Philips has announced four new Blu-ray players offering a range of advanced functionality wrapped up in stylish casings.
First up is the HTS 5100B, a complete home theatre system combining Blu-ray with a surround sound system. It supports 24p film mode, upscaling of standard definition DVDs, and full HD audio decoding.
Along with this comes the three standalone players -- the BDP 3010, BDP 5010 and BDP 7310.
The BDP 7310 features full BD-Live functionality, while the BDP 5010 can be upgraded to include it. It also offers DivX and WMV playback and Deep Colour technology.
Exact specs, pricing and availability to be confirmed.
JVC has decided it's time to launch its first Home Theatre in a Box (HTIB) system to the US market.
The JVC TH-SB100 is a 3.1-channel system incorporating a fully BD-Live compatible Blu-ray player, AVCHD playback, 30 watts per channel, left and right speakers featuring three-inch woofers and half-inch tweeters and a central three-inch woofer, plus an eight-inch subwoofer delivering 100W.
There's full Dolby Digital and DTS decoding and six-mode digital signal processing.
Available in the US from April with an RRP of $699.95. Unfortunately there don't appear to be any official photos of the product at present.
I'm rarely a fan of combined home entertainment systems, but for those that are, the latest line of AQUOS tellies from Sharp could be just the ticket -- they all feature a built-in Blu-ray player.
The TVs come in a range of screen sizes from 32 inches through 37-inch, 42-inch, 46-inch, and 52-inch. They're integrated such that inserting a Blu-ray disc automatically turns on the TV and begins playing the disc.
Panasonic announced its latest line of Blu-ray players. The DMP-BD60 and DMP-BD80 offer all the latest features you'd expect from a decent player, including full high definition audio format decoding, upconversion of standard definition DVDs, VIERA Link and 24p processing, as well as VIERA Cast which allows access to Amazon's video-on-demand service.
There's also P4HD (Pixel Precision Progressive Processing for HD) which gives a superior picture by processing over 15 billion pixels per second, PHL Reference Chroma Processor Plus, and 96kHz surround re-mastering of audio.
Susi from Shiny Shiny writes:
LG didn't have the most dynamic of press conferences, but one thing that did come out was the death of wires (expect some kind of wire-based massacre this CES 2009). They're integrating Wireless HDMI into their upcoming 2009 LCD product ranges, as well as their projectors.
This will allow lossless 1080p at 60fps, ensuring you've got eye-bleeding image quality, without the wife getting upset about trailing wires from your Blu-ray player or set top box (that's straight from the LG mouth - don't shoot the messenger).
The new TV lines will also have integrated 3D chipsets - LG is another company convinced of the value of 3D technology. They've apparently been in talks with major film houses to ensure the content is there, and the good news is, their models don't require glasses so you can look like a normal.
There's also better image processing, with LG's TruMotion 240 Hz technology, which should mean no motion blur.
Pioneer has been showing off its latest range of Blu-ray players, upconverting DVD player, and AV receivers.
First up is a new collection of advanced Blu-ray players, all capable of handling BD Live for advanced disc features.
The BDP-120 and BDP-320 are aimed at consumers who want a simple high definition disc player right out of the box and come with 1GB of memory (either via a flash drive or internal memory), full BD-Live functionality, USB and Ethernet ports, True24FPS feature for realistic reproduction of discs recorded at 24fps, full support of all high resolution audio formats including Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD bitstream output, and up to 7.1-channel analogue output.
I knew that not long after reeling off LG's massive line of new HDTVs then along would come someone else with lots of TVs to brag about.
That's Samsung.
Here we go, then, with the latest high definition TVs from the South Korean technology giant.
First on the list is the new 8000, 7000, and 6000 Series of LED HDTVs which boast better environmental credentials and over 40% less energy usage to LCD TVs of a similar size. Fortunately, Dan's already done a sterling job reviewing these tellies so I'll move on to Samsung's other new displays.
They may have underwhelmed, in name only, with the new Regza range but it's good to see that Toshiba has a concept to show us at CES 2009. Toshiba Cell TV is the stuff of which the future is made and that future is a screen resolution twice as good as anything available at the moment.
