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CES 2013 has come to a close and it is great to be home.
Robert Kozel, Senior Editor, sums it up…….The show had an enormous crowd of over 150,000 people. From an audio/video perspective, the new innovation was all around 4K displays. Every major manufacturer was showcasing 4K displays. The practical reality is that while the 4K displays were stunning, the general consumer will not be able to afford this technology for several more years at least until the prices come down to earth. The real stars of the show were the updated plasma and LED televisions that support the current HDTV standards. These new sets were gorgeous and offer the consumer some amazing technology and beautiful video quality at approachable pricing.
On the audio side of things, it was very clear that high-end audio manufacturers have embraced digital audio and the USB input. Companies like Bryston, Cary Audio Design, McIntosh Laboratories, NAD and Antelope Audio were all showing products designed to process digital audio signals via USB. While the implementations may vary, it was clear that the personal computer has been embraced as a media source in our home audio system. Furthermore, that digital content can be enjoyed in a traditional two-channel system or as a personal experience via a multitude of headphones and headphone amplifiers. The best part of all this is that there is hope that high-end audio can reach a younger audience by showing a new generation that music really matters.
Robert’s report is in two sections, !!more than 300 amazing images!! from the Venetian Audio venue and the Las Vegas Convention Center for Audio/Video and some other venues with private showings.
Chris Heinonen and Stephen Hornbrook covered much of the Adio/Video at the LVCC…..Chris Heinonen, Senior Editor, sums up his take on the Audio/video presentations at CES.
Coming into CES 2013 I wasn’t overly excited by what I was going to see. OLED panels really excited me last year, but then they didn’t ship, which probably dampened my enthusiasm, and many of the rumored items before the show were things that were either way past the price range of most readers, or technologies like 4K that I think aren’t quite there yet. Despite that, I came away from CES with a few things that I really did like.
My favorite products were the high-end plasma displays from Panasonic and Samsung and in a dark room the Panasonic ZT60 was really phenomenal.
With all the things to cover there was a ton that I didn’t get to and as exhausting as 3 days of CES is, you really could cover it for a week and not see everything there is, and there is THE Show at the nearby Flamingo Hotel that has products from many other audio companies that aren’t at CES. In the end, while much of the focus from CES will be on 4K/UHD displays, far more impressive to me were the updated plasma displays offering amazing picture quality we can afford, and I can’t wait to test them out.
Don’t miss Chris and Stephen”s coverage of the CES 2013, with much more on Audio Video and some coverage at the Venetian as well.
Piero Gabucci, Senior Editor, covered the Audio Show at the Venetian and as he discussed in the pre-CES Video Podcast with Scott Wilkinson, his expectation was to really focus on the sources for audio……alot of developments were shown at the Venetian and other venues.
See Piero’s in depth coverage of all things audio, at the Venetian and other venues.
Scott Wilkinson, Senior Editor, braved the crowds on the show floor, throughout the week for his weekly show on TwitTV….don’t miss Scott’s visits to the booths of Toshiba, LG, Panasonic, Sharp, Samsung, and Sony to learn about each company’s new TV products, including 4K Ultra HD, OLED, plasma, and LED-LCD. Scott also explains the difference between commercial and consumer 4K and discusses the state of 3D in the home, whose rumored death has been greatly exaggerated.
Check out the floor show Live from CES 2013
Scott summarizes his thoughts about CES 2013 in his final blog on the CAVE….”Another CES has come and gone; this was my 21st. Unlike most of my colleagues in the press corps, I really enjoy going to the show, in part to see all the cool new toys, but more to have some face time with people I otherwise don’t get to see in person. Plus, I enjoy the over-the-topness of Las Vegas—not that I’d want to live there, but it’s fun to visit.”