Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Due to an embargo scare, we waited to post this until now.  The following is a Live-blog of the private Bang & Olufsen Press Event on January 8, 2007 when we were Live @ CES 2007.  Pictures will be added shortly.

We’re live here at the Bang & Olufsen press event at the Venician in Las Vegas. Looks like we’re jumping right into it…

1) Make life easy, make it uncomplicated

2) Our customers enjoy the true authenticity of the original.

Kim Gravesen, the President of B&O is now in front of the crowd We’re getting the history of the company.  Now going over the awards they won for this year’s CES.

Highlights for 2007 -

Continue after the break…

Expand distribution in North America with 5 - 8 new flagship stores.

Continued efforts in hospitality industry.

Contribution to the automotive industry with Advanced Sound System.  Audi’s new A8 has the new system.

“It’s all about finding the right partnerships.”

Serene - New Cellphone

“Like an oyster”
-Screen is at the bottom

He mentioned that they feel it is a mobile phone for adults.

-Dial is like a rotary phone
-"You can’t download Pimp Daddy or Snoop Dogg”
-It’s not a PDA phone, you can’t sync with outlook.

There’s a waiting list for the device because of the holiday season.

Ear Set 2

- First Bluetooth earset - “You can use it for a game of airhockey.”
- Based on the design of the A8 Earphones.
- “Does not light up blue like other Bluetooth headsets, so if you want to make a scene out at night, you need a flashlight”

New products this year:

• Beocom 4


• Ear Set 2


• BeoVision 9


• BeoLab 9


• BeoLab 4 PC


• Serene


• BeoSystem 3


• BeoVox 1


• BeoMedia 1 - Media remote

They’re now running down their competitive advantages… Quality, Picture, Sound, and Design.

Quality - Dedicted to quality as well as Design

Picture - they want to bring you the original.  Have light sensing that based on the ambient light, it will adjust the screen to give you a true experienece.

Seamless Integration - Work with “master link” that connects - with BOA speakers and link product, you can network in your house.

Humanization - when you walk up to a product, you want it to be interacting with you.  When you press the eject button on the DVD player, it automatically pops up and waits for the DVD.  Looks kind of like a slim pedastil sink.

BeoCom 4 - Redefined Elegance - Two componant handset and base.  Available in blue beige and black.  MSRP $350.00… and this is an entry level product.

BeoVision 9 - Cinema Master - This is a 50 inch Plasma screen and integrated loudspeaker.  Built in center channel with acoustic lense technology - supports up to 7.1 surround.  The unit swivels on its motorized stand, integrated digital media device (BeoMedia 1

BeoMedia 1 can be accessed just like another source (audio or video) - He just did a demo where he pulled it up the audio on the plasma TV, played it (sounded great), then turned off everything but the center channel.  Then he cranked it up and it still sounded great with just 1 center channel speaker.

We’re now looking at pictures on the BeoVision 9 via the BeoMedia 1.  The native resolution is 768p of the BeoVision 9.  The digital photos on there didn’t look fantasitc, but if you were sitting in your living room looking at it, I’m sure it would be fine.

The TV was just demoed with the B&O surround sound and it sounded very crisp.  We just watched a trailer of Fantasic Four on Blu-ray.

BeoLab 9

We’re now looking at the little brother to their large model cone shaped speakers.  And now another quick demo.  They sound great!

BeoVision 9 will retail for $9,900 (since it’s plasma)

It’s now time for Q&A..

Q: You have announced all of these CE products and are trying to bring new customers into the brand.  is it working?

A: Of course they said yes.  “It’s a process.”

Q: Are you talking with any other car manufacturers at this time?

A: We have an exclusivity with Audi for some time, but you will be able to find it in other car manufacturers vehicles in the future.

Q: Is the BeoVision 9 a networked unit or hard drive integrated?

A: “It has a 250GB hard drive, I’m sorry I forgot to mention that”.

Q: Why doesn’t your BeoVision 9 TV have Blu-ray built-in?

A: “It’s not a standard”

Are you ready for another exciting press conference?  We’re definately excited to see what they have in store for us.

