What Happens in Vegas Happens First in New York

Every fall, to whet our appetites for the consumer electronics orgy that is to come in January known as CES (Consumer Electronics Show), the hosts of that show invite a sub-set of CES exhibitors to show their wares at the CES Unveiled press preview in New York City. This year, the event was hosted at the Metropolitan Pavillion in Chelsea and there were several exhibitors displaying wares near and dear to the home theater aficionado. But first, a few words from our sponsor...

The CEA (Consumer Electronics Association) is a trade organization comprised of analysts and lobbyists whose mission in life is to pave the way for the advancement of technology in the service of the consumer. The big event, of course, is the CES show in January, which in recent years, has always been held in Las Vegas. And 2007 will be no exception with CES taking over the Las Vegas Convention Center and the Sands Convention Center, plus a fair amount of the Las Vegas Hilton and the Venetian Hotel. Four Venues, you say? Do they really need that much space? Well they have to put those 2,700+ exhibitors and 140,000+ attendees somewhere, don't they?

But I'm getting ahead of myself. This week, back in New York, the CEA presented their analysis of the current state of the consumer electronics market. And it seems that everything is UP UP UP! Consumer confidence is up. Consumer spending is up. Gift-giving is up. The electronics market revenue is up. About the only things down are the prices of flat panel TVs and mega-pixel digital cameras (two of the most popular CE market segments, apparently). In terms of dollar figures, the total CE market in the U.S. in 2006 is expected to come in at approximately $140 Billion (9.2% growth over 2005), with a full $20 Billion of that spent on televisions of one kind of another.

And speaking of televisions, one of the accomplishments of which Gary Shapiro, CEA president, is most proud is the recent legislation that will phase out all analog television broadcasts by February of 2009. Does this mean that all non-digital televisions will be obsolete at that time? Yes, and no. As part of the legislation, the Federal Government will be allocating $1 Billion to make the transition to digital as seamless as possible for even the most technologically or fiscally challenged among us. Part of this money will include rebates for anyone and everyone who purchases a digital/analog converter box -- a device that will allow digital signals to be received and displayed on older analog televisions. I hope part of the program also includes a recycling plan, because I'll bet many people will take the death of analog broadcasting as an opportunity to finally trade up their old analog CRT TVs to digital, and this is going to leave a few million tons of electronics and glass out on the curbs across the country.

More details on what the CEA is doing to help advance the state of the CE industry is available on their web site at www.CE.org.

After a few more updates on the state of the CE industry, plus a few words from members of the band "3 Doors Down" who are now on-board with a campaign to educate consumers on the benefits of high quality audio, the CEA announced winners of their annual Innovations Awards. These are products deemed by the CEA to be the best representations of excellent in design and engineering in 29 categories. Winners of the Innovations Awards will be officially honored at CES in Las Vegas in January, 2007.

After the presentations, the party moved down to the exhibit floor where about 40 vendors were on hand previewing new technologies that they'll also be showing at CES. There were a few vendors with products of relevance to home theater aficionados and A/V road warriors. These are linked below:

• CyberLink MagicSports 3 and PowerDVD 7 Win CES 2007 Innovation Awards Honoree Title
• MicroOptical myvu Puts iPod Video Display Inside a Pair of Glasses
• VenMill's Skip-Away Brings New Life to Damaged DVDs, CDs and HD-DVD Discs
• Optoma Exhibits New HD70: Portable 720P DLP Projector for Under $1000
• Panasonic PT-AE1000U: Full HD 1080p Front Projection for the Masses

Related Article:
CEA Announces 2007 Innovations Honorees for Excellence in CE Design and Engineering