The world’s largest Consumer Electronics tradefair was held from 1st to 6th of September in Berlin. Of course CineNow! made the trip and brings you lots of pictures as well as video films of the stands.
With 1,202 exhibitors from 40 countries on an exhibition floorspace of 160,000 sqm, IFA was more lively than your average village! The big names and the small gathered in the 27 massive halls of the centre. The “creme de la creme” of Consumer Electronics was there except for two big names surprisingly… Sony and Panasonic.
We came upon some spectacular installations, rivalizing in boldness and ingenuity, such as the Harman International “stall” which took up an entire hall! The screens were neatly lined up and the colors were mesmerizing. While for their part, Loewe banked on lighting for effect going as far as motorizing entire wall panels on which they dispalyed their TV ranges. IFA is a trade fair for both experts and the general public, featuring special services for trade visitors and a varied program with special events for consumers.
The great tug-of-war this year opposed Blu-ray vs HD-DVD. Both parties hammered away with press conferences and exclusive announcements while they fought tooth and nail at the stalls. We saw some very impressive demonstrations of both technologies on classy screens. This was all very well and good on the outside but slightly lacking in content. Of course, we’ll find some recent movies in HD-DVD or Blu-ray but the films about to enter the market are for the most part re-edidited older films, some in black and white even! In other words, they were never intended for HD…
Away from the glitter we did find some real treasures however… Such as the SED TV prototype from Toshiba. SED technology is very similar to the cathode-ray tube, or at least based on the same principle except it’s flat screen. How? Well, in a nutshell, each pixel on the screen has its very own cathode-ray tube. What we come up with is a 100,000:1 contrast, an infinitesimal time response, a perfect viewing angle, colors, definition and cathodic fluidity…Stupendous!
One couldn’t help noticing the amount of Chinese remakes of certain designs and functions as with Tivoli. Another revealing trend are the blooming iPod friendly upmarket devices. IPod, the universal source to come?
Enough chit-chat, let’s take a look at the pictures straight form IFA Berlin 2006. Watch out for the video in the next few days.