CES 2002

Third and Second Last Day

Las Vegas - 10th January: Yesterday, we spoke of the massive democratisation of new formats as well as their utilisation on numerous amps nowadays. Today, we spotlight DLP, which, after having dabbled in the domestic video projection market has not dawdled in finding its letters of nobility, even to the point of unseating the good old tri-tube CRT. It should be underlined that, according to what we can see here, Texas Instruments, who make the DLP light engines, are attacking the market for rear-projectors, held until now by LCD. Samsung, Panasonic, Zenith and Mitsubishi are thus the first (for the moment) to offer DLP rear-projectors on the market.
In the video projector market, it’s the French company, Dreamvision, who will be the first to launch a video projector with the famous HD1 chip onto the market – slated for this month. The CineXone, we would like to remind you, is the first in the world to utilise a DMD matrix of 0.8 inches in 16/9 format. In addition, the brand disposes of some pretty impressive electronics: a new 6 colour double speed chromatic wheel , internal scaler, Carl Zeiss lenses and a contrast ratio of 1,000:1. No less than three other small machines enrich the catalogue of the brand, including two smaller DLP’s and an LCD, as well as a 61" Plasma screen that you should be seeing in the shops in March 2002. Marantz, who until recently remained a little restricted in their activities, present a whopping DLP unit: the DP12. A new generation machine, it will be sold for around 11,000 Euros at the same time as a new 61" screen… decidedly in fashion at the moment… Oops..; almost forgot. Denon has one as well!

Navigating our way around the show, we were also able to note the infatuation by certain manufacturers in wanting to move things in a forward direction in general. The current technique is to encourage people to eventually equip themselves with digital amplifiers. The advantage, as we today recognise, is that this allows for upgrading at will, while reducing the size of the machine at the same time by eradicating the radiators, as well as having instantaneous response for phenomenal power and above all, to eventually reduce production costs. Panasonic, Yamaha, Tact and Daewoo> are among those who are pushing this technology, and from whom we’ll soon be seeing the arrival of numerous audio/video amps using digital technology. The annual shop-front for new technologies, the Toshiba and <>Pioneer stands presented a new technique for audio and video recording, called DVD Blue. Unveiled in the form of two prototypes with very straight lines, DVD Blue will, according to the manufacturer, eventually equip a large number of DVD Recorder/Players. We will come back at later date to this new technology, which is based on a blue coloured laser beam. While to this date, DVD is THE product "par excellence", it doesn’t prevent a number of us from keeping our old VHS recorders. This is why Samsung, who opened the dance last year at the same place and time, has been followed by Daewoo and Toshiba. These brands will be launching, from the second half of this year, DVD/VHS combination players, with some of them also including Memory Stick players (Samsung). It’s also worth noting that some manufacturers go as far as proposing DVD player/recorders with integrated hard disc. This is the case of Toshiba, who are launching their RD2000. This DVD player even goes to the extent of proposing a hard disc of 80 GB with, in addition to this, Progressive Scan. Staying in the area of recordable DVD, Sharp, Yamaha and Pioneer have been unveiling new machines as well!

Oops … I almost forgot. Motorola are now launching into the Home Cinema market. And it has to be said that after having supplied the manufacturers with all kinds of chips, the chips are now on their table! The "One in Box" system has received a number of awards… it is made up of a six-channel amplifier, with different audio formats as well as a DVD player. When it comes down to portable players, what a trip! In fact, after having gone through some hard times in the beginning, it’s today in the process of becoming an object of much desire… this gadget today is the public’s "baby", especially with Toshiba unveiling a player with a 10 inch screen, equipped with progressive scan… and Samsung, who are attacking the market previously held by Laptop PC’s and Macs, launching a player with a 12 inch screen… a machine which won the accolades of the CES jury.

Just to conclude, it was sad to note the absence of certain manufacturers such as Bose, Onkyo, Barco (but that’s normal, because 90% of their business is professional), Sony (in Home Cinema), Epson, Hitachi and Mitsubishi...

Click Here To Access Visuals