The press conference starts out with Barry M. Meyer, Chairman of Warner taking the stage.  He begins by talking about the format war and how it’s bad for business because retailers don’t want to stock 2 SKUs for the same content.  Meyer announces that he thinks Warner has the perfect solution for the issue at hand, the Total HD disc.

Presidents of Warner Kevin Tsujahara and Ron Sanders hop up on stage and start giving some background about the market.  2.5 million HD DVD devices coming to the market. 6.2 million Blu-ray devices coming as well - 9 million including current devices.

The new optical media is called Total Hi Def - and they’re abbreviating it T HD.  They did demos with a T HD version of Superman in a Blu-ray player, an HD DVD player, and LG’s new combo player.

In Q/A, they covered the following:

• Both sides have full HD DVD and Blu-ray capacities, dual layer on both discs.
• Cost of production is unknown
• No retail price as of this time
• Newline and HBO are the only ones to announce support so far
• No licensing fees need to be paid to Warner for the technology - only to Blu-ray and HD DVD

Top photo courtesy Engadget.

Alrighty then, we’re here with live coverage (as always) of the SanDisk press conference here at the Las Vegas Convention Center.  Things will get started in just a few minutes.  It is ridiculously packed here in the room.  They should’ve gotten a bigger room.  President and CEO Eli Harari has taken the stage to get down to business.  He is saying that portable media players are really taking over for micro-drives and video is the future of mobile.

Now he’s talking about flash drives and in a few years, you’ll be able to get a terabyte of data on flash.  “It’s like Moore’s law on steroids” [laugh].  SanDisk Solid-State Drives will be launched very soon.  He thinks the market is very price elastic.

Later in the conference, they announce the SanDisk Sansa View, which is a pocketable video player.  The view displays photos, music, etc. and can display photos up to 16 megapixels.  It can hold 8GB of internal flash memory to store 33 video hours or 2,000 songs.  It looks absolutely great.  It has a 4” widescreen display which we’ll do a full post on later.

We’ve got to take off to head over to a double booked appointment now, so thanks again for stopping by and more soon from Gadgetell.

We’re live here at the DirecTV press conference.  Thanks for joining us.

DirecTV VP and General Manager is now on stage…

Global strategies, and they’re annoucing Pro Gaming league with the best players in the word.  They’ll make salaries, and will be up for prizes of a million dollars.

The “best gamer in the world,” Fatality is actually in the house and it was just announced that he will be “trading in his mouse for their microphone this year” with DirecTV.

More after the break…

Eric Shanks, Exec. VP of Entertainment has taken the stage.

He says until now, On Demand has been a “pain in the ass” to find what you’re looking for.  Add 1000 channels to your channels you want to get On Demand for.  They’re announcing a new “Graphic-rich” way to browse all of the content.  It looks very similar to iTunes network pages in terms of how they are customized for that network.

Once you find content you want to view, it will add it to your queue to download, and if it’s already on there, it will play it.

They’re introducing gMessages that show up in the programming guide that let people know messages, and/or new program offerings.

It will go public beta in Q1 and then will be launched soon thereafter.

Sat-Go! - is being announced, which is satellite on the go.  It was conceptualized by the guy that made Chips.  It is a brief-case size DirecTV, which is gigantic.  You can carry it on airplanes… plug it into your car, house, etc.  “You are going to be able to get satellite anytime anywhere.” Included is a portable TV that you can use to watch it.  Very cool.  If you don’t have a satellite handy, you bring this with you and that’s all you need.  Available to A-list customers soon.

They’re announcing their newest relationship with NASCAR, the NASCAR Hot Pass.  It’s essentially a Sunday Ticket for NASCAR. DirecTV will be at every race, and add 5 additional channels with dedicated driver channels on for every race.  That’s it for now folks, stay tuned for more.

Sony’s press conference got off to a late start… It began with a performance by Grammy award winning, classical artist Joshua Bell. It was part of Sony’s continuing effort to transform from a product company into an entertainment company.

