CES 2009

Regza has been a huge seller for Toshiba, growing their panel business by 350%. Over the last few years. Toshiba will be concentrating on providing solutions between $500 and $2,500 where they think the biggest market exists. Like LG, Toshiba realizes that cosmetic design is key for consumers these days. And to think, we used to put walnut encased CRT tubes in our living rooms. Yeech!

Well the answer to that questions appears to be 9mm. Pioneer intent is to have your next HDTV appear to be floating on the wall. Kuro's slim bezel flat panel HDTV is pretty cool looking, appearing to be a thin sheet of glass.

Also, Pioneer is making the claim they have made a major breakthrough in contrast ratio. Its so amazing that it is beyond measurement. They call it the Extreme Contrast Concept Model and it eliminates all idling luminance. Can't wait to actually get a demo of it.

I was up at the crack of dawn to make sure I made it to LG Electronics annual 8am press conference. One of the major announcements was their commitment to quality audio performance to accompany their high definition flat panel TVs. Audio has never been a major product category for LG Electronics so this new venture is extremely ambitious. They have partnered with legendary audio designer, Mr. Mark Levinson. Together they have collaborated on the development of two new home theater products that deliver enhanced sound quality accented by a stylish design.

The AP3133 is a high-definition AV home theater system featuring multi-driver floor standing loudspeakers, a center channel speaker, surrounds, and powered subwoofer. The system includes a 7.1-channel AV receiver with 150Watts X 7 , Burr-Brown PCM 1796 24bit/192kHz DAC, multi-input HDMI switching with near 1080p upscaling [whatever that means] and Audyssey Auto Room Multi EQ Adjustment. Moreover it is built around LG’s “Super Blu” dual-format player. However, since WB's recent announcement to go Blu and drop HD-DVD, it may not matter much.

The LHT888 was inspired by the slim elegant form of the champagne glass, which can be seen in the loudspeakers unique parabolic housing and tapered integrated pedestal. The system includes a 700W 5.1-channel DVD receiver with near 1080p upscaling, a built-in wireless kit, HDMI output and LG's SimpLink™ multi-device control (HDMI-CEC) and multi-format playback compatibility.

There were no images in the press kit and it wasn't until I left the standing room only crowd did I learn there was some demo models off the side of the stage. So the image here is just from a banner behind the podium. I hope to hear a sample of both systems at some point in the show, so I can provide more details and images.

LG demonstrated what may be the most exciting at the show. Mobile-Pedestrian-Handheld (MPH) technology piggy backs TV broadcasting to handheld mobile phones over fringe portions of existing DTV broadcasts. Working with Harris Corporation, a leader in communication infrastructure technology, you'll be able to watch Seinfield reruns on your phone for free or watch a premium service. While there's no anticipation that this is going to be high-def (hell, I'd settle for the right aspect ratio), it's going to be really, really hot.