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Television Media Toys Hardware

CES 2004 Coverage 140

TheCheat writes "CES 2004 is just getting underway in Las Vegas. It looks like there is quite a bit of coverage from several websites including: Anandtech's revelation of Intel and AMD roadmaps; Tom's Hardware's look at Xbox2 rumors; A look at Microsoft's keynote at ExtremeTech; and finally a look at some BIG monitors at TrustedReviews. It looks like CES is much bigger than COMDEX this year."
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CES 2004 Coverage

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  • by Metallic Matty ( 579124 ) on Friday January 09, 2004 @01:33PM (#7930633)
    A freakin' 76 inch monitor!?

    My god.. its like some sort of idol for geekish worship.
  • by billnapier ( 33763 ) <`napier' `at' `pobox.com'> on Friday January 09, 2004 @01:34PM (#7930645) Homepage
    CES has been underway since the first CES press conferences started on Wednesday! There are a lot of places that have already been coverint CES for 3 days before /. got to it!

    I usually laugh when I hear the news report something I heard on /. 3 days prior. Now I'm crying because /. is losing its edge...
  • by vpscolo ( 737900 )
    Were are going to need some really hi-res pr0n to make best use of that. Hmm HDTV pr0n maybe :) Rus
    • Were are going to need some really hi-res pr0n to make best use of that

      I have no doubt that this [penny-arcade.com] is a common use for such viewing technologies.
    • by Anonymous Coward
      I know that when ever I've hosted a circle jerk, one of the major distractions was everyone crowding around the computer monitor.

      Now I can just throw down a tarp, and enjoy the event.
    • by hrieke ( 126185 ) on Friday January 09, 2004 @02:12PM (#7931081) Homepage
      Do you really want to see what these girls look like at HDTV resolutions?
      (Wall Street Journal had an excellent article about how broadcastors are having a hard time dealing with the way people look on screen, IE, Not Good. These are the men and women of soap operas, lord help us with porn stars).
  • by revscat ( 35618 ) on Friday January 09, 2004 @01:37PM (#7930700) Journal

    Plasma displays seem to have gotten all the media attention for some reason, but DLP projectors and displays are superior in just about every measurable way: brightness, weight, resolution, etc. Plus DLP screens are far less of a maintenance nightmare: the only thing you will ever have to replace is the bulb, and that only once every 3 or 4 years. Plasma screens, on the other hand, are not expected to have a total lifetime of much longer than that.

    Oh yeah, and vim is better than emacs.

    • I recently helped my parents purchase a 41" Sony DLP for less than $3000. The parent poster is 100% correct; the picture is outstanding, has a surprisingly good sound system (of course no substitute for a good home theatre system), and the whole thing only weighs 70 lbs!

      Just my 2c.

    • plasma screens also emit a lot of heat.
      DLP screens are bigger than plasma tv's and cheaper. Therefore they are selling quite well in the nation's stores..
      anybody want to elaborate about projector's?

      also, looks like trustedreview's webservers must be currently cursing whoever en-trusted them to serve slashdot's appetite ;)

    • DLP is NOT a flat panel display. There are some applications that require flat panel displays. If someone wants big and flat (direct view) then they have to go with plasma unless the bigger LCD's are big enough.
    • A friend has a DLP projector. Looks great, but Rainbows are very evident to most people, not the minority you usually here. It is the minority that find them an annoyance or cause of headaches. I have yet to sit down with someone and point out the rainbows and have them tell me they can't see them. For everything else I agree but the tradeoff is rainbows.
      • KYLE Hey Stan, did you see that rainbow this morning? STAN Yeah, it was huge! CARTMAN Eeh, I hate those things. KYLE Nobody hates rainbows! STAN Yeah, what's there to hate about rainbows? CARTMAN Eeh, you know, you'll just be sitting there, minding your own business, and they'll come marching in and crawling up your leg and start biting the inside of your ass, and you'll be all like "Ay! Get out of my ass, you stupid rainbows!" STAN Cartman, what the hell are you talking about? CARTMAN I'm talking ab
      • I'm really getting tired of all this DLP rainbow nonsense. The key to what you say is...

        I have yet to sit down with someone and point out the rainbows and have them tell me they can't see them

        ...the point being you have to point them out! Rainbows happen, yes, and almost everyone can see them when looking for them, but you have to be sweeping you eyes across the screen at high speed in order make one appear. Rainbows do not occur when simply watching a picture on a DLP screen. Your friends probably
        • Essentially you have to point them out so they know what the heck you are talking about. But I don't have to do anything to make them evident to myself, just watch the movie. Nobody I know gets a headache from them.

          Watching underworld the other night, which is largely very dark, the rainbows were inescapable.

