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CES 2000--Still a Ball to Attend

by Logan Enright

Another Consumer Electronics Show. The first one I attended was back in '77. We thought then the lights of the strip burned brightly and we gazed in amazement at the casinos. The town was just a fraction of today's magnitude. With the opening of such exotic properties as the Venetian, the 1.5 billion dollar, block long replica of the Italian city, Paris Las Vegas, Mandalay Bay, Bellagio and others Las Vegas is overwhelmingly huge. I spared no expense and treated myself to the La Quinta motor hotel on this trip (. Thank goodness the outside roller coaster at New York, New York Hotel next door was not running.

The Enright Company is a professional AV product rep firm, so CES is not part of our official show circuit. Many of the firms we rep: Fujitsu, Peerless, Princeton, Draco and VTI (new- see below) were exhibiting at this year's show. Except for Draco, these companies market their products to the consumer channel through other people. What this means is CES is just fun for us. It is a chance to see old friends from various manufacturers in the consumer industry that we know through our periphery. It is also a place to see emerging technologies that affect us all from direct satellite TV, Internet products, and consumer audio and video. After all, the consumer electronics industry DICTATES what sells in the pro channel to a large degree.

Some Noteworthy Products, Parties and Technologies

Portable Digital Internet audio products were hot. Creative Labs (Sound Blaster board fame) showed a unit that supports three audio formats: MP3, Windows Sound and WAV files. Housed in a unit which weighs 14 grams and has removable media the unit will list for around $500. Like the popular Rio, this unit allows you to download music from the Internet and take it with you like a Walkman.

Photo by CES 2000
A dashboard TV? Say it isn't so! Photo by CES 2000.

The IEEE 1394 Trade Association (a.k.a. Firewire and iLink) had a big booth to show the industry the digital connectivity format is here to stay. They are talking about 1394B which has faster data transfer speeds than the existing 400 Mbps. Firewire is found on video cameras, editors (including Draco) and other peripherals for direct digital interconnection. It allows one to stay in the digital domain rather than convert to older analog signals.

Fujitsu showed their all-new ALIS (plasma panels that output twice the brightness of traditional panels thanks to rectangular pixels). The Enright Company is proud to have just signed on with Fujitsu for representation to the Pro Video channel for CA, AZ, NV and HI. Fujitsu is the firm that started it all in plasma with a $600M investment in R&D since the 1963 invention out of the University of Illinois. The model 4222 is one bright 42" unit that weighs in at about 30 lbs. less than the others and a depth of only 3.3"!

Princeton Graphic Systems was in a suite at the Las Vegas Hilton showing off the latest in display products. A brand new 32" HDTV monitor using a totally flat Toshiba MicroFilter tube and built in stereo speakers was introduced. Two new 4:3 aspect ration multisync monitors will be flying out of dealer inventory starting next month. A 32" and a 36" with native resolution of XGA (1024x768), TV tuner for off air reception, full function remote control and all popular inputs will make these new Arcadia Series monitors kick!

The hippest live show on the CES floor had to be from Philips. They used a cutaway house (like a doll house except 2 story full sized) with family members singing in each room. The best private party might have been the Bo Diddly concert at the House of Blues, compliments of Samsung. The rock/blues guitarist celebrated his 71st birthday with us and didn't show any signs of slowing down.

Draco launched their new AVIO non-linear video and audio editor/effects system. Based on the more efficient and better looking MPEG II compression, with a fixed 20 gigabyte hard drive, the unit lists for $1495. to $1895. Although the front-end software appears virtually the same as the existing Casablanca system, the AVIO features real time processing for two-dimensional effects. This means you don't have to go have coffee while the unit processes, or "rendors" the edit transitions. Draco, known for clever and inventive marketing, used a fourteen year old school boy for their CES audience presentations (notice I didn't say "employed"). He was adorable and helped convey the idea that Draco is simple to use.

Peerless showed off their new consumer line of AV furniture and TV mounting brackets, having just bought a firm in Southern California to broaden their line. Again, not our domain, but it adds to the overall impact Peerless has in the marketplace. Standby for further information on a dealer appreciation event at Infocomm in Anaheim this June.

Speaking of ancillary equipment, expect to hear about VTI rolling presentation carts from us. These beauties are very ergonomically appealing and will suit a variety of portable AV applications. VTI is a Chinese manufacturer with US headquarters in EL Monte, CA. They showed their consumer line at the CES show.

JVC and Panasonic showed more DV format camcorders - this year's models have analog video inputs which allow you to digitize your old VHS and 8mm video to the new format of digital tape. JVCs new high end SKU (that's manufacturer-speak for model number) includes a coupon for discounted non-linear editing software. Zenith introduced cool retro looking TVs for the children's room. Their colorful bezels make them look like the new Macintosh computers.

CES is a very well run, mature show with much infrastructure. A live TV show produced in the lobby of the convention center, a CES Store, an elaborate attendee registration system and more make it an easy show to attend. It's not as big as Comdex (250,000 attendees - computer show), and about the size of NAB (Nat'l Assoc. of Broadcasters), CES is really a fun event. After all, who doesn't love these new electronic trinkets?