially compelling given our current economic woes. The Panasonic represented an interesting approach to wireless speakers. And the Samsung (pictured above) was an impressive combination of trends that encapsulated the show: Blu-ray Profile 2.0, virtual surround sound, built-in support for network services (Pandora, Netflix), along with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth compatibility, all wrapped up in a unique-looking design.

Is plasma dead yet? Not if Panasonic can help it.

(Credit: Panasonic)

The television category is a perennial CES staple and this year was no different. For some reason nobody showed a TV bigger than Panasonic's 150-inch plasma from last year (have we maxed out in flat-panel screen size?), but most of the other trends I discussed in the preview were borne out in the show's extensive announcements. Here's my take on what CES 2009 bodes for HDTV this year.

Plasma ain't dead yet.
I get more than my share of e-mails, and have seen plenty of blog comments and forum posts that are quick to claim the demise of plasma at the hands of LCD. Judging from CES announcements by companies that comprise the "big three" of plasma--Panasonic, LG and Samsung--those big glass flat panels have a brighter future than Detroit, at least.

Panasonic, by far the biggest and most-committed of the group, bragged about its newest plasma factory (No. 5) coming online, and showed its largest plasma lineup ever, with five new series and a new 54-inch screen size. I'm really excited to review the company's new "NEO PDP" panels, the first of which, members of the S1 series, will ship in March. They boast significantly improved black-level performance and contrast ratios, according to the company, yet manage to cut power consumption in half. If the latter claim proves true, LCD will lose perhaps its biggest arrow in the antiplasma quiver (at least among consumers who care about the planet and are savvy enough to ignore the nonissues).

Absent any announcements by Pioneer (which will come in late spring, most likely), Panasonic's G10 series is probably the surest bet for Editors' Choice of any TV I saw at the show. That's why I awarded it Best of CES in the TV category. In case you're wondering, however, all of the Neo PDP panels, including the least-expensive S1, share the same basic picture-quality specs.... Read More

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.

If you've been keeping up with my monitor blog posts from CES 2009, there's one term you've probably heard tossed around more any other: "Full HD."

Samsung's LED-based 2370L is more than a little easy on the eyes.

(Credit: Eric Franklin/CBS Interactive)

Yes, Full HD was the buzzword for monitors this year. Full HD basically means a monitor has a 16:9 aspect ratio screen--as opposed to a 16:10--and either supports 1920x1080 (1080p) resolution natively or is at least compatible. All of the monitor vendors I covered this year had either their full lineup moving to 16:9 or at least the majority of it.

The reason for moving to Full HD is that monitors can then display 1080p content, like movies and broadcast sports, without requiring the be stretched or shrunken to fit the screen.

The second trend I noticed was more a lack of a trend. Of the vendors I covered, Samsung and Dell were the only vendors to debut new monitors with LED backlights. This surprised me, as the industry has been hyping LED backlight for the last year at least as the next big thing.

Going into CES green was already the new black, out now it seems we are approaching the pinnacle as far as green thinking goes. Dell launched a new line of eco-conscious monitors, and LG showed off how much power you can save from going green.

I first started hearing about stereoscopic monitors last year and I finally got to see them in action last week. Both Samsung and Viewsonic showed off their 120Hz stereoscopic displays. Through the use of 3D glasses--and a few other requirements--stereoscopic screens make 3D games to get, well more 3D.

What you actually see, though, is an enhanced depth perception, where the background looks further away and the foreground looks closer. Kind of delivering on the promise of old "3D" movies like The Creature from the Black Lagoon 3-D. And yes, I'm still bitter. The stereoscopic displays are probably the ones I'm looking forward to the most to test of the next couple months.

Thanks to Samsung, you'll be able to connect your monitor to your laptop via wireless.

(Credit: Eric Franklin/CBS Interactive)

As for overall innovation, the title of winner has to go to Samsung. It had by far the most eclectic mix of monitors on display. With its stereoscopic screen monitor, an LED monitor that actually takes advantage of the technology, monitors built for laptops that even work wirelessly and other more aesthetic things like sparkling crystal necks. Bottom line: it's difficult to make monitors exciting, but Samsung was at least taking some chances with display technology.

The last trend has nothing really to do with monitors, but more with vendors themselves. They were branching out. Viewsonic announced a Netbook, an all-in-one PC, and the PC that attaches itself to monitors.

BenQ also has an all-in-one PC coming that's targeted at seniors and children and the first projector that can run solely from a USB thumb drive.

While this year's showing wasn't great for monitors, there were just enough innovations to keep me excited (and working) til mid year at least.