          They are the most intrusive artifacts of any display technology. Now a 3 chip DLP might be really sweet.
    • Man...I just heard the moniker DLP for the first time today in a job interview...needless to say, they use DLP to show visualizations of stuff. I was indifferent, but since when could a vim user be hassled for not looking into something and learning about what it really is, eh? DLP is the way to go!!

      ;)
    • Not necessarily (Score:5, Informative)

      by swb ( 14022 ) on Friday January 09, 2004 @02:09PM (#7931043)
      Plus DLP screens are far less of a maintenance nightmare: the only thing you will ever have to replace is the bulb, and that only once every 3 or 4 years. Plasma screens, on the other hand, are not expected to have a total lifetime of much longer than that.

      Bahh, you haven't been paying very much attention. Samsung has had a ton of lamping problems with their DLP sets, and rumor has it they are even replacing the bulbs in them with a new design, requiring a retrofit. (Source: AVSForum).

      Furthermore, Sony's newest line of LCD rear projection sets, the Grand Wega IIIs, have had their own spate of lamping problems. There have been widespread failures of the lamping systems (which are compact arc lamps), and Sony's still not 100% sure what the issue is. My first GWIII failed after a week, and there are several others on the AVS Forum who have had theirs fixed and still they don't work right.

      I bnought the GWIII because the DLPs were rather harsh with SD content, and the image was overall a little too pixelish -- it FELT like a computer driven display, while the GWIII felt a little more film like to my eyes.

      As far as long term reliability once you get past the lamping systems and replacing a couple of $200 bulbs in them, nobody REALLY knows. DLP uses micromirrors, and we don't really know how long those will last. LCD panels won't last forever, either.

      As for plasmas longevity, we don't really know what that's like in terms of ordinary TV usage. They feel too fragile for my tastes, but we have two at work used for displaying PowerPoint, and despite the marketing people's use of a solid color logo in the same corner of every page for hours on end, I don't notice any evidence of burn in on them, and they're over 2 years old. The AVS Forum plasma posters seemed to indicate that the anti-plasma noise is much overstated, none noticing any evidence of burn in or other problems.

      Anyway, there are no perfect technologies. You just accept the tradeoffs you think are worth it, and hope that spending $3k+ on a TV doesn't make you a fool in 4 years.
      • Re:Not necessarily (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Qrlx ( 258924 ) on Friday January 09, 2004 @03:02PM (#7931709) Homepage Journal
        and hope that spending $3k+ on a TV doesn't make you a fool in 4 years.

        If you plan is to watch TV for the next four years, then I'd say the chances are pretty high.
      • by extra88 ( 1003 )
        Samsung has had a ton of lamping problems with their DLP sets...

        ...the Grand Wega IIIs, have had their own spate of lamping problems.

        Perhaps it is because they're not Cold Lampin'? [lyricstime.com] My AV consultant, Flavor Flav, is the best!

      • Re:Not necessarily (Score:2, Informative)

        by Quikah ( 14419 )
        We have a 2 year old Plasma here at work, was great until the dumbass head of IT left a windows error message on it for a few days. There is now a huge ghostly windows error message on it.
    • Isn't DLP a projection display? How can it possibly rival the clarity of the plasma screens?
    • LCoS is offering the highest resolutions and even more impressive color contrast (with the exception of direct, not projection, LCD). They cost about 25% more than a DLP set of the same resolutions.

      The units are not wall-hang thin, but they are light and space saving, despite being projection units.

      Maintenance and care is similar to that of a DLP box.
    • by Golgofrinchian ( 74415 ) on Friday January 09, 2004 @02:39PM (#7931454) Homepage
      Call me biased because I was a Sony employee for a couple years in the Retail Sales Division... I want to set the record straight a bit,
      DLP's micro mirrors have a higer probability of breakdown than plasma. DLP is _not_ made by Sony. They make Plasma and LCD projection. Plasma has a lifespan of around 10,000 hours. After that the gas loses life, kinda like an old neon tube. LCD's can pop pixels. Nothing is as long term as the good old CRT. Problem is to make a large CRT you need a long neck at the back of the screen. This prevents most CRT's to stay around 40" else they cant make it through the door of your house.

      Golgofrinch *8^)
    • Plasma displays seem to have gotten all the media attention for some reason, but DLP projectors and displays are superior in just about every measurable way:

      DLP is not superior with respect to black-levels, "white chrush", thin-ness, and making people nauseous ("rainbows").

      There is no one answer that fits all when TV shopping. There are trade offs.

