GEOFFREY MORRISON BLOG

I imagine most of you have gone to or regularly go to some kind of trade show. If you’ve never been to one, let me just say they are extreme workouts for feet and immune systems. I found that there are two groups of people at trade shows; those with an agenda, and those without. Those with have a place to be, and a limited time to get there. Those without, the lookie-loos/leaf peepers, don’t. The latter tend to walk very slowly, and stop in the middle of the narrow isles blocking the way for those with a place to be. Now, don’t get me wrong, everyone has a right to be there. I just don’t what their “there” were I need to go as I’m late for a meeting. Gawk away, just please put your blinker on, and walk to the side of a booth before stopping.

Samsung
Someone at Samsung thought it a good idea to hold a press conference in their booth on the middle of the first day of the show. The booth was already packed, there were no seats to speak of, and other than those in the front, you couldn’t see anything. I left. I’ll go back for a booth tour and let you know what they have that’s new. I did hear that they’ll have a Blu-ray player in April and a DVD player that will upconvert to 1080p. They claimed the latter a first, but I beg to differ.

Toshiba
SED was on the show floor this year, creating lines of people trying to get into the demo. It was a new demo reel, but it was the same SED. Gorgeous, but the same 37-inch panels we’ve been seeing for over a year. They did promise a 50-inch or above SED panel some time this year. I hope so. They also had the actual HD-DVD players out on the floor. The difference between the two players is a slightly different build, more interactivity, and RS232 on the more expensive player (shown above). They also promised 30 titles at launch, and 200 by years end.

Xscreen
I can’t talk too much about what I saw at Xscreen other than it is really interesting and quite innovative. Something I hadn’t seen before, and an idea I had never thought of. The company has many InFocus ex-patriots, so I think it’s a pretty safe bet to expect good things. Check out their website here.