Ed's View: TV Wins Again at CES 2012

Having attended consumer electronics shows in various capacities since 1965, I have witnessed the growth and evolution of the CE industry from many different perspectives. Some shows announce revolutionary, even disruptive, technologies; others reflect evolutionary trends.

Although CES is primarily a near-market hardware show, increasingly dominant themes are based on enabling technologies. For example, wireless broadband networking of virtually all classes of devices has been a growing theme in all product categories for the past few years. Possibly the most significant example of this trend is the combination of two enabling technologies – those of ubiquitous wireless interconnectivity and reliable miniature sensors – creating the maturing category of cost-effective consumer health monitoring services and devices.

As an increasing number of consumer electronics services and features are software based and less dependent on industry standards, it is becoming obvious that there is virtually no profitable business model for CE hardware. The “hardware” is becoming simply necessary enabling devices in a growing number of competing service “ecosystems” (think Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon et al). Even in these business models, both hardware and software implementation tasks are commoditized by “the cloud.” The money is in the proprietary code. How unexciting. It’s hard to show innovative code at an international CES display booth.

But in the final analysis the success of a consumer electronics product rests in the ability of that product to “wow” the senses. (The complete scientific and quantitative analysis of “wow” will not be a subject of any of my future articles.)

The winner of the wow factor at CES12 was, hands down, 50” HDTV OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) displays as exhibited by LG and Samsung. When displaying 3D, that wow factor went up several notched.

Next on the wow scale was UHDTV (or UHTV) i.e. Ultra High Definition TV. Some call it (incorrectly) 4K, which is the cinematographic definition of essentially the same thing but with a different aspect ratio. Basically, UHTV refers to TV images that are essentially four times the resolution (3840 x 2160 pixels) of present HDTV. Nobody combined both UHTV and OLED. Now, that would be a double wow. Add 3D – a triple wow. Add glasses-free 3D (that works) – a quadruple wow. But, that’s next year. Maybe there is a business case for CE hardware (at least for awhile). TV wins again.

Ed

Posted by Ed Milbourn, February 15, 2012 7:45 AM

After graduating from Purdue University with degrees in Electrical Engineering and Industrial Education in 1961 and 1963 respectively, Ed Milbourn joined the RCA Home Entertainment Division in 1963. During his thirty-eight year career with RCA (later GE and Thomson multimedia), Mr. Milbourn held the positions of Field Service Engineer, Manager of Technical Training and Manager of Sales Training. In 1987, he joined Thomson's Product Management group as Manager of Advanced Television Systems Planning, with responsibilities including Digital Television and High Definition Television Product Management. Mr. Milbourn retired from Thomson multimedia in December 2001, and is now a Consumer Electronics Industry consultant.

Blu-ray Review: The Debt

The Debt [Blu-ray]

Studio: Miramax Films
List Price: $34.98
Street Price: $19.99
Amazon.com: $13.07
Release Date: Dec 6, 2011
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Running Time: 113 minutes

Synopsis

The espionage thriller begins in 1997, as shocking news reaches retired Mossad secret agents Rachel (Helen Mirren) and Stephan (Tom Wilkinson) about their former colleague David (Ciarán Hinds). All three have been venerated for decades by their country because of the mission that they undertook back in 1966, when the trio (portrayed, respectively, by Jessica Chastain, Marton Csokas, and Sam Worthington tracked down Nazi war criminal Vogel (Jesper Christensen) in East Berlin. At great risk, and at considerable personal cost, the team's mission was accomplished - or was it? The suspense builds in and across two different time periods, with startling action and surprising revelations. -- (C) Focus

Review

Interesting concept to tell a little history about a lesser villain. Based just after the war the threesome of Rachel, Stephan and David plot to bring “The Butcher” to justice. As the story unfolds you become more involved in the personal aspects of the people themselves not just the mission.  It is very much a blockbuster with brains, one that neatly examines the psychological toll of living with a long-standing lie and, less successfully, explores how the power of unrequited love can reach through the decades. The Debt is definitely worth a watch or two.

Posted by Ryan Gibbs, February 15, 2012 7:50 AM

HDTV Expert - The Flood of USB-powered Monitors is Coming, by Ken Werner

At the ShowStoppers show-within-a-show at CES last month, HP was showing what its European distributors call a ”hot desktop” monitor.  (This was new to the company, HP’s Jim Christensen told me, but it is apparently an already-defined category in Europe.)  The targeted applications of what HP calls the HP Compaq L2311C Docking Monitor are hotel rooms and business desks.  Plug the USB cable from the monitor into your laptop and you’re automatically connected to the monitor and the Internet.

A more typical application was shown by Toshiba at the PEPCOM show-within-a-show.  (There are three of these events for media and analysts at CES, each run by a different company.  We go to the events because it is easier to talk to personnel from the exhibiting companies, and the reps are more likely to be knowledgeable than those you meet on the show floor.  There is also free food and drink, a time-honored way to make sure the press shows up.)