Peter Dille is now giving an update on Sony’s PS3. Their goal was to ship 1 million units to retailers by December 31, 2006 and they claim have to hit that goal. This was faster than both the PS2 and original PlayStation. The next goal is 6 million units worldwide by mid-March 2007. They expect this to come via various trends/movements. First up is high definition and Blu-ray discs (they claim that more than 90% of PS3 owners have watched a Blu-ray movie on their PlayStation 3). Next is portable entertainment. While other companies discuss the digital living room, Sony feels too limited. The PSP takes digital out of the living room and into your world. Third is the PS3 itself, it offers free online gaming which every system can access. Sony plans to expand the online network in 2007 past games and chatting. We are watching a corporate recap of the PS3 including media clips, new games, current games, and more – it looks SICK!

Randy Waynick is now talking about “Full HD,” a term that every competitor has borrowed. The difference is that Sony goes from the lens to the living room. Sony has a new 55” rear projection display with laser technology. There is a new 70” Bravia with LED backlighting. There is also an 82” display. Sony is also showing a 27” OLED display (which is rather impressive).

Steve Haber is now discussing digital imaging and digital content. There are 16 new camcorders in three different storage formats: HD, DVD, and miniDV. Four of these models are HD capable (two are HD based and two are DVD based). These models also have a 3 megapixel sensor for improved video and perfect for still images.

Hideyuki Furmuvi is now presenting the mobile division of the company. There will be new VAIOs with multiple colors, engraving, and other personalization. Brand new W1 wireless system allows you to access and stream internet music. Sony’s MP3 players and the Book Reader have their own stores and are doing well. The Sony Ericsson cell phones can connect to the new Xplod headunit for your car. Sony’s Locationfree can stream your content where you want it and how you want it.

Now the excitement… Stan Glasgow is “very excited” to present this new announcement. But first, some info: Sony is ready for a year of double digit growth. “Sony is committed to creating an environment where products and services work together seamlessly.” Nick Colsey is displaying an internet video, including HD, with the press of a button on a remote control. Kevin Conroy is joining as well as AOL is a major player. There is comedy, adventure, music… all streaming directly to your living room for free via AOL video. Marco Boerries from Yahoo is now out as another partner. There is Yahoo News, Sports… All of Grouper’s user-created video is available on the display. There is Sony music, movies, etc. This device streams HD content over the internet without a PC. Their system also uses Sony’s “Cross Media Bar” that we find on the PSP and PS3. You can get RSS feeds, downloads, and create custom channels (traffic updates). The S-Series Bravia (which supports the module) TV’s will be available in the spring.

The Panasonic press conference is underway and as expected, we are getting to hear the Chairman brag about the success of the 103” plasma over the past year. In 2007, Panasonic plans to stay committed to plasma technology. Here comes the marketing… Plasma is best for: sports and other fast action images, movies because of the deep blacks, with others because of the viewing angle, lasting forever as it lasts 60,000 hours (or 2 years at 6 hours a day, everyday), and the environment since there is no lead. Plasma gas does not need to be recharged, does not cause burn in, and consumers do not have an issue with the glossy glass screens (a point that Sony has been using to attack plasma). There will be new 50” and 58” models, as well as a 42” 1080p display.

(OK PANASONIC WE GET IT, IF YOU DON’T SELL PLASMAS, YOU ARE SCREWED – can we go home now?)

A new Panasonic 3 CCD camcorder, claimed to be the lightest in the world and uses a SD card as storage.

Like all other CE companies, Panasonic is selling a full HD solution to consumers, between HD camcorders, HD plasmas, Blu-ray players, multi-megapixel cellphones…

A new Global Range phone is a 2-line VoIP phones with free calling to any other Global Range around the world. We will get more information in the spring.

That’s it for now, keep tuned to Gadgetell for our coverage of Sony’s press conference and then Bill Gate’s keynote – sorry for the dry Panasonic coverage, we just write it up.

We’re now live here at the Samsung Press Conference where Gee Sung Choi, President of the Digital Media Business, is ready to start things off.  He’s now telling *us* how *we* made Samsung the #1 LCD TV manufacturer.  He was actually talking directly to me I think, but I can’t be sure.

