CES 2010

The weather in Las Vegas is ideal with slightly chilly mornings, light to moderate winds and clear skies that allow visibility for dozens of miles. This view taken from the 30th floor of the Hilton Hotel is looking northeast past Nellis Air Force Base in the distance and towards the barren Nevada desert. The image at the top of the photo is a reflection of a chandelier in the glass, not a UFO. Area 51 is many miles from here.

For years it was all about Home Theater, however, its clear the home entertainment experience is going way beyond that. D-Box uses transducers and motion sensing algorithms to bring a new dimension to watching movies and playing video games. The chairs are not only comfortable for playing your favorite driving games, they pull you into the action as you feel every curve and bump in the road. The chairs range from $3K to $15K. They also make home theater chairs with motion sensing. Also, get ready for the D-Box experience in your local theater, with the upcoming release of the Fast and Furious.

French projector maker DreamVision is known for very high-end—and high-cost—front projectors, but its new Dream'E bucks this trend with a retail price of only $5300. Sporting a curvaceous shell, the projector uses Sony SXRD imaging chips with a custom light engine. It can also accommodate a fixed Panamorph anamorphic lens for a package price of only $9600 or a Schneider lens with sled for a price yet to be determined. There are three user memories per input and no dynamic iris, examples of a philosophy I share.

Italian SIM2 is another company known for ultra-high-end projectors, including the new and improved flagship HT5000E introduced at CES with three DarkChip 4 DMDs. If you have to ask how much, you can't afford it, but I'll tell you anyway—$66,000 for the projector with your choice of 16:9 lens. If you want the ISCO 3 anamorphic lens and sled, that'll be another $15,500. The projector looked spectacular on a 116" Da-Lite Affinity screen. The single-chip Domino D60 (pictured) is more down to earth at $5000, and adding a Panamorph anamorphic lens and sled with mounting bracket brings the total cost to $9000.

Focal of France showed their new 814V 2 1⁄2-way bass reflex tower speaker with one 6 1⁄2" woofer, a 6 1⁄2" mid-bass driver and a 1" inverted dome tweeter. The gloss black finish on the 814V is designed to complement a flat panel television with a gloss black bezel. The 814V is available now with a suggested retail price of $1795/pair.

The Digital Experience is an annual press event held at the Mirage that showcases the latest in mobile digital devices, computer peripherals and anything that is, well...digital. AV components are typically not part of the event, but this year Samsung showed two unique home theater products, the HT-BD8200, a 2.1 channel sound bar with a built-in network BD player (shown in the background) and a wall-mountable network BD player. The HT-BD8200 includes a wireless subwoofer and an iPod dock and can stream digital content from Netflix. Prices were not announced and the sound bar is expected to be available mid-year. Note: The wall-mountable BD player in the foreground is black, not red.

The big message at Panasonic's press conference was 3D with "full HD" resolution (i.e., 1080p)—many current 3D systems cut the effective resolution in half to accommodate two eyes separately. The company is spearheading a drive to develop a standard for 3D HD content production, mastering, and display this year, with products appearing in 2010. Director James Cameron is on board, and Panasonic Hollywood Labs, Panasonic's R&D arm, is working with studios and manufacturers to achieve these goals. I've never found 3D all that compelling, and it sometimes gives me a slight headache after a while, so I welcome any substantive progress toward a standardized improvement.