      • Just a random note, it does not make people "nauseous", it makes them "nauseated." Nauseous describes the thing that is causing the discomfort, nauseated refers to the state of being affected by that thing. When you say "I'm feeling nauseous" you're saying "I feel that I am causing other people to want to vomit." If you say "I'm nauseated" that means you feel like vomiting.
    • I've got a 50" Samsung DLP and I love it! One thing you failed to mention though is that they're a lot less expensive than LCD or plasma.
  • CES? COMDEX? (Score:1, Redundant)

    Would it have really been too hard to define CES and COMDEX in the article header?
  • Monitor? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by ajiva ( 156759 ) on Friday January 09, 2004 @01:38PM (#7930709)
    Considering my Monitor (24") is bigger than my TV (21"), I think I value computing more than "entertainment" :)
  • by Kamphor ( 609888 ) on Friday January 09, 2004 @01:38PM (#7930710)

    "This 76in plasma screen is the largest in the world." - from TrustedReview's website

    here's a link from dell's website selling an NEC 84inch plasma monitor!

    http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.a spx?sku=A0149525&c=us&l=en&cs=19&category_id=5914& page=external
  • by TopShelf ( 92521 ) on Friday January 09, 2004 @01:39PM (#7930720) Homepage Journal
    Where's the booth girl review?
  • This is one I've been looking at lately... http://www.ibizpda.com It projects the keyboard onto the desk and you just type... it detects your fingers and registers the keystrokes. I have heard that it's more of a hunt and peck than real typing, but PDAs, who cares? They are at CES and have nominated for best of show. Also, it makes a hot penny stock! ;) http://www.pinksheets.com/quote/chart.jsp?symbol=I BZT
  • I'm so TORN (Score:3, Interesting)

    by subjectstorm ( 708637 ) on Friday January 09, 2004 @01:47PM (#7930815) Journal
    Ninja Gaiden was one of my favorite nintendo games of all time growing up. i made a video where i set its now famous opening scene to a soundtrack of "Welcome to the Jungle" by GnR.

    I don't know for sure, but i imagine that NG will only be available on the X2. Please, someone, tell me i'm wrong about that. Tom's review of Microsoft's presentation on the future of console gaming (it's chilling, frankly) leaves me with sweaty palms and a dry mouth. EVERYTHING hosted on MSN? Passport is a big enough pain in the ass already.

    I've considered buying an X-Box already for titles like Halo and for the kickassness that is X-Box Live . . . but i resist, because it's like making a deal with the devil. I am tempted to sell out, i really am. I mean, have you SEEN how many crap games are flooding the market right now for PS2? I'm horrified every time i enter Wal-Mart (of course i would be anyway, but that's beside the point).

    Agh. Ninja Gaiden . . . Microsoft . . .

    Moments like these are why god invented beer.
    • Re:I'm so TORN (Score:3, Interesting)

      by glenrm ( 640773 )
      You are wrong Ninja Gaiden is coming out for the X-Box in the this month or next...
    • Yes, it is coming out for X-Box, which i don't have. No, it isn't coming out for PS2 or for GameCube, both of which i do have.

      the point is that i don't want to buy an x-box, but NG might make it too sweet to resist.

      Sorry if i made that unclear.
    • "but i resist, because it's like making a deal with the devil. I am tempted to sell out, i really am."

      Selling out? Well, true, purchasing the XBOX will result in the revocation of your cool status here on Slashdot.
      • > Selling out? Well, true, purchasing the XBOX will result in
        > the revocation of your cool status here on Slashdot.

        Not if you buy it for the purpose of installing Linux on it.
  • Bill G and Jay L (Score:2, Interesting)

    by r_j_prahad ( 309298 )
    On last night's Screensavers [techtv.com], I think I heard Leo LaPorte say something about how Jay Leno was unmercifully ribbing Bill Gates throughout the keynote speech. I'd love to see a video clip or even a transcript of that. Any links?
    • " I think I heard Leo LaPorte say something about how Jay Leno was unmercifully ribbing Bill Gates throughout the keynote speech. I'd love to see a video clip or even a transcript of that. Any links?"

      This is the first time I've seen documented proof of anybody wanting to watch Jay Leno.
  • by Cutriss ( 262920 ) on Friday January 09, 2004 @01:50PM (#7930847) Homepage
    From GamesIndustry.biz [gamesindustry.biz]:

    Infinium Labs' proposed console, the Phantom, has made a showing at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas as announced by the company earlier this week, but only in the form of a box which was not switched on.

    The Florida-based start-up showed off a Phantom console on the Windows Embedded Device showcase stand at the event, but although the system sported a full array of connectors on the backplate, it was not powered up or demonstrated in any way.

    In terms of physical design, the box is almost exactly the same as the previously seen concept art and renders, and its size belies the standard PC components from which it is built.

