Day 1 at CES is always press-event day. The show floor isn't formally open, and if you do manage to get in (which requires an exhibitor badge), the most exciting thing you'll see is a fork-lift barreling down on you. And while you wonder how they will ever have things ready for the next day, they always do.

While Marantz demonstrated the latest update to its VP-12S4, 1280x720 1-chip DLP projector, it also showed a black prototype of the upcoming VP-11S1, a new 1-chip 1920x1080 design. No delivery date or price was announced, but we'd be surprised to see it ship before next September's CEDIA show. &mdash;<I>TJN</I>

Panasonic showed six new plasma models, including the flagship 65-inch, 1920x1080 TH-65PX600U (shipping mid year). There are also smaller models in 50-, 42-, and 37-inch sizes (available in June 06), including the 50-inch TH50PX60U at $3700. All include HD and NTSC tuners, CableCard connectivity, and HDMI inputs. Wasn't it just last year at this time we were marveling at the drop in price of Panasonic 50-inch plasmas to below $6000? &mdash;<I>TJN</I>

Samsung launched a bewildering range of new plasmas, DLPs, and LCDs. Meanwhile, its on-line press kit provided no useful information (promising instead a 10-minute download, at 1:30AM, for an image only, with no clarifying text). So I'll just leave you with a few juicy tidbits. Their 83-inch LCD looked remarkably good, but is available to order only, at $150,000. The more real-world 40-inch model shown also had a strikingly good image, but no price was available. Samsung has developed several new technologies for its sets, including SmoothMotion The SmoothMotion image really did look better to the degree visible in the photograph. &mdash;<I>TJN</I>