Read our CES 2017 Show Reports: DAY 1, DAY 2, DAY 3, DAY 4

A lot of people would agree that 2016 was a year for the trash can. So 2017 has to better, right? Well bring it on! Let’s start with a trip to Vegas for CES 2017.

The SECRETS Team is heading to Vegas for CES 2017 in less than 24 hours. Cynthia Johnson, Managing Editor, Co Editors Piero Gabucci and Robert Kozel, will be pounding the show floor along with Carlo Lo Raso and Nick St Denis.

Our expectations for CES 2017? Other than huge projectors running video displays the size of a house, HDR and the latest 4K TVs, speakers for every nook and surface in your home, the front runners in VR, impressively designed drones, cameras in everything, but what will we find that makes us do a double take?

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Carlo Lo Raso

Well the holidays are over and the new year is upon us so that can mean only one thing, CES is right around the corner! This will be my third time attending this massive event and I fully expect it to be as busy and mad cap as the previous two go-rounds. Unlike other shows, like RMAF, CES is not open to the general public so manufacturers are there mainly to do business with retailers and distributors. That also means that new product reveals and announcements tend to be the order of the day. What am I looking forward to this year? Well, selfishly, I know I will be in the market for a new 4K TV in 2017 so I will be interested to see what improvements will be coming with the new generation of displays in general. Specifically, compatibility with the HDR standards and such. Chris Eberle is our resident video guru on this trip so I’ll be interested to get his take on what he discovers as well.

Last year, the connected or networked home was the big takeaway that I got from the show and I only see that trend growing and continuing for this coming CES as well. Networked components, speakers, lifestyle audio, etc. all smartly designed and connected to each other via something like DTS Play-Fi or an equivalent standard is a category that just continues to grow.

There apparently is going to be some sort of Hi-Res Audio pavilion at the convention center and that has my curiosity piqued. While there is certainly some legitimate high resolution audio media out there in the wild to be sampled and enjoyed, the whole “Hi-Res” certification thing, from the electronics manufacturers end, has seemed (to me at least) to be more marketing fluff than anything else. I mean, when you start seeing turntables marketed with “Hi-Res Audio” labels stamped on them…. well, you decide.

Speaking of turntables, I just acquired an almost pristine Technics SL-1200 Mk6 table as a birthday gift and a large, predominantly classic jazz, record collection from my in-laws. I, having been a strictly digital denizen up until now, find myself in the new and un-natural position of being interested in both phono cartridges and pre-amps at the moment. While I don’t plan to turn completely into a vinyl junkie, the process of cleaning and playing my newly acquired collection has been an extremely enjoyable one. Who knew! So, my eyes will be peeled for some new things on the vinyl side of the equation as well.

Home theater also tends to be a big deal at CES. I understand Emotiva will have a large amount of product to show including and updated XMC-1 processor with Dolby Atmos and DTS:X along with the announcement of their new (and long teased) reference level RMC-1 processor too.

All-in-all, I look forward to these shows not just for what’s expected, but also for the unexpected surprises that I invariably run across. Home theater and Hi-Fi is such an expansive category with so many manufacturers involved that there always something to discover that I’m completely unaware of. That’s part of what makes it fun!

So, stay tuned and keep a weather eye out. We will be posting pictures, video and impressions up to “The Secret’s Cave” on Google+ (feel free to sign up) and those will be ported over to the website proper shortly thereafter. January 5th will be coming sooner than any of us expect!

Chris Eberle

How do Secrets’ writers ring in the New Year? By going to Vegas of course! Three of our number, Piero Gabucci, Carlo Lo Raso and myself, will be boarding planes and winging our way West not long after the ball drops to spend three days covering the Consumer Electronics Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center and THE (The High-End) Show at the Venetian Resort.

I’ll be spending my time looking at new displays from every major manufacturer. While I am able to report on new products at CEDIA, it’s CES where the majority of new consumer televisions are rolled out. I have appointments with Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, LG, LeEco, JVC and Optoma already and expect more to come. I expect the focus to be on HDR as nearly everyone is adding HDR10 to their latest sets. Ultra HD Blu-ray may still be a niche market but I think it’s here to stay and no one wants to get left behind with an Ultra HD TV that doesn’t support HDMI 2.0, HDCP 2.2 and HDR10.

My esteemed colleagues will be covering THE Show at the Venetian but I plan to spend a day there as well. There are several home theater demos I’ll be checking out. JVC will be showing its native-4K D-ILA projector and Dirac has a new announcement about 3D audio in virtual reality headsets.

As always, I’ll be looking for the interesting and bizarre. CES isn’t just AV after all. I’ve been flooded with press releases for all sorts of curious gadgets and devices. Like what you ask? Stay tuned to this space to see all the reports from Secrets as we descend on CES from January 5-7.

Piero Gabucci

CES 2017 – is upon us, and we’re anxious to see the latest. Personally I will concentrate on audio; two-channel, multi-channel, and Hi-Res Audio. Look for coverage to start January 6th.