CES 2011

At $700/pair, PSB's Imagine Mini (second from left, on stand) may turn some heads. It did not have any deep bass, but was clean as far down as it went, and even when played loud (though not unreasonably loud) did not fall to pieces. With a good subwoofer, five of them plus a spare (unfortunately they are sold only in pairs), or four with an Imagine center, could make for a sweet, small room home theater setup.

No model number, price, or availability date was given for this Samsung 27-inch PC monitor/3DTV combination. But it can handle all 3D formats (the image on screen shows the side-by-side format in its native form before it's processed into a single, unsqueezed 3D image. The display includes an antenna input (it has a built-in tuner) and an HDMI port. You will need active glasses to watch 3D on it (it is not autostereoscopic).

Samsung's flagship C6000 ultra-thin LED LCD TV provides a super-cool, full-color touchscreen remote. In addition to controlling the TV, it can also display a live video signal, though I can't see why you'd want to watch the remote when you have a big, beautiful TV in the same room.

Samsung's booth was awash in new LCD TVs—no less than eight lines of slim LED edge-lit sets and six lines of conventional CCFL models. As many have expected, there are no new LED backlit sets, which Samsung claims are too expensive and power hungry for the current consumer marketplace.

I'm very happy to report that Samsung is still bullish on plasma, introducing three new slim lines and two standard-depth lines. All five lines feature a new Clear Image Panel, in which the outer filter glass is affixed directly to the plasma panel with no air gap. This allows them to be thinner and achieve lower black levels in the presence of ambient light.

With several manufacturers showing new 3DTV sets using passive rather than active glasses, Samsung took pains to point out the pros and cons of each device. Naturally, since Samsung does active glasses only at present, the pros outweighed the cons for the active glasses. Note some surprising items on the passive glasses list in the photo. The higher power consumption comes from the need for higher peak output to overcome the inherent loss of brightness with passive glasses due to the special patterned retarder filter that's used on the screen. And Samsung actually demonstrated the off-axis issues in a passive glasses set during a closed demonstration for the press. As always, however, the proof is in the reviewing and we're anxious to check out the new passive glasses sets for ourselves and come to our own conclusions.

With several manufacturers showing new 3DTV sets using passive rather than active glasses, Samsung took pains to point out the pros and cons of each device. Naturally, since Samsung does active glasses only at present, the pros outweighed the cons for the active glasses. Note some surprising items on the passive glasses list in the photo. The higher power consumption comes from the need for higher peak output to overcome the inherent loss of brightness with passive glasses due to the special patterned retarder filter that's used on the screen. And Samsung actually demonstrated the off-axis issues in a passive glasses set during a closed demonstration for the press. As always, however, the proof is in the reviewing and we're anxious to check out the new passive glasses sets for ourselves and come to our own conclusions.

Samsung also showed new, redesigned active glasses for its new 2011 3D sets.