Chris Chiarella | May 28, 2004 | First Published: Jun 01, 2004 |
There's always something different at CES.
The Consumer Electronics Show is sort of the Super Bowl of our industry, as manufacturers of just about everything that accepts AC, DC, or batteries descend upon Las Vegas each winter to parade what's new and what's coming soon. Given the presence of all the wonderful new products that blur the lines between consumer electronics and computers at this year's show, it looks like I've got my work cut out for me as convergence editor. Here's a quick look at some of the most interesting arrivals.
Ground Control, this is Off-Road Gear One, a.k.a. ORG-1, as I'm still orbiting the earth in the experimental mobile-entertainment vessel I transmitted from last month. Do you copy?
Yes, I copy, ORG-1. This is Steve at Ground Control. I can hear you loud and clear - and without distortion, I might add.
"Point and click" may be the World Wide Web's catch phrase, but it could just as well apply to Canon's ES8200V Hi8 camcorder. Thanks to its six programmed auto-exposure modes, capturing the action isn't much harder than aiming and pushing a button.
Prep for the future with JVC's RX-9010VBK digital surround receiver. Rated to deliver 120 watts to each of five channels, it has such forward-looking features as a front-panel USB port and an extended frequency response, rated from 7 Hz to 50 kHz ±3 dB, to handle the wider bandwidth of DVD-Audio.
FHP, a joint venture of Fujitsu and Hitachi, has donated some plasma to Hitachi's UltraVision TV line. Inconveniently designated the CMP4120HDUS, the 42-inch, 3 1/2-inch-deep widescreen HDTV can accept 1080i, 720p, 480p, and 480i signals through its high-definition inputs, which include RGB+H/V, wideband component video, and VGA.
Pushing the upper size limits of a cathode-ray tube (CRT), Sony's 40-inch KV-40XBR700 Wega is the largest direct-view CRT set on the market. It's also an HDTV monitor and has two wideband component-video inputs, 2:3 (also called 3:2) pulldown capability to improve the look of film-based material, and aspect ratio control.
Just add speakers and a DVD player for 6.1-channel surround sound: Marantz's SR7200 receiver can decode Dolby Digital Surround EX and DTS-ES (both Matrix and Discrete) soundtracks, as well as 5.1-channel Dolby Digital and DTS, and deliver a rated 105 watts (into 8 ohms) to six speakers.
Rated to deliver 110 watts of power to each of six channels, Sony's STR-DA5ES digital surround receiver is ready for 6.1-channel DVD soundtracks. If you're torn between DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD, the receiver's two sets of multichannel analog audio inputs let you hook up both at once, and one set can even handle 6.1-channel sources.
Sherwood With built-in bass management for its multichannel analog inputs, the Sherwood Newcastle R-963 may be the first digital surround receiver that's truly ready for the DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD formats.
Panasonic With portable music players, the question is, how small can you get? About 1 5/8 x 1 3/4 x 5/8 inch, according to Panasonic, whose SV-SD80 digital audio player, shown larger-than-life below, weighs less than an ounce. It uses postage-stamp-size Secure Digital (SD) memory cards and can play music encoded in the MP3, WMA, and AAC formats.
Marantz With its silver finish and flat, brushed-aluminum faceplates, the Marantz Duetto stereo music system has an elegantly futuristic look. Both the SR110 two-channel receiver (top) and the CD110 CD player measure 8 1/4 x 3 x 12 2/8 inches and have drop-down covers over their front-panel controls.
Harman Kardon You'll feel surrounded by surround sound choices with Harman Kardon's AVR 520. The receiver decodes Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1- and 6.1-channel soundtracks, including DTS-ES Discrete. You'll need an outboard amp if you have one or two back surround speakers, though, as there are only five powered channels, rated to deliver 75 watts each into 8 ohms.
Yamaha Taking over the flagship position in Yamaha's receiver fleet is the RX-Z1. It decodes Dolby Digital EX and DTS-ES (Matrix and Discrete) and performs Dolby Pro Logic II and DTS Neo:6 processing to deliver surround sound from stereo sources.
Green Design Prefer your TV not in view when not in use? Green Design's Series 2 media armoire can keep it out of sight, but the beautifully finished solid cherrywood cabinet may catch your eye anyway. The top part can hold most 36-inch direct-view TVs, and the lower shelves are adjustable for the height of your gear.
Sharp Flat-panel LCDs are starting to light up the TV world, and Sharp's 30-inch Aquos LC-30HV2U is one of the largest so far. With its wide 16:9 screen and 1,280 x 768-pixel (WXGA) resolution, the set is a respectable HDTV monitor, and its 3 1/2-inch depth makes it suitable for wall mounting.