Virtually every company, brand, and industry coalition that attends the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas takes the opportunity to lay claim to the most "remarkable," "groundbreaking," or-three cheers for everyone's favorite-"innovative" developments at CES. Of course, they can't all be right.
The first day of the International CES ended on a colorful note at a Sharp press conference on the convention floor in front of scores of its LCD TVs. The company arrayed rows and rows of its flat-screen TVs, from 13 to 37 inches - a total of 286 displays - as the focus of its space.
Late on Day Two, JVC demanded that the entire press corps troop across town from the Convention Center to the Mandalay Bay hotel, where it was exhibiting privately - not officially a part of CES. However, the trip paid off in an impressive array of new and innovative products.
Runco has made great strides in projector development recently. The Union City, CA–based company unveiled three new DLP projectors in Las Vegas, all of them sporting single 16:9 HD2 chips, DVI inputs, and 1280 x 720 resolution. The least expensive of the three, the Reflection CL-720, supports the primary varieties of NTSC, PAL, and SECAM, and can be ordered from the factory with a short throw or long throw lens, for images as small as 40" diagonally or up to as large as 300". Brightness is specified at 750 ANSI Lumens when the projector is calibrated for home theater; contrast ratio is a very respectable 1500:1. The CL-720 is said to be "HDTV ready," although the product sheet handed out at the LV Convention Center doesn't list any ATSC format among those supported.
Sony concluded the press day preceding the official opening of CES with a press conference that lined up reporters and writers waiting for admittance for almost a city block. The display area was filled way beyond capacity. Fortunately, Sony Electronics President Fujio Nashida kept his remarks brief, focusing on the company's overall strategy rather than a laundry list of new products.
Samsung was one of several companies that featured Blu-ray DVD technology, which is designed to store HDTV programming on disc. Don't hold your breath for products.Sony showed a prototype Blu-ray DVD recorder.
This year's CES makes one thing abundantly clear: Large cathode-ray displays are dead. There are virtually no big CRT monitors or television sets being shown here. Synonymous with the 20th century, CRTs are the electronics industry's dinosaurs.
On Thursday, the first <I>official</I> day of CES, attendees were treated to another day of warm, dry weather—and a mind-boggling array of new home theater products.