AudioVideo

In today’s home entertainment systems, it just isn’t feasible anymore to expect a 2- or 4-meter HDMI cable to be long enough for all applications. In many instances, HDMI cables need to be 75-, 100- or even 150-feet to meet the needs of today’s high definition enthusiasts. The problem is that cables that long will not carry the HD signal at a high enough resolution to get the best performance. Over longer cable runs, high-bandwidth HDMI signals are prone to signal attenuation and timing errors, referred to as “jitter”, which can cause aberrations in the picture, from streaks and flashing pixels to inaccurate color. Over long runs, the HDMI signal needs an extra boost. Read more

Do We Ignore Half the PC/CE Market?

“Big mistake. Big. Huge. I have to go shopping now.” – Vivian (Julia Roberts), Pretty Woman (1990)

IDC and Gartner recently reported 68.5M consumer PCs were sold in Q3 of this year and volumes could hit 70M in Q4. We’re well on our way to the industry’s next big goal…2B PCs WW.

The CEA (Consumer Electronics Association) estimates CE sales will hit $48.1 B in Q4 producing modest industry growth for the year. All in all, not bad for a lackluster year. We’ve done a good job of profiling and targeting the early adopters.

Looking at our kids list of “gotta have” stuff, they’ve nailed the teens, tweens and Gen Yers. Watching the Wii commercials with old dudes bowling, they’ve tapped into the boomers+. Problem is we’ve only given lip service to half of the global population…women, even lady geeks. Read more

Whatever happened to convergence? You remember convergence, don't you? All things to all people coming together on your desktop – media, music, computing, entertainment…

Touted for years as the "next big thing" convergence is another buzz word that seems to have had more hype than heart. But if you look ahead towards the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona next month, you'll see that maybe – just maybe -- convergence is about to happen, but this time in the palm of your hand.

Yes, I know it's been touted before. But it just might be the pieces are finally in place for the smart, hold-in-your-hand devices that can do so many things so well that they just might start giving convergence a good name. Read more

Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 1080UB
The new Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 1080UB is the ultimate way to view movies, sporting events and video games with true 1080p native resolution, the industry’s best high definition signal to date. The 1080UB delivers precise color and detail, so you don’t miss a moment of the action. New UltraBlack technology and a 50,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio (4000:1 native) show incredible shadow detail and the deepest blacks possible. And with dual HDMI 1.3 connectivity, the 1080UB will meet your entertainment both now and in the future.

The Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 1080 UB is now available through authorized Epson projector dealers and select retail outlets for $2,799 (after $200 mail-in rebate). www.epson.com

Panasonic DMP-BD30 Blu-Ray Disc Player
Panasonic’s new DMP-BD30 High Definition 1080p Blu-ray Disc player is the first Blu-ray player to be introduced with Final Standard Profile, a function which adds features like four Picture-in-Picture modes including Enhanced Commentary (from directors and actors), Backstage Pass, Peek Behind the Animation and Audio Mixing. And with the included SD Memory card slot, you can view JPEG images (the DMP-BD30 even converts the images to 1920x1080 resolution - perfect for viewing on a 1080p Plasma TV) and playback HD content recorded in the AVCHD format. Read more

The new Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 1080UB is the ultimate way to view movies, sporting events and video games with true 1080p native resolution, the industry’s best high definition signal to date. The 1080UB delivers precise color and detail, so you don’t miss a moment of the action. New UltraBlack technology and a 50,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio (4000:1 native) show incredible shadow detail and the deepest blacks possible. And with dual HDMI 1.3 connectivity, the 1080UB will meet your entertainment both now and in the future.

The Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 1080 UB is now available through authorized Epson projector dealers and select retail outlets for $2,799 (after $200 mail-in rebate). www.epson.com

Want to know what's new in Bluetooth? What the best Bluetooth devices are? Look no further. The Bluetooth Special Interest Group called on member companies to submit their consumer electronics products featuring Bluetooth wireless technology for consideration in the organization’s 3rd annual Best of CES contest. Five category winners and one overall winner were unveiled at the Bluetooth SIG’s member appreciation party Tuesday, January 8, at Tao in the Venetian hotel.

They are as follows: Read more

Last week at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Logitech unveiled the new easy to use, full-color touch screen Harmony One remote control.

With home-entertainment systems becoming more complex, people often get frustrated by the multitude of devices that are needed to run a home theater system. And telling friends and family members how to work it without confusing them? You might as well forget about it. Logitech has solved this problem with the Harmony One. The Harmony One makes controlling home entertainment easier than ever with a full-color touch screen, an intuitive button layout and a comfortable user-friendly design. Read more

Every January the latest and greatest home electronics are introduced at CES, the Consumer Electronics Show, in Las Vegas. We’ll keep you up to date on the latest news from the show all week long. Here are some highlights that were announced yesterday (in case you missed them!):

JVC Announces World’s Thinnest LCD TVs  (Only 1.5 inches deep with tuner!)

Panasonic Introduces Next-Generation Plasma Displays at CES  (Including the giant 150-inch PDP!) Read more

By Jeff Zbar 
www.chiefhomeofficer.com

I’m the drummer singer in a garage band. “Cheaper than a ‘vette” has two IT professionals, a financial planner, an attorney, a graphic designer and me – and writer. We’re pretty skilled in our careers, and fairly honed musicians. But we can’t roll a microphone cable or extension cord worth beans. And the keyboardist’s solution – to shove the cables into large Zip-Lock bags, is an admirable, if half-cocked remedy. So I got a handful of Velcro wire wraps, and seemed to have our problem licked.

The problem is, whether you’re in a garage band or just an adult human, you seem to accumulate cables, cords and wires as if you’re wiring a rock concert. Extension cords, phone cords, even consumer electronics need taming. Got a new digital camera? The USB and power cords need to be reeled in. Have an external hard drive? Ditto. Even standard-issue items like the PC, monitor and printer have cords that, if left to their own, would grow like vines, and tangle as intertwined as if they were, well, the cords in the bottom of the case where I store the band’s cables and cords. Read more

The fun of analyzing the past 12 months is…it’s easy! But forecasting 2008 requires separating dreams from reality…early adopters from mass market. For the early adopters the home entertainment network is here. The converged mobile content/communications device is here. Content when you want it, where you want it, how you want it is here. For the mass market…it’s an awkward transitional period.

2007’s Time Magazine’s Person of the year was … You. The yous of the world are connected and have the choice of an almost limitless variety of online content – written, photo, music, video.

Personal content is gaining momentum. The long tail of entertainment is moving more rapidly than Chris Anderson envisioned when he wrote his first book. The entertainment shift is making micromarket segmentation more important to manufacturers and suppliers. Read more