CES 2011

One of the highlights of CES for me is the DEG (Digital Entertainment Group) awards event, at which content providers, hardware manufacturers, and retailers are recognized for their excellence and innovation. There are three awards for hardware—Sight (video displays), Source (Blu-ray players and the like), and Sound (electronics and speakers). As a side note, I've suggested more than once to the DEG that the Sound category should be split into two—Sound (electronics) and Speakers. Otherwise, one or the other type of product goes unrecognized each year, yet both are essential for a complete home-entertainment experience.

This year, the award for Sight went to the Pioneer Elite PRO-141FD, the last of the Kuros—a fitting tribute to the finest flat-panel TV ever made. The honored source device was the LG BD390 Blu-ray player with online-streaming capabilities, a perfectly fine choice, though I voted for the Oppo BDP-83. The Sound award went to the Marantz SR6004 AVR, another fine choice, though I voted for the Revel Ultima2 speaker system, which illustrates the point I made earlier—under the current system, an AVR and speaker system can't both win.

Among software titles, Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series won for best TV on disc, while Star Trek took the theatrical category. Rolling Stones: Gimme Shelter won for best music title, and, of course, the best catalog title had to be The Wizard of Oz: 70th Anniversary Edition.