CES rocks the house: Day 1
Get the latest scoop on what's hot and what's not on the home entertainment scene from the Consumer Electronics Show 2005 (Jan 6 to 9) held in Las Vegas.
LG's 60-inch plasma with built-in HD DVR
 |
LG 60PY2DR 60-inch plasma TV
|
|
This year, we'll be seeing more HDTVs with built-in digital video recorders, and LG's trotting out this 60-inch plasma with a 160GB hard drive recorder built in that will allow you to record HD programming. There's also a built-in CableCard slot, which means you won't need a set-top box to receive HD programming. LG will also offer a 50-inch version of this set, the 50PY2DR.
- 1,366x768 resolution
- Built-in 160GB hard drive DVR
- CableCard ready
- Two HDMI inputs
- Four solutions to prevent burn-in
- 60,000-hour lifespan (25 years of average use), or so LG says
Philips WACS700 Wireless Audio System
|
Philips WACS700 Wireless Audio System
|
|
Taking a page out of Bang & Olufsen's design book, Philips has put together the slick-looking Wireless Audio System (WACS700), which can be linked to five satellite stations in rooms throughout your home. The base unit features a CD player and a 40GB hard drive, so you can rip CDs to MP3 and store them directly to disk without a PC. Of course, you can also stream music from your PC via a Wi-Fi (802.11g) network. One standout feature is that the music you stream can be the same in every room, or you can choose a different playlist for each room. The slim, built-in speakers use something Philips calls Super Sound Panel Speaker technology, which it says, "replaces the traditional woofers and tweeters with a single membrane." The WACS700's specs include:
- 40GB hard drive
- Built-in wireless (802.11g)
- Built-in Ethernet for wired connection
- Gracenote CDDB database
- Six-line LCD
- Up to five satellite stations can be added
Pioneer's do-it-all DVD player
We liked Pioneer's universal player from last year, the DV-563A, and this year's version looks even more versatile. The DV-588A-S can still play both SACD and DVD-Audio discs but adds DivX compatibility and the ability to play back WMA and MP3 files and display JPEG photos. Naturally, it's also progressive scan.
- Single-disc DVD player
- Handles DVD-Audio and SACD
- WMA and MP3 playback
- JPEG photo viewing
LG's mammoth, 71-inch plasma with ultra-HD resolution
|
LG MW-71PY10 71-inch plasma
|
|
LG first unveiled this mammoth, 71-inch plasma at the CEDIA trade show in September, but the company is reintroducing it in Vegas this week to a larger audience. Apart from its size, its most impressive feature is its ultra-HD or 1,920x1,080 resolution. That means it can display HD in its full glory.
- Full HD (1,920x1,080 resolution)
- HDMI and DVI inputs
- Two-year warranty
Samsung's brighter, more affordable 40-inch LCD TV
|
Samsung LNR409D 40-inch LCD TV
|
|
Rather than use the cold cathode fluorescent lighting (CCFL) backlights that power most LCD flat panels, Samsung's LNR409D--a 40-inch flat-panel LCD HDTV--relies on the world's first flat fluorescent lamp (FFL) backlight unit. The advantage? Unlike CCFLs (which look like tiny versions of the tubular lights above your office cubicle), FFLs have a paper-thin form factor that produces light from its entire surface, offering the potential for greater picture uniformity, better brightness, and a higher contrast ratio. The specs include:
- 40-inch wide-screen LCD flat-panel HDTV
- Flat fluorescent lamp (FFL) backlight unit
- Built-in ATSC tuner and CableCard slot
Philips's RC9800i is a more intelligent remote
|
Philips RC9800i universal remote
|
|
Philips made a name for itself in the high-end universal remote world with its Pronto-branded touch-screen controllers. As good as they were considered, the one big drawback of these remotes was that they were really difficult to program. By contrast, the RC9800i, part of the company's Intelligent Remote Control family, is designed to be easy enough for a newbie to program. Aside from a sharp color touch screen, it has built-in wireless connectivity, which allows you to see content (music, images, even compressed video files) on your PC and stream it to Wi-Fi, Universal Plug and Play-enabled devices. Naturally, Philips hopes you'll purchase one of its UPnP devices, such as a SL300i or SL400i Streamium Multimedia link, or its upcoming 50PF9830A 50-inch plasma TV.
- Sharp color touch screen
- Built-in Wi-Fi (802.11b)
- Recognizes more than 600 brands of electronics devices
- Additional remote codes and features can be added via Internet
- Communicates with Philips Digital Media Manager PC software
- Uses UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) protocol
- Activity-based navigation and control
- Built-in rechargeable battery provides up to 24 hours of use
- Charging cradle included
LG's 62-inch DLP rear-projection HDTV
|
LG DU-62SY20D 62-inch DLP TV
|
|
There's a lot of talk at this year's show about ultra-HD or 1,920x1,080 resolution, and LG has a few TVs that do it, including this 62-inch DLP rear-pro set, the DU-62SY20D. This model also has a built-in CableCard slot, which means you won't need a set-top box to receive HD programming. LG will also put out a 56-inch version of this set, the 56SY2D, as well as two step-down models, the 62SX4D and the 56SX4D, that offer 1,280x720 native resolution.
- DLP projection (Texas Instruments' xHD3 chipset)
- Built-in HDTV tuner
- Full HD (1,920x1,080 resolution)
- Digital cable ready
- Memory card reader
- Gemstar EPG
- IEEE-1394 (DTVLink)
- HDMI input
LG's "high-def" DVD player
Joining the likes of Samsung, Sony, and Panasonic, LG will sell a "high-definition" DVD player that upconverts standard DVD signals (480i/480p) to 1080i to deliver a sharper image. This LDA511, like competing models, is equipped with an all-digital HDMI connection. It comes in a superslim chassis and has a vacuum-loading DVD/CD slot.
- 1080i output via HDMI
- 1.37 inches tall
- Vacuum-loading DVD slot
|
