GenAudio astounded me at last year's CES with its AstoundSound 3D audio system, which creates a convincing spherical soundfield from two speakers. This year, the company announced that its launching AstoundSound for CE, an application that manufacturers can include in their products, such as iPod speakers, soundbars, and TVsin fact, GenAudio is partnering with Analog Devices and other DSP makers to include the algorithm in their chips.
I heard a clip from Kitaro's Earth in Bloom that was downmixed from 5.1 to 2 channels and then expanded by AstoundSound in real time played first on a $12,000 pair of Gheithain pro studio monitors and then on a $300 2.1 Panasonic soundbar, and the result was remarkable, with various sounds flying all around the room, including overhead. Of course, the studio monitors had better sound quality, but the effect was quite pronouncedand enjoyablefrom both.
Among various high-end audio products, Meridian also announced an upgrade to its HD621 HDMI switch/audio upsampler (sitting atop a G68 pre/pro in this photo) that adds 3D passthrough. This upgrade is free to existing owners from Meridian dealers.
If you’ve ever ridden the Tokyo subway during rush hour, stood in line to buy Nike Air Jordans, or been pepper-sprayed at a Walmart on Black Friday, you may have a sense of what CES is like. The only difference is that CES is a lot more crowded, dangerous, and painful.
LG showed an upgraded model of its Smart Upgrader media player and streamer. The new model is 3D compatible, and is able to play almost any kind of video file.
The 2012 model will come with the LG magic wand remote that can act like a virtual mouse for navigation.
Upgraded from last year’s models this LG Smart Ugrader has a web browser that includes both Flash 10 and HTML 5, which means it can stream videos from many TV and movie websites.
LG will still offer a less expensive model similar to its 2011 Smart Upgrader. Both include Vudu, Netflix, YouTube and access to download 1200 LG smart TV apps.
If you have any TVs or monitors with a vertical HDMI connection where the HDMI cable comes loose and wriggles itself out, you’ll appreciate the locking HDMI cables being shown by Perfect Path.
The cable locks into place because its end cover slides back and forth to lock or release the cable.
Sound bars are a great solution to an age-old problem – how to add a decent-looking and decent-sounding system to enhance the clean, minimalistic look of your flat-screen TV. The problem is that they can sound pretty crappy – mainly thin and tinny unless you add a subwoofer. And there goes that nice, clean minimalistic look.