It was quite a show at the annual IFA exhibition in Berlin last week with a record participation of 1,212 exhibitors from 32 different countries showing off their latest wares in an area that covered around 104,000 square metres.
It’s no surprise that high-definition took centre stage and at times it was difficult to move with large screen displays and next generation disc players taking up practically all the floor space.
The switch to high-definition media is accelerating at an ever-increasing pace and it was Full HD designs that flooded TV manufacturers’ stands including Sony and Sharp. Despite a relative scarcity of 1080p content, virtually all manufacturers seemed to be readying themselves for the eventual acceptance of high-definition players like Blu-ray and HD-DVD.
There were also more screens featuring 24p technology, which uses the same frames per second processing as original HD movies to enhance images from next generation players. And, more and more manufacturers like Toshiba have started to feature 100Hz technology in their screens to ensure natural, flowing movement.
Convergence and ease of use were other trends that were given the high-definition treatment with several new screens featuring integrated HDTV tuners and time shifting HDD recorders.
A number of new Blu-ray players made their debuts from the likes of Sharp and Philips as well as third-generation HD-DVD players from Toshiba. And there were demonstrations of dual format players from Samsung and LG.
There was a massive increase in the range of high-definition camcorders using practically all forms of storage media from discs to hard drives and chip cards. We saw Samsung’s debut HD model and Hitachi’s first Blu-ray camcorder, which is capable of recording high-definition footage using 8cm mini-Blu-ray discs.
But, it wasn’t all about high-definition images with the evolution of the latest AV receivers equipped to deal with HD audio formats. These receivers are designed to decode HD surround formats including Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master Audio – carrying up to eight channels of lossless surround sound for the ultimate home cinema experience.
Finally, there was also a buzz around the growing popularity of television over Internet protocol, or IPTV. This innovative technology is already a commercial reality and IPTV services are already merging several functions including television, video recording, electronic programme guides, online videotheques, Internet and voice and picture communication.
We’ll be looking at some of these trends in more detail and bringing you highlights of the latest products during this week.
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