Dan from Tech Digest writes:
True to Tosh's current upscaling ethos, that's exactly what the 56" prototype does - only this one upscales Blu-ray standard 1080p to what they call a 4K x 2K although technically it's 3,840 x 2,160 pixel display.
The Cell TV system is a special set top box added to a Regza LCD screen. The box can record up to six HD channels simultaneously which blows my BT Vision effort not only out of the water but well clear of the Earth's atmosphere altogether.
The technology at the heart of the system is the cell microprocessor - the same already used, ironically, in the Sony PS3. Apparently, the chip was developed with both Sony and IBM. The Cell TV will be demoed at the Toshiba stand at CES. I'll grab the video camera and get some footage of it as soon as the floor opens.
Dan from Tech Digest writes:
The product that Samsung seems most proud of at CES 2009 is their low power, super thin Luxia range of LED TVs. The 8000, 7000, and, yes, 6000 thousand models sit between 44" and 55" on the diagonal and use 40% less power than normal flat screen TVs because of the use of low power LEDs rather than the tubes associated with LCDs.
Dan from Tech Digest writes:
Alongside the glut of screens and assorted boxed up circuitry, Samsung announced the slightly bizarre but rather attractive wall mountable BD-P4600 Blu-ray player. Funnily enough, it's the first wall mountable Blu-ray player largely because most normal people aren't interested in stapling all appliance to their masonry. What's next? The kettle? The 1" microwave?
The first rule of wall mounting in the ancient rule book that I've just invented is that you'd better make the object worth looking at. Well, yes, it is pretty but I'm not sure it's pretty enough. Surely we only wall mount TVs because putting them inside a cupboard rather defeats the object of the exercise? I wonder if anyone pointed that one out in the meeting?
The 1.5" thick BD-P4600 supports wireless and Ethernet connectivity, like everything else so far today, and features two USB ports as well. The same goes for the fatter BD-P3600 announced at the same time and pictured below.
Zara from Shiny Shiny writes:
It's the conference we've all been waiting for, the one that will fill us in on the plausibility of 3DTV and how likely it is that this will be brought to the masses. The auditorium is bathed in a translucent blue light and interesting posters entice us and hint at revelations in the camera and 3DTV arena. There's a wash of chatter filling the air, but it has a more hushed and reverential quality than any I've experienced so far today. People are hoping for something special, and Panasonic better not disappoint.
Well the news is in now, and whilst it's not quite what I was hoping for, it certainly looks promising. Panasonic made the wise choice to forgo the gloomy outcast on the economy that all the other brands are so obsessed with an instead launched right into their line-up and what a line up! They've declared that 2009 is the year when 3DTV for the home will become a reality, and they've gone one better than that by claiming it will be 3D HDTV, we're talking 1080p folks!
Panasonic say that to fully implement workable 3DTV at home, manufacturers and cinematographers need to get together and maintain single standard so this will work effectively. To this end they've managed to get famed director James Cameron on board, who is shooting his new movie Avatar in 3d HDTV. It will be released late December and it's hoped that this will be the start of Hollywood and consumer electronics joining together to create a new standard.
On Feb 1st there will be a release of a 3D HDTV film (as yet undisclosed) and Panasonic are pushing for this format to be released on Blu-ray as well, which neatly ties into some of their other releases. Will this be a reality, or is this still a pipe dream? Time will tell.
Panasonic
Zara from Shiny Shiny writes:
I guess now that Blu-ray discs are getting cheaper it's only natural that portable players will come into their own, and Panasonic has made history by creating the worlds first travel Blu-ray DVD player. The DMP-B15 has a 8.9 inch WSVGA screen, and has a three hour rechargeable battery.
More excitingly however is the fact that the machine has an HDMI slot which means you can hook it up to an HDTV, and it can be used as a standalone player. They've also included Panasonic's Vieracast functionality which means you can sync the device with any of your compatible Panasonic products. This means it will load up intuitively and you are also able to use it to access online entertainment sites. The device features an SD card memory slot, but there's no word on pricing as yet. Available in May.
Panasonic
Susi from Shiny Shiny writes:
The kids have got the money, and apparently, they like orange and purple. At least that's the impression you get from Sony's latest range of camcorders, dubbed the Webbies. Both models record in MPEG4 format, making uploading to the likes of YouTube a piece of cake, and they both record in HD.