Their Blu-ray players, Ultra Mobile PC, World’s Smallest Color Laser Printer, K5 MP3 Player, and Mobile TV products were all recognized.

Their goal for 2007 is to be the #1 Flat-panel TV, LCD TV, and HDTV manufacturer, and Choi is very enthousiastically telling us that.

Dr. David Steel, the Vice President of the Digital Media Business has now taken the stage to tell us about their new products.

One thing that they’re highlighting is Super Clear Panel, Local Dimming (LED backlightinig).  With this technology, they can simply turn off the backlight in certain regions of the screen to create more true blacks and deeper colors.  They’re also talking about Ultra FilterBright, which can deliver contrast ratios as much as 550:1.  Steel is releasing Double Frame Rate Driving, and LED Backlight scanning to give more true brights.  And yet another new technology called Wide Color Enhancer.

Digital TV Technologies

They’re rolling out 1080p hardcore.

Networking Solutions

AnyNet Plus - Using a single remote control, you can make your “home network” easy to use.  They also plan to add Bluetooth to their TV sets so you can send and receive audio from them.

In 2007, they plan to launch a Wireless Plasma TV.  With this, your TV can wirelessly communicate and network with the various devices you have.

They just introduced several LCD, Plasma and DLP Tvs, including the 87 series.  They’ve got their DLPs up to 1080p, and have included an LED light-source.

Blu-ray Player

They just announced the new BD-P1200 Blu-ray player which he jokes that “we won’t be giving away after the conference.”

MP3 Lineup

They’re now announcing the K5, and the K3 MP3 players, along with the T9B.  The T9B plays audio and video, and they have plans to integrate Bluetooth as well.

John Godfrey has just taken the stage to tell us about Advanced Vestidual SideBand, their new technology. He says A-VSB is all about taking broadcast TV to the next level.  He says, “A-VSB will eliminate the couch-potato.”

Now they’re taking Q&A.  Adam will now take over live coverage with Panasonic.  Take care, and stay tuned to Gadgetell throughout CES for more.

Welcome all to the RCA Press Conference.  The conference started out with lots of jokes about how RCA’s Audio/Video business is for sale.  The company’s executives are very focused on the RCA-is-the-name-you-trust mentality.  Lets see some exciting products and maybe I’ll trust you.

Accessories

Jenson Mobility Expanded has released lots of iPod accessories.  And there’s not much more to say there.

RCA Audio/Video Lineup

Dwight Sakuma is excited to be back in the RCA A/V business… hooray!  One of the things they KEEP stressing is that RCA is a name you trust.

Video

RCA Small Wonder is the company’s slim video camera.  He says they’re looking to make it easier to share photos with other people, as well as on services like YouTube.

They plan to introduce the even smaller EZ 201 Small Wonder - which sports onboard memory, SD for expansion, and has a flip-out display. It runs on 2 AA batteries.  Greg says “what is this, 1986?” It will run at $229, and is coming Fall 2007.

The Small Wonder can also plug into the new Memory Maker.

Portable Audio

RCA Gem Line is next… The Jetstream is the “top-of-the-line” model in the new line.  It has 12 hours of playback because of the new Kleer technology that “sips power from your rechargable batteries.” And not only does it play music, but it has a stop watch and a BMI calculator!!!  Next is the Opal which is compatible with most audio and video standards.  It has a 1.5 inch screen.  And finally, the smallest one, the RCA Pearl.

Home Theater

RCA DTA800 is a Digital TV Adapter that displays on-screen program information sent by broadcasters.  It’s also a remote control and comes in silver (because I know that’s what you care about). 

The RCA Full Recording Solution supports NTSC and ATSC tuners, and is a FULL FUNCTION VCR.  I suppose someone has to keep pushing VCRs in the market.

Home Audio

RCA is also touching down in the made-for-iPod market.  It’s a univeral dock for iPod, and a clock radio so you can wake up to your favorite tunes.

Now the President and CEO of AudioVox are on stage to address the crowd since the companies are now part of the same family.  That’s it for now, take care and we’ll see you in 30 minutes for the Samsung Press Conference.

