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CES 2014
M-Go Premium App to Stream 4K/Ultra HD
Barb Gonzalez  |  Jan 08, 2014
Samsung showed a 4K UHD TV with the M-Go Premium App. This app will stream 4K movie titles to the TV. It also will stream titles that have been “optimized for 4K.” These are movies that were not shot in 4k, but because M-Go is owned by Technicolor, the titles have been optimized in the lab and made available for streaming. While M-Go limited their announcement to Samsung TVs, it was clear (yet unspoken) that the Premium service will extend to other manufacturers’ UHD TVs.
CES 2014
Hisense Shows Roku TV
Barb Gonzalez  |  Jan 08, 2014
Roku has joined forces with Chinese TV manufacturer, Hisense to offer a Roku TV. When the TV is first turned on, it will display a Roku home page similar to the menu on a Roku Box streaming device
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CES 2014
iLuv Rocks the SyrenPro, Wavecast, and Rollick Portable Speakers
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Jan 08, 2014
iLuv offers a plethora of portable wireless Bluetooth speakers. Not surprisingly, at CES, they expanded their lineup in this popular category. In particular, three portable speakers caught my eye: the SyrenPro, Wavecast, and Rollick.

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CES 2014
NYNE Aqua Bluetooth Speaker Floats Your Boat
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Jan 08, 2014
Okay, there are lots of portable Bluetooth speakers. LOTS. But sometimes you need one that has special capabilities, or at least looks cooler than all the others. Enter the NYNE Aqua speaker.

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CES 2014
Welcome to the Hi-Res Music World, Part Three: Retailers
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Jan 08, 2014
The third (and final) installment of the Hi-Res panels brought together experts from the retailing side of the business. Each panelist has a footprint in the hi-res market, and is knowledgeable of the inner workings of the market. They discussed ways to promote and retail hi-res products. Also on the agenda were challenges such as the need to demo hi-res playback to customers, and ways to educate and engage young generations of listeners.

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CES 2014
Samsung Goes Wide
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 08, 2014
I tried to get a glimpse of Samsung’s curved 105-inch 2.35:1 widescreen TV on the show floor, but in the Samsung booth was packed and the area around the set inaccessible. But I got a later look at a closed-room Samsung demo. On the left here, to provide a size perspective, is Samsung’s Mike Wood—a one-time regular at Home Theater who has now forsaken balmy Southern California for the cold, windswept snowdrifts of the Garden State, where Samsung has its U.S. headquarters. On the right is current Sound & Vision editor in chief Rob Sabin.
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CES 2014
Samsung Adds Depth
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 08, 2014
Samsung’s new Auto Depth Enhancer, on its 9000 and S9 Ultra HD sets, analyzes different areas of the screen and adjusts their contrast separately to provide a greater illusion of depth with 2D sources. In a side-by-side comparison with one of Samsung’s 2013 sets, it definitely worked. There was a bit of the cardboard cutout 3D look, but since the depth enhancement, while appealing, was subtle, this wasn’t bothersome.
CES 2014
Samsung Goes Smart
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 08, 2014
Samsung has redesigned its smart remote for 2014. It offers voice, motion, and direct control as before, but with enhanced usability. The Smart Hub feature it controls now will let you surf the web as you watch TV and multitask in a split screen mode. Manufacturers have determined that most TV viewers are surfing the web on their computers and/or using their smart phones to talk, text, or surf as they watch TV. The show was alive with redesigned Internet TV features to satisfy this increasingly ADD social trend.
CES 2014
Sharp Goes Flat
Thomas J. Norton  |  Jan 08, 2014
While curved HDTVs appeared to be the order of the week at CES, particularly among Korean giants LG and Samsung (see above), Sharp stuck with flat screens for its impressively wide 2014 lineup of both Ultra HD and standard 1080p HD (the operative industry word for the latter now appears to be “Full HD”).
CES 2014
Cutting-Edge Automotive Tech Wows CES Showgoers
Bob Ankosko  |  Jan 08, 2014
Over the years International CES has become a melting pot of every imaginable consumer technology. The show has been a showcase for aftermarket car stereo and entertainment since the ’70s and has in recent years evolved into a showcase for new-car tech—from superbly integrated and great sounding entertainment systems to sophisticated sensors and head-up displays to Internet and Bluetooth connectivity, and more. From BMW to Chrysler, a record nine automakers are occupying 140,000 square feet of exhibit space at 2014 CES, many with booths reminiscent of the New York Auto Show. Let’s take a look…
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