Although official attendance stats won't be available for a few months, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) estimates that attendance at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) was down at least 20,000 (14%) if not more, compared to last year's show.  Last year's official attendance numbers came in at just over 141,000 while this year's estimated attendance (according to a CEA press release) was approximately 110,000.  Although this would represent a 21+% drop, the CEA claims these early estimates made while the show is still underway usually err on the low side.

Some large manufacturers that normally dominate the show floor (such as Logitech) were notably absent this year, while others (e.g., Sony) expanded their own presence at what must have been relative bargain pricing for show floor real estate. The Sony booth was expanded by the presence of Sony Pictures, who had a full-sized Jeopardy TV set, complete with studio audience, as they taped several episodes of the popular game show directly from the show floor.

As for Sony's press event itself, it was unusually subdued.  Big news from Sony this year included a pocket-sized PC and a bendable OLED screen not unlike the one we already saw in Japan at CEATEC.  Although we were hoping to see a larger OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) screen from Sony this year, that didn't come to pass.  11 inches diagonal is still the size to beat (at least in a "production" form) for this intriguing new ultra-flat screen technology.  

There were no huge flat screen TVs on display this year.  I guess Panasonic settled that score last year with their 150-inch plasma, and the LCD camp hasn't yet managed to make a piece of motherglass that can compete.  In fact, the size war seems to be heading in the opposite direction now as we saw a plethora of pico projectors (all DLP-based).  These are extremely small projectors (in many cases, smaller than a deck of cards) that can be carried in a pocket.  These make an excellent companion to an iPod or other portable media player when you want to share your movies, videos and photos with the world.  Plug one into an iPod, point it at a wall or other light-colored surface and presto - instant home theater, even if you're camping... or flying... or waiting in line behind a large man in a white shirt (let's hope he got it pressed).     

Perhaps the CES advancements this year could best be described as more evolutionary than revolutionary.  More than ever, TVs and Blu-ray Disc players are being enhanced with IPTV and streaming media features.  Both LG and VIZIO announced Netflix online streaming support in their TVs, Samsung made waves with their new Yahoo! Widgets (including Amazon Video-on-Demand) in their Medi@2.0-enabled TVs while Panasonic, LG and Samsung all announced new or enhanced streaming media features in their new Blu-ray players to allow access to content from the vast world beyond the confines of physical media. 

And speaking of Blu-ray Disc players, both VIZIO and Pioneer finally jumped into the BD-LIVE waters with low-cost internet-enabled players. Meanwhile, Samsung made a bold styling move with their fifth generation BD-P4600, the first wall-mounted Blu-ray player.  It looks more like a future-tech piece of computer gadgetry than a boring old black box CE component. Among Panasonic's Blu-ray player introductions this year was the first portable player, the BDP-B15.  It also includes an HDMI output and network port so it performs as well in a home theater system as any of the standalone home player offerings.

And while Panasonic (and others) were touting their superiority at implementing a Full HD 1080p 3D home theater, both Dolby and DTS also demonstrated their ability to reach the third dimension with their first implementations of height channels, which should prove particularly compelling for gamers. You didn't think 7.1 channels were really the be-all and-all of surround sound, did you?  Bring on those height-enabled 9.1 and 11.1-channel systems! 

Still, though this may not have been the most exciting CES in recent memory, putting a reported 2700 exhibitors into 1.7 million square feet of exhibit space with over 20,000 new product introductions is bound to generate some excitement and, in addition to those items mentioned above, you'll see a good sampling of home theater, HDTV and Blu-ray news items in our ongoing CES coverage.  With a couple of dozen stories already published and more to come as we sort through our photos and notes, there's plenty to get excited about for the new HDTV owner, ardent audio/videophile, or Blu-ray newbie as we head into 2009.

Related Articles:

• On HDTV at CES: Reflections in an Ultra-Slim, 3D Mirror (Chris Chiarella's take on CES 2009)
• View our complete coverage of CES 2009