Epson demonstrated its top of the line ProCinema 7500UB LCD projector at CEDIA. It looked excellent there, but after undergoing further refinements to smooth out some pre-production wrinkles, its finally ready for prime time, with one of the best-looking images at the show. With a claimed native contrast ratio of 6000:1, it didn't appear to need the help of a dynamic iris (though it has one) to produce convincingly deep and rich blacks. Worked great with an anamorphic lens, too, on a 101" wide Stewart Studiotek 130 projection screen. The projector uses an HQV REON processor, has a full color management system, red, green, and blue-only modes for setup, and a claimed tight color alignment of the three panels. The best part may be the $4199 price.
Why is that man wearing sun glasses indoors? They aren't sunglasses, those are 3D goggles. While none of the companies demonstrating 3D-capable TVs were prepared to make any projections as to when product might actually hit the retail shelves, it was a common attraction at a good number of exhibits.
SIM2's Domino 60 single-chip 1080p DLO was making sweet pictures on a 2.35:1 screen together with a static anamorphic lens from Panamorph. The projector can process the image so that a conventional 1.78:1 image will be properly proportioned when it passes through the lens. $8300 for the projector and Panamorph (the projector is also available separately).
Got $36,495 burning a hole in your pocket? SIM2 has an answer in the new C3X Lumis HOST. According to SIM2, this 1080p, compact 3-chip DLP projector produces excellent blacks thanks to its Dynamic Black auto iris and modulated projection lamp. The "host" part is an outboard processor/input switching box included in the price (not shown in the photo). It did produce an outstanding image.
All 650 Series and higher Samsung TV's will have a USB port for plugging in memory, both flash and larger hard drives for accessing music, movies, and photos.
While only designed for entertainment purposes at the show, this tabletop using Microsoft Surface, allows multiple windows to be open (like a browser). Windows can be moved around with one finger. Place them where ever you like, then pinch or expand them to change the window size. Video can be played on each window individually or all at once, just touch the play/pause key. The forward thinking technology of the movies (remember Minority Report?) may be a reality soon.
Panasonic's TCP54Z1 is a only 1-inch thick and weights 67 pounds, However, that is only the beginning of it's impressive attributes. It is also wireless, receiving its signal from a separate receiver, where you plug in your video components. It also integrates Viera Cast, providing access via the TVs menu to Internet sites with icons for YouTube, Picassa photo sharing, plus other widgets.
Other than integrating the Rhapsody music service into the Escient Vision media center, the company had little news for CES. However, they said they were awaiting Sony's announcement of a Blu-ray changer with the capacity of 400 discs. The Escient system will be capable of integrating four changers, for access to 1,600 Blu-rays. At present, there probably aren't that many BD discs on the market, so the system can grow along with your library.
LG offers two Network Attached Storage (NAS) drives to hold movies, photos, and music. They are perfect for using with the broadband TVs. The N481 accepts up to four swappable drives and the N281is smaller with capacity for 2 drives. The size of the drives can be whatever you choose and both drives have built-in Blu-ray writers.
LG's wireless TV system includes the 55LH85 Full HD 1080p LCD HDTV and an AV media box. The only cable to the TV is the power cord. All components are plugged into the media box which connect to the TV wirelessly, and transfers uncompressed 1080p signals up to 30 feet away, at a bit rate of 3Gbps.