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Home Theater Geeks PodcastCES 2012
Podcast 95: CES 2012 Wrapup
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 19, 2012

Home-theater consultant Ray Coronado and HomeTheater.com correspondents Tom Norton and Barb Gonzalez join me to discuss our impressions of CES last week, including OLED TVs, 4K flat panels, 3D, online streaming, audio, answers to chat-room questions, and more.

Run Time: 1:01:48

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New Products
Shure's New High-End Headphones: Meet the SRH1440 and SRH1840
Michael Berk  |  Jan 19, 2012

The months of online speculation have been resolved today with Shure's official announcement (at the 2012 NAMM show) of the SRH1440 ($399) and SRH1840 ($699) full-sized, over-the-ear, open-back headphones.

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CES 2012
Samsung OLED TV
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 19, 2012
No doubt about it, the 55-inch OLED TVs from Samsung (shown here) and LG stole the show for me. (Yes, there were a lot of 4K flat panels as well, but without 4K content, they are not all that important except for passive-glasses 3D.) This is the first new TV technology to become a real commercial product in many years, and it beats LCD and plasma in every way. Both manufacturers claim to have solved OLED's longevity problem, but only time will tell if they actually have.

No pricing was announced—nor was a model number in Samsung's case—but I've heard rumors from $5000 to $10,000. If it's closer to $5000, that will be a home run right out of the gate; if it's more like $10,000, these TVs will be a niche product until the next generation brings the price down.

CES 2012
LG EM9600 OLED TV
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 19, 2012
For me, the stars of CES 2012 were the 55-inch OLED TVs from LG (seen here) and Samsung, which both companies promise will be available as actual retail products later this year. Like the Samsung, the LG EM9600 is a mere 4 millimeters thick with the electronics in the base, but if you want to wall-mount it, some of that base will have to come along, increasing the effective depth. The picture quality is absolutely stunning, with truly infinite blacks and vibrant colors. Given that OLED is infamous for degrading over a relatively short time—especially blue—will those colors last? LG claims they will, and I certainly hope they're right.
CES 2012
Google TV Makes a Comeback
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 19, 2012
Photo by Barb Gonzalez
After failing miserably last year, Google TV has risen phoenix-like from the ashes to become an important part of several major companies' IPTV strategy. As you may recall, Google TV tried to integrate streaming services with broadcast and pre-recorded DVR content into a unified Android environment, but the user interface was clunky, and too many services blocked access from that particular platform.

Now, it seems Google TV is getting a second chance from LG, Sony, and Vizio, all of whom introduced products that include the service. LG announced two LED-LCD TVs (LMG860 and LMG620; LG's Android Market interface shown above), while Sony unveiled the NSZ-GP9 Blu-ray player and NSZ-GS7 network media player (a media-streaming box like Roku). Interestingly, Sony had a TV with Google TV last year, but not at this year's show. Vizio introduced three LED-LCD TVs with Google TV (R3D470VS, R3D550VS, and R3D650SV) along with the VBR430 Blu-ray player and VAP430 streamer box.

CES 2012
DEG Awards
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 19, 2012
Each year at CES, the Digital Entertainment Group (DEG), an industry-funded, nonprofit organization that promotes the benefits of home-entertainment products, holds a reception to honor the winners of several awards voted upon by its members as well as journalists such as myself. This year marked the group's 15th annual event, which was held at the XS nightclub in the Encore hotel. And the winners are...
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Tech2
There and Back Again: A Journey to CES and Mercifully Home, in Photos
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Jan 18, 2012

Another CES over. Trucks loaded, booths demolished, spaces cleared to make room for the next trade show.

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CES 2012
Altec Lansing Live 5000 Wi-Fi Speaker
Michael Berk  |  Jan 18, 2012

Altec-Lansing showed us a very interesting new spin on their inAir concept at CES. The new device resembles the existing inAir 5000 AirPlay speaker - but the resemblance is only skin deep.

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CES 2012
Panasonic Smart Viera
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 18, 2012
Panasonic's latest incarnation of the connected-TV paradigm is called Smart Viera, which includes not only movies and TV shows but social media, such as Twitter, Facebook, Skype, and the newly resurrected MySpace. Users can load apps from the Viera Connect Market, and a new graphical user interface makes control easier than ever. One app of particular interest is Flixster, which implements UltraViolet, the emerging service for storing your purchased movies and TV shows in the cloud, watching them on a variety of devices, and sharing them with up to six family members or friends.
CES 2012
Panasonic LED-LCD TVs
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 18, 2012
Whereas Panasonic used to make only small LCD TVs and large plasmas with no overlapping screen sizes, that is no longer true. New for 2012 are four series of large-screen, LED-edgelit LCD TVs (flagship to entry-level right to left above)—WT50 (47 and 55 inches), DT50 (47 and 55 inches), ET5 (42, 47, and 55 inches), and E50 (42, 47, and 55 inches). All use IPS (in-plane switching) LCD panels for wider viewing angles, and they offer Viera Connect online content apps.

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