GEOFFREY MORRISON BLOG

Ok, admittedly it may not have been the coolest CES ever, as I haven’t been to them all. But it was certainly the coolest I’ve ever been too, and I’ve been to a bunch. Everyone had their next-gen 1080p display, or their Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player to demo. The least interesting had a product with a new twist on an established technology. When new and exciting twists are the least interesting thing you have to check out at a show, you’re in for a treat. Despite my whining and complaining, this show was exciting, informative, and like most shows, fun. Here’s what I checked out today. Check back later in the week. I’ll post more on some of the smaller things I saw.

Pioneer
Pioneer’s $10,000 1080p plasma will be available in June. They were playing Blu-Ray on it, which looked good. Their $1,800 Blu-ray player has network connectivity, justifying some of its price. It will play some content on your TV from elsewhere in your system. There was also some talk about the component output of Blu-ray players. Nothing is set in stone, but the current thought is that the first 1 or 2 generations of players will have 1080i out the component, but later models won’t.

Sony
The few PlayStation 3 clips they were playing looked incredible. A step above what even a good computer can do right now. Now that’s the kind of console I can get interested in, as long as there will be a new GranTurismo (pictured) soon… They also showed a 46-inch 1080p LCD with no price or release date, and a 80-or-so-inch we-can-too LCD panel. More interestingly there are 100 titles expected to be available at launch for Blu-ray. No price yet on their Blu-ray player.

Samsung
Samsung claims that you can purchase their 80-inch plasma, if you have more money than brains (my thought, not theirs). Like HP they have an LED lit DLP RPTV. It has a bulb(s) life of 20,000, will be available in April, with a price of $4000. They showed a 50-inch 1080p plasma that will be $4k-6k and a 63-inch for $10k-12k. They had a $250 DVD player that will output 1080p, and a $1000 Blu-ray player that won’t.

Westinghouse
Not a name that comes immediately to mind when you think of flat panels, but they showed a 56-inch LCD with a resolution of 3840 by 2160. They’re expecting a street price of $799… kidding. Not sure on the price, or it’s ability to handle motion, but the blueprints, x-rays, and street maps they were showing on it looked amazing. I want one anyway. Not sure what I would use it for, but I mean come on, that’s 4 times HD resolution!

One thing is for sure, I’ll have a lot to play with this year. 1080p is here, the next generation of disc is about to be here, and the next generation of console gaming is almost here. And that, my friends, is all good.