CES 2012

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CES 2012
Who the %$#@ is TCL?
Tom Norton  |  Jan 11, 2012  | 
An ambitious Chinese manufacturer of LCD sets, that's who. The small booth had demos 3D sets and an innovative 21:9 flat panel set optimized for 2.35: 1 movies—with black windowbox" bars at the sides for 16:9 material. Reportedly, TCL makes sets for VIZIO, which makes sense seeing that VIZIO is nearly set to release 21:9 sets. The only puzzle here remains why my camera rendered the TCL logo on top a red-fringed yellow, when the sign was clearly solid red.
CES 2012
Already Had a Bite?
Tom Norton  |  Jan 11, 2012  | 
Don't expect to get a quick lunch at CES. The food services t the Las Vegas Convention Center were overwhelmed by the crowds, with early estimates at 140,000 show attendees.
CES 2012
Be Sharp
Tom Norton  |  Jan 11, 2012  | 
Also eye-opening were Sharp's 80" Quattron sets. Humans on broadcasts now can be here almost life-sized.
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CES 2012
Sharp Packs 'Em In
Tom Norton  |  Jan 11, 2012  | 
Crowds were around the block for all of the 4K (and OLED) prototype displays at the show, including a 4K demonstration in the Sharp booth.
CES 2012
Forbidden Fruit Beckons at Venetian
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jan 11, 2012  | 
It is hard to walk from the Sands Convention Center to the audio exhibits at the Venetian Towers without noticing this tempting array of candy apples. They sure looked better than the modest fruit distributed with the press room's box lunches.
CES 2012
Lexicon Amp Is Mating with Receivers
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jan 11, 2012  | 
You'd think a Lexicon multichannel amplifier would get hooked up almost exclusively to a Lexicon pre-pro. But we're told the DD-8 amp is actually being used by a lot of consumers as an upgrade for an a/v receiver which is then relegated to the role of pre-pro. A winner of awards at both CES and CEDIA, the amp musters 125 watts into eight channels and sells for $2500.
CES 2012
Revel Shows Middle Speaker Line
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jan 11, 2012  | 
The new Revel Performa 3 speaker line nestles snugly in the middle niche between the higher-end Ultima and more affordable Concerto. Ten models (shown here in prototype form) will include two monitors, three towers, two centers, surround, and two subs. Most will ship this summer except for one tower and one sub, due in fall. Enclosures now have curved sides. The floorstanders have rounded backs while the monitors have straight backs. New driver arrays and waveguides make things even more interesting. By the way, one of the most satisfying demos we've heard at CES so far was the Revel W780 in-wall speaker. For $600/each you get strong bass extension and a midrange that's kind to vocalists.
CES 2012
McIntosh Pre-Pro Does AirPlay at Half the Price
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jan 11, 2012  | 
The new McIntosh MX121 pre-pro is, at $6000, half the price of its predecessor. And it's got AirPlay!—along with the updated HDMI connectivity and video versatility you'd expect. McIntosh also did a very impressive two-channel demo featuring its XR100 floorstanding speaker, a four-way design featuring a super-tweeter, two mid-tweeters, eight midranges, and four woofers for a mere $10,000/pair. Build quality is over the top: the tweeters have the kind of voice coils you'd expect to see mated with a 10-inch woofer. Surging strings were detailed in an almost three-dimensional sense. If you think McIntosh is just another pretty fascia, you should hear these speakers. Also shown was the Anniversary 275 stereo tube amp, so called because only 275 will be made.
CES 2012
SRS PureSound TV Audio Enhancement
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 11, 2012  | 
SRS Labs is well known for various sound-enhancement and surround-simulation algorithms found in many consumer-electronics products, such as TVs, AVRs, and soundbars. Among the new items being demonstrated at CES is PureSound, a suite of bass-enhancement and equalization algorithms intended to improve the quality of a TV's internal sound system.

The screen shot above shows the frequency response of a TV before (black) and after (green) applying PureSound, and the improvement in sound I heard was dramatic—much more bass and a fuller, richer sound with less ringing than without the processing. The first application will give manufacturers the ability to improve their TVs' sound, but SRS envisions the day when consumers will be able to auto-tune the TV to their room, much like auto-setup systems in AVRs do now.

CES 2012
SRS Multi-Dimensional Audio & NviroSound
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 11, 2012  | 
Just over a year ago, I wrote about the Advanced Rendering Lab (ARL) at SRS Labs, makers of various sound-enhancement algorithms found in many consumer-electronics products. Among other things, the ARL is used to develop a technology called Multi-Dimensional Audio (MDA), which was in its infancy back then. At CES this year, it was clear that MDA has evolved quite a bit.
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CES 2012
SRS StudioSound Audio Enhancement
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 11, 2012  | 
Also being demonstrated in the SRS suite at the Trump was StudioSound, which combines PureSound (described in a recent post) and NviroSound (discussed in yet another recent post). The demo consisted of the custom-created short The Escape played on a JVC TV's internal sound system as well as a Samsung soundbar. The spatial depth was not very pronounced on the JVC's internal system, but it was much more apparent and convincing from the soundbar.
CES 2012
Westinghouse EW55 LED-LCD TV
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 11, 2012  | 
I've long been impressed with Westinghouse flat panels—surprising, perhaps, but true nonetheless. Among the company's introductions at this CES is the 55-inch EW55, an LED-edgelit model with 120Hz operation and frame interpolation as well as a new brushed-metal black bezel. It should be available in the next couple of months for $1000.
CES 2012
Westinghouse W473D 3D LCD TV
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 11, 2012  | 
Westinghouse's first foray into 3D, the 47-inch W473D uses conventional CCFL backlighting and passive-polarized glasses. It should be available in the second quarter of this year for $900. The prototype pictured here exhibited severe crosstalk/ghosting, so I'd say the company has some work to do before it's ready for prime time—and even then, it might not fly that well at big-box stores, where 3D is not in much demand.
CES 2012
Samsung Does Compute
Tom Norton  |  Jan 11, 2012  | 
And I just bought a Macbook Air!
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CES 2012
Westinghouse UW46 LED-LCD TV
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 11, 2012  | 
The 46-inch, LED-edgelit UW46 from Westinghouse incorporates 120Hz operation but no frame interpolation and sports a super-slim, silver-edged bezel. It should be available this quarter for $700. The company says that 46-inchers were the best-selling large-size TVs in 2011, a trend I expect to continue at this price.

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