    However, the fact that Infinium Labs did not properly demonstrate the console working is likely to add fuel to speculation that the entire project is some form of elaborate hoax or scam - even though this seems increasingly unlikely.

    The presence of the Phantom on the Windows Embedded Device stand, if nothing else, proves that if Infinium Labs is a hoax, it is a hoax which has taken in Microsoft along with several other key companies in the industry.

    Hoax or not, however, such a lacklustre and content free unveiling for the machine on its first public outing is unlikely to boost confidence in the device, which promises a "new way to deliver content" for the games industry, ever actually making it to the market.
    • by Indy1 ( 99447 ) on Friday January 09, 2004 @01:55PM (#7930901)
      proof you say ?

      proof #1 [google.com]

      and proof #2, an email i recieved from their former hosting service who terminated the assholes for spamming.

      Dear postmaster.

      ASP-ONE corrected the issue of excessive spamming from one of our clients. Infinium labs were a client of ours who abused their account by spamming through our mail servers. We corrected this issue by terminating their account and permanently deleting them from our exchange servers.

      We like to request that you remove us from your blacklist so that our good standing clients can deliver their mails to your mail server.

      We apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused you, and look forward to a favorable and a speedy response from you.

      With regards,

      Jae Sim

      ASP-ONE

      System Administrator

      -
    • The presence of the Phantom on the Windows Embedded Device stand, if nothing else, proves that if Infinium Labs is a hoax, it is a hoax which has taken in Microsoft along with several other key companies in the industry.

      Maybe it's not a hoax. Maybe it's just a disaster.
  • by Guano_Jim ( 157555 ) on Friday January 09, 2004 @02:03PM (#7930980)
    The question that remains to be asked above all these hardware-related questions:

    How many girls in skimpy outfits [e3girls.com] are hawking products?

    Inquiring slashdotters want to know!
  • From the ExtremeTech article "emerging connectivity standards like USB..." How is this emerging? It's been a standard for years (yeah, 2.0 is newer, but still years old)... This does seem kind of silly.
  • by geekee ( 591277 ) on Friday January 09, 2004 @02:23PM (#7931244)
    See here [com.com] for something likely out of CES about the AMD/Intel efforts to stop buffer overflow code from being executed.
  • Porn Expo? (Score:2, Funny)

    by barureddy ( 314276 )
    Will someone please elaborate? I was channel surfing past CNN saw that there is a porn expo going next door. Is that really true. If so that is truely a place the be for a geek.
    • As referenced by another post, that appears to be Adultdex [adultdex.com]. Since I'm at work, I'm not about to verify whether that link is correct though :-)
    • I'm from Nevada, and I don't get it. Is there something odd about a Computer show and a Porn industry show going on side by side in Vegas? If so, you had better let us know. It's not like we allow legalized prostitution in these places.
  • I've been catching up on CES by streaming video at news.com.com although it is very little. I would like to know what other sources for video coverage other slashdotters have found.

    /me remembers back in the day when CNET had a good broadband video coverage section
  • (1st off 2,430+ meters for the rest of you) I've heard of bad things happening to plasma sets in high altitudes (http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/plasmatv/plasm atv-altitude.html) What I don't quite understand is that my 60" Sony LCD set has a high altidue setting but it gives no reason why.
    • It might have a high altitute setting that alters the fan speed, which otherwise would be reduced at altitude by not being cooled as much...
  • DISCover (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    "In addition, the DISCover guys argued that the PC beats all consoles when it comes to titles and where else can you play Halo and GTA: Vice City on the same system."

    Uhm. That would be Xbox.

    However, I don't see Panzer Dragoon Orta, Virtua Fighter 4 or Zelda The Wind Waker running on PCs.
  • by Magnus Pym ( 237274 ) * on Friday January 09, 2004 @03:11PM (#7931897)
    Verizon [verizonwireless.com] is launching [vzw.com] 1xEV-DO nationwide. This is a cellular (fully mobile) data technology that delivers 300-500 kbps average downstream thoughput, and 30-70kbps upstream. Peak rates are 2.4Mbps downstream and 153.6 Kbps upstream. The service is already operational in San Diego and Washington D.C and is marketed as Broadband Access [verizonwireless.com].

    Think Richochet on steroids. The US has caught up with and surpassed Europe on wireless with this one.

    I tried to submit this story yesterday thinking this will of high interest to the slashot audience, but it was rejected. Oh well.

    Magnus.
  • I've been to swapmeets bigger than last year's comdex.
  • A freakin' 76 inch monitor!? It is not the size that matters it is how you use it that counts.

Solutions are obvious if one only has the optical power to observe them over the horizon. -- K.A. Arsdall

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