Toshihiko Fujimoto, Chairman and CEO of Sharp Electronics Corporation, has taken the stage here at the Sharp Press Conference / Luncheon.  Standby for more news.  And they’re saying there’s going to be a “large” product announcement here, so you best be sticking around. By large, why don’t you check out their 108” LCD TV.

LCD TVs

Fujimoto just talked about how at last year’s Consumer Electronics Show, they introduced the 65 inch AQUOS LCD TV - which they thought was going to be the “World’s Largest.” I feel like I’ve heard that claim before… you?  But now, they just announced the REAL world’s largest - probably until tomorrow - LCD TV, measuring in at 108”!!

Sharp is also ready to ship the new 1080p Gamer GP1U Series, measuring in at 32 inches and 37 inches, in March 2007.  They’ve also got Network AQUOS system, which lets consumers access any content on their DLNA device on “the Network” via the AQUOS TV.  The Network uses PLC.  Also look out for a 65 incher with 1,000,000:1 Contrast Ration (wow) and a 4,000 x 2,000 model coming as well. 

Audio

The iElegance Series

Sharp is also announcing the new Blu-ray Player which will retail for $1,199.99.

In the home theater realm, they’re announcing the XV-Z3100 and DT-510 digital projectors with 6500:1 contrast ratios.  That’s it for now… it’s Q/A time…

Q: Pricing?  or are they giveaways?

A (With commentary): There’s not currently pricing set for the 108”. (But Mark Cuban is bound to want one, right Mark?)

Q: Is there any plan to bring the 108” into the home?

A: He said it’s not their job to driving pricing down… which I disagree on.  He also says that last year, people were on their case about the 65 incher.

Thanks everyone!  Stay tuned to Gadgetell.

We’re getting ready here at the Philips Press conference at CES 2007.  Stand by and we’ll begin the live-blog shortly.

VP of Consumer Electronics for Phillips takes the stage.  Lucas Covers is filling in for the CEO because he had a high-speed ski collision… ouch.  He mentioned that the ushers who escorted us in are wearing the LED fabric.

According to Covers, Philips “re-invented” VoIP.  He is speaking of the Skype phones and the Philips/Skype partnership.

Also, the new amBX brings gaming and your senses into one.  The unit has speakers, fans (for the wind effect), and more to touch into your senses.

Stuart Muller President of Philips CE America joins Covers on stage to talk about the Ambilight TV.  They have offically shipped 1 million Ambilight TVs.  He also mentions that they’ve partnered with a De Beirs partner to get the diamonds perfected.

Sight

80% of overall TV sales will be flat-panel in 2008.  Philips will offer more than 30 new models in 2007.  They will be using the “Philips Perfect Pixel HD Engine” to deliver more processing power.  Increasing processing power, he mentions, is more critical than increasing resolution.

This year, they will add 3 new sizes to the Ambilight line.  New 32”, 47”, and 52” models are coming.

Sound

AmbiSound is now being introduced.  Now we’re hearing a demo of the new sound technology.  It sounds amazing… but clearly nobody I know will have speakers as high-end as they are playing it on… so this is for all you spenders out there.  Now we’re moving on to Surround.

Surround

We’re now watching a video of Supreme Commander with the Ambilight, AmbiSound and the amBX (to the Extreme).  It completely gets you “into the game.” The games Broken Sword, the Angel of Dealth, and Defcon will be available soon with support for the new Philips technology.

Blu-ray

On to Blu-ray.  Philips has supported the Blu-ray from the beginning. 

25GB dual-layer discs to be launched in the US.  And a 50GB blank Blu-ray disc coming to the market this year.

Muller’s now back to VoIP and their partnership with Skype.  Not much new in that space.

Digital Imaging

Muller has now moved on to the new Philips Portable DVD Line.

The new portable DVD player from Philips has an internal Memory Card reader (for digital photos), and Video iPod docking is supported as well.

Next the Stremium wireless boombox is also being announced (not much said about this).

Philips Wireless HDMI will deliver HD wirelessly without being interrupted by cellphones, microwaves, etc.