Consumer Electronics Show Buzz: High Def & Portable

Jan. 9--LAS VEGAS -- The future of consumer electronics, at least during the coming year, has everything to do with high-definition and portability.

Those two themes are rampant at this year's International Consumer Electronics Show, which began yesterday in Las Vegas.

On the high-def front, notable products include televisions with sharper images, digital HD radio -- clearer than analog AM/FM stations but free, unlike satellite -- and high-definition DVD players.

Over the weekend, Philips Consumer Electronics unveiled its 1 millionth Ambilight HDTV, manufactured on Nov. 29. In keeping with Vegas' over-the-top theme, the 42-inch flat-panel LCD was encrusted with a frame of 225 carats of De Beers diamonds, or about 2,250 sparkling stones. The TV, which shoots ambient light out the back of the set depending on the on-screen colors, will be auctioned for charity later this year.

Little-known, but increasing its market share of low-priced HDTVs, Vizio announced a 60-inch plasma screen that will go on sale next month and be available at Costco for $3,000 -- far less than comparable plasmas. The Costa Mesa, Calif.-based company will run a March Madness special, selling the television for $2,700 to coincide with the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

Perhaps gaining more buzz than HDTVs are high-definition Blu-ray and HD DVD players and discs. Introduced in stores last year, the formats may already have a technophile following, but consumers are still stuck in the dark -- and with standard-definition movie viewing -- because of confusion over the names, incompatible formats and high prices.

Consumer electronics companies are trying to change that.

"If our mission for 2006 was to bring HD DVD to the early adopters, our resolution for 2007 is to bring it to the early majority," said Jodi Sally, vice president of marketing at Toshiba America Consumer Products audio/visual group.

The company's goal is to attach an HD DVD player to every consumer who buys a high-def TV, she said. Selling a disc player to just 3 percent of current HDTV owners would result in the company pushing 2 million HD DVD players this year.

About two-thirds of consumers have heard of HD DVD, Sally said. "Our goal is to change that awareness to purchase intent."

Toshiba said a $600 HD DVD player that supports 1080p resolution will become available in the spring. Toshiba has two other HD players, priced at $500 and $1,000.

Chesterfield County-based Velocity Micro Inc. is displaying its Vista-based home media center, which it will launch with the introduction of Microsoft Corp.'s latest computer operating system at the end of the month.

Starting at $2,300, the 2-terabyte Velocity computer sits alongside a TV, letting viewers see their family pictures, play HD games, watch online video or record programs in high-definition format.

Velocity spokeswoman Kate Ashley said the device, about the size of a stereo receiver, will have either an HD DVD or Blu-ray player. Velocity says it will settle on a format before customers can begin ordering the media center on Jan. 27.

Blu-ray is also making a splash here. The format has the backing of seven major Hollywood studios, or more than 80 percent. The discs can hold up to 10 times as much data as a standard DVD, making for discs that give consumers more programming and features such as expansive and lifelike video games on the Sony PlayStation 3, which uses a Blu-ray drive.

In an attempt to end this format war -- and consumer confusion -- Warner Bros. is introducing a "Total HD" disc that plays both formats, and LG Electronics unveiled the Super Multi Blue, a machine that plays Blu-ray and HD DVDs. That convenience won't come cheap though, at $1,200.

On the portability front, where to begin? Gadgets you can take anywhere are everywhere around the thousands of booths that make up the electronics convention.

Consumer electronics companies this year are focusing on ways to take your music, pictures, video and other content with you -- no matter if you're at home, on the bus or in the air.

And they want everything you use to be as small as possible.

--Samsung introduced a double-sided LCD screen. It's like the one on your cell phone, but Samsung's phone displays one image on one side of the screen and a different image on the other. The company will incorporate this technology into the Ultra Music Phone, to be released in the middle of this year. With 1 gigabyte of internal memory, one side of the handset will have a phone keypad for making calls. Flip it over and the device looks iPod-like, for playing your music.

--Torian, an Australian company, showed its InFusion gadget for playing free Internet radio. There's no need for a computer, but you'll still need a Wi-Fi wireless Internet connection. The company's product manager, Con Parthimos, expects demand for the product to grow as WiMax technology blankets large areas with wireless Web access. When you aren't near a Wi-Fi hotspot, InFusion stores songs on an SD card and plays FM radio.

--In some ways, HD and portability are converging. Camcorders now have the ability to film high-definition home movies. Sony and Panasonic introduced several new models. Sanyo showed off its palm-sized Xacti video recorder, but at $700, it's about double what you'll pay for some standard-definition models.

--In the digital era, all those pictures, songs, videos and other important files will be gone in a whiff if something happens to your hard drive. Backing up onto an external hard drive has become crucial, and such devices also let consumers take their media with them wherever they go.

"It used to be that storage was a really geeky product, all about gigabytes," said Rob Pait, a James Madison University graduate who is director of global consumer electronic marketing at Seagate Technology. The company showed off its new FreeAgent line of "data movers" for people to store all their information.

"It's not about gigabytes anymore," Pait said. "It's about protecting your photographs, your music on your iPod -- all of this stuff that encompasses our digital life today."

Contact staff writer Jeffrey Kelley at jkelley@timesdispatch.com or 804 649 6348.

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Copyright (c) 2007, Richmond Times-Dispatch

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