Home A/V at CES 2006
Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD The slogan might as well be: "Two formats go into the ring, only one comes out." Tragically, after a period of several months where a consumer-friendly truce seemed close to being brokered, the deathmatch mentality has once again prevailed. In the scary-but-true department, we actually wrote about the whole next-gen DVD duke-out almost a year to the week in a column entitled "HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray: Who cares?" and nothing's really changed since then. At last year's CES, we were treated to early looks at an HD-DVD player and Blu-ray player/recorders, the latter of which is currently available in Japan, and we expect more of the same this year, though hopefully we won't have to look at them through glass cases. If you read last year's coverage, you know Toshiba promised to have an HD-DVD deck on store shelves right about now--just in time for the holidays so that early adopters could take their cracks at it for US$1,000 a pop. Alas, we now hear HD-DVD's date with destiny has been pushed back a few months as Toshiba targets an early spring launch, and Blu-ray seems headed for its North American debut not long thereafter. The big question is whether Sony will get Blu-ray into the PlayStation 3 and manage to keep the price for its heavily anticipated new console at less than US$500. Rumor has it the company will be showing the PlayStation 3 at CES, but odds are it will be under glass like it was at E3 2005, in a look-but-can't-touch situation. The other related question is whether the PlayStation 3, even if it does have Blu-ray, will be able to output 1080p-resolution signals. Sony claims it will, but we have our doubts. Everybody knows that neither next-gen high-def DVD format will become relevant until prices for the players drop into more reasonable territory (say, less than US$200), which is why it's so important for Sony to get the jump with the PS3. The formats' potential to become high-def DVD recorders is the more interesting, but digital-rights issues are sure to bog down the transition to a snail's pace that should have us waiting till CES 2007 for a more final answer to this already-disastrous format war. DVD recorders and DVRs While the main spotlight will certainly shine upon on HD-DVD and Blu-ray, the real action will as always be in the evolution of existing products. These include a steady stream of new DVD recorders and HD DVRs to be sold by cable and satellite providers, which have now switched over to MPEG-4 for their video compression technology. We'll report on the MPEG-4 successors to the DirecTV HD TiVo and the Dish Network-DVR 942 high-def DVRs, and we'll hopefully get a look at the fruits of the Comcast-TiVo deal, signed last year with the promise of product in 2006. And personally, We are eager to find out about the Scientific Atlantic MCP-100, an HD DVR that has a built-in DVD burner. Though nothing's been announced, We're praying Time Warner in New York will eventually carry this potential successor to the current Explorer 8300HD. We'll also be keeping an eye on the next-generation of CableCard--part of the Interactive Digital Cable Ready certification program--that allows for two-way communications between your CableCard HD tuner and your cable company. One of the problems with the current generation of CableCard is that it's a one-way device--it can accept downstream signals but can't send anything upstream, so you can't interact with the cable company's content. As a result, you can't get video-on-demand services or even most pay-per-view programming. CableCard2 will first be seen in TVs, but it will also find its way into DVRs, DVD recorders, and even Windows Media Center PCs. Progress on the iDCR program has been slow, but we expect at least prototype units to be on display at the show. Lastly, I'm eager to see what manufacturers are doing in the portable DVD space, where there's plenty of room for innovation and price drops. Coby slipped a supercompact and cheap portable DVD player under the radar at least year's show, and we've already seen companies such as Philips previewing a similar product that looks like portable CD player with a built-in screen in its lid. | |||||||||
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