The MHS-CM1 looks more like your traditional camcorder, and features 5x optical zoom, a 5 megapixel stills camera ad a 2.5-inch LCD screen. The MHS-PM1 (pictured) has a lens that swivels 270 degrees, 5 megapixel stills capture, and a Memory Stick slot.
Both models are available in the bizarre colour choices of orange, purple and (thank god) silver. Clearly that's what those crazy kids are demanding nowadays.
It's not a massive surprise that Sony are having a stab at this market, although they are one of the first big manufacturers to do so. Will they beat Creative or the Flip? Time, and the kids, will tell.
Susi from Shiny Shiny writes:
Do you like jigging your leg when you watch the TV? Then Sony have the perfect TV for you! Their new Eco Bravia line has a 40% reduction of power usage compared to standard models, through a number of environmentally happy features, the most bizarre of which is undoubtedly the Presence Sensor.
When the sensor fails to identify movement in the room, it will automatically witch itself off. How long does it wait? How sensitive is it? They're not telling, but for maximum amusement, I'm hoping the answer is two minutes and not very, respectively.
Dan from Tech Digest writes:
Right, this is defintely the last time I'm writing the word Samsung today and that's only because the HT-BD8200 is the first and only sound bar to include a Blu-ray player. What is it with them and Blu-ray this year?
The 2.6" thick bar has a subwoofer and, guess what? Not only does it have USB ports and both Wi-Fi and Ethernet connectivity but it's also wall mountable too. Was this Samsung's idea for everything this year? Damn it, I wrote their name again.
You can use the bar to access Netflix and Pandora as you could with the BD-P4600 and they've also been kind enough to release a 5.1 and a 2.1 home cinema sound system, called the HT-BD1250 and the HT-BD7200, just in case you really want to splurge all your remaining cash in some last blast credit crunch blaze of glory.
Samsung
LG has decided that it hasn't released nearly enough high definition TVs already, and so is spending this year's CES showing off a jaw-dropping eleven new series (yes series, not just models) of plasma and LCD TVs.
So that you aren't bored witless with every detailed specification, here's an overview of what's on offer.
Let's take a look at the LCD TVs first.
Apologies for the woefully tiny images. I'm waiting on higher resolution ones, but for now hopefully you get the general idea (with your magnifying glass, at least)
LG has announced two new home cinema systems with integrated Blu-ray player. The highlight for audiophiles is that both units have been tuned by Mark Levinson, so the listening results should be very good.
The units are designed for smaller rooms (just as well given that most people don't live in homes with huge rooms) but pack a huge punch sound-wise. They rely on virtual surround sound to fill the room, meaning less cost and no need for additional speakers dotted around the room. Purists will cringe, but the average home cinema system will do just fine with them.
LG has announced its latest standalone Blu-ray player, the LG BD370, featuring not only full BD Live functionality but also connection to other popular Internet services.
Features include the full BD Live specification, including interactive disc capabilities, upscaling of standard definition DVDs to near-HD quality, and a YouTube-powered video on demand system that gives access to the ubiquitous online video service.
Samsung has announced a line-up of five new high definition camcorders, including three that record directly on to solid state drive and one that's ergonomically designed to make holding the camera more comfortable.
First up, then, are the four H series camcorders - the HMX-H100, HMX-H104, HMX-H105, and HMX-H106. The three top models (not the H100 which uses removable cards) record onto solid state drives - Samsung is claiming this as a camcorder world first - with the top-of-line HMX-H106 offering 64GB capacity.
This means reduced power consumption, faster read/write speeds and more durability. The 64GB SSD offers up to 12 hours worth of H.264-compressed 1080i HD video storage.
Sony has announced its latest Handycam high definition camcorder range featuring Exmor R CMOS sensor, Sony G lens and BIONZ processor.
The top-of-the-range HDR-XR520VE and HDR-XR500VE Handycams feature a super-sensitive Exmor R CMOS sensor, developed by Sony, which has a back illuminated cell structure that allows for maximum illumination of the photo-sensitive areas. Sony claims this gives around two times the sensitivity of conventional models which use a fine metal wire grid over the sensor, blocking some of the light.
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