CES 2008 Video Update

[kennyt]

Well, I am back and have recovered from my 7+ hour stink @ the Las Vegas McCarran airport (long story) so I wanted to post about what was new and exciting at this years CES.

Yes, all the 'stunt' items were there, Panasonic had a 150" 4K plasma, and dropped the price of there 103" to only $70K, no price was mentioned for the 150".

Pioneer was showing off a plasma that was ~ 1/2 inch thick, while it was amazing to see, it was under poor lighting and seemed to have the worst black level I've seen on a display in years. Perhaps future generations will improve on this if they stay in the plasma business now that Fujitsu has bailed.

Sony was doing a demo of their Cinema 4K projector with a massive crowd actually watching people play a video game...... what more can I say on this one?

Planar (Runco's lower level line) showed off there new 1080p single chip projectors that are available at real world prices ($6 and $8K) with an amazing feature set and build quality you'd expect from them. We got a preview of them @ CEDIA and the picture they offer is amazingly good especially at this price.

LCD's across the board are rapidly improving in technology and picture quality while getting smaller in size. Several folks were showing super thin (1.2/1.5 inch) panels while the introduction of 120 Hz panels and adaptive motion flow technology seemed everywhere, even Vizio has them now and their new sets will once again set the price/performance bar for the rest of the pack.

Of course the show wasn't without it's glitches, gizmodo shut off the displays at several booths to harass the promoters. See the link below if you're interested.

http://gizmodo.com/343348/confession...did-at-ces.php

I know there was more, but this is what came to me today. I'll add more as I remember it!

[Lotus]

Did you see the improved contrast Pioneer plasmas (even over the Kuros)?

That was the most impressive thing I saw in video.

[kennyt]

We went by the Pioneer booth but missed that, I even read about it but didn't see it.

After a few minutes on the convention center floor we were ready to tear our own hair out so left quickly....

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by kennyt

We went by the Pioneer booth but missed that, I even read about it but didn't see it.

After a few minutes on the convention center floor we were ready to tear our own hair out so left quickly....

The most impressive video at the show and you missed it!

I don't blame you I spent one day on the convention center floor myself. It was one day too many.

I love CEDIA but hate CES.

[kennyt]

I hear you!

A few hours on the convention center floor and I was ready to scream!

I only was able to temper my angst with the humor I saw in all those people taking pictures (often with cell phones) of all the TVs!

I had heard/read about Pioneers 'absolute black' plasma but we missed it. Too bad, it would have been nice to see a TV that might have been even better than the Elite line!

I guess I'll have to wait for next year......

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by kennyt

I hear you!

A few hours on the convention center floor and I was ready to scream!

I only was able to temper my angst with the humor I saw in all those people taking pictures (often with cell phones) of all the TVs!

I had heard/read about Pioneers 'absolute black' plasma but we missed it. Too bad, it would have been nice to see a TV that might have been even better than the Elite line!

I guess I'll have to wait for next year......

I'm hoping they have units for production at CEDIA. They better because otherwise it was just a mean and evil tease.