Toshiba showed 14- and 15.6-inch USB 3.0-powered monitors.  They will also work with a USB 2.0 cable, but require two USB 2.0 ports to supply the needed power.  The monitors have 1368×768 pixels.  Both models will ship in March, the 14-inch at $199, the 15.6-inch at a price to be determined.  Each unit comes with a leatherette combination stand/case.  These units were only a few of the USB-powered monitors to be found at CES.

DisplayLink supplies the technology that drives these USB-powered monitors, with the USB display controller contained on a chip embedded in the monitor itself.  The controller is also available in free-standing adaptors for supplying video signals to AC-powered monitors via USB connections.

In their booth in the Las Vegas Convention Center South Hall, DisplayLink was featuring their USB 3.0 chips, which can drive monitors up to 2560×1600 pixels.  There were several USB 3.0-powered monitors from DisplayLink customers in the booth.  An interesting one was an  AOC 15-inch, available for only $130 at Best Buy, a newly aggressive price point for USB-powered monitors of this size.  The AOC unit has no switches or controls.  The USB receptacle is protected by a fold-out kickstand.  Plug the USB 3.0 cable into the monitor and it turns on, with the controller contained in the embedded DisplayLink adaptor.

Also in the booth was a more elegant model from Lenovo for $199, and  AOC has a 22-inch for $199.  DisplayLink was also showing a variety of docking stations and monitor/audio adaptors available from various vendors.

Why the explosion of USB-powered monitors now?  On the technical side, the sharp recent reductions in power consumption of LCD-monitors, combined with the greater power available from the USB 3.0 socket (compared with USB 2.), has solved the power problem.  In addition to that, said DisplayLink Product Manager Theo Goguely, USB monitors are inherently global products, independent of AC power and plug differences in different markets.  You don’t have to include a different power brick or outlet wart for each market, which makes for a multiplicity of SKUs.  In fact, you don’t include a power brick or outlet wart at all, which results in a significant saving of hardware, packaging, and shipping costs.  USB-powered monitors are on the verge of becoming standard, reasonably priced notebook accessories.

CEA Launches Working Group to Unite Content and CE

CEA Launches Working Group to Unite Content and CE

Arlington, Va., February 15, 2012 – The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)® today announced the formation of the Device, Apps and Content working group (DAC). The working group will create a forum for collaboration among device manufacturers, content creators, aggregators and app developers to increase and enhance consumer availability of content and apps on CE devices.

The convergence of content, apps and technology is driving the evolving consumer electronics industry as evidenced by the 2012 International CES, where a large number of the more than 20,000 new product introductions were designed to unite CE and content.

"As the nation's largest technology trade association, CEA is the hub of innovation, and our new Device, Apps and Content working group will foster new business opportunities for manufacturers and content companies," said Jason Oxman, senior vice president, industry affairs, CEA. "Our aim is to transform content convergence so that consumers have better access to what they want directly from their electronic devices."

Chaired by Bryan Burns, vice president of strategic business planning, ESPN, the working group will be geared toward existing and prospective CEA members with an interest in content distribution and app development.

The first DAC working group meeting will take place as a teleconference on Wednesday, February 29, 2012. For more information, or to join the DAC working group, please contact Kinsey Fabrizio at kfabrizio@CE.org.

About CEA:

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is the preeminent trade association promoting growth in the $195 billion U.S. consumer electronics industry. More than 2,000 companies enjoy the benefits of CEA membership, including legislative advocacy, market research, technical training and education, industry promotion, standards development and the fostering of business and strategic relationships. CEA also owns and produces the International CES – The Global Stage for Innovation. All profits from CES are reinvested into CEA's industry services. Find CEA online at www.CE.org, www.DeclareInnovation.com and through social media.

Posted by Shane Sturgeon, February 15, 2012 7:12 PM

Shane Sturgeon is the Co-Publisher and Chief Technologist of HDTV Magazine, an industry publication with HDTV roots going back to 1984, when Dale Cripps founded The HDTV Newsletter. Today, HDTV Magazine is a leading online resource for HDTV news and information and captures the eyes and imaginations of over 3 million visitors annually. Mr. Sturgeon has a background in information technology and has served in various consulting capacities for Fortune 500 companies such as J.P. Morgan Chase, Verizon Communications, Proctor & Gamble and Nationwide Insurance. He has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Wright State University.

Comming Up:


Asbestos death rates are on the rise, learn what you need to lookout for when it comes to asbestos and mesothelioma.

HDTV Almanac - Why TV Subscribers Change

A new report from Centris indicates that more than one out of five pay-TV subscribers intend to change providers, change their level of service, or cancel entirely in the next three months. About half of these will change the program package that they have, which means that the other half will switch to a new service entirely or get rid of pay-TV altogether.

For those in this second group who are not moving, the main reason for making the change is simple: money. More than a third of them indicate that the price of the subscription is the reason for their decision. And I can’t say that I’m surprised.

Satellite and cable fees continue to rise (driven at least in part by more expensive retransmission licensing fees), and consumers feel that they are paying more for nothing. The pundits forecast continued subscriber losses; in an Associated Press story, Citigroup analyst Jason Bazinet predicts that Comcast will announce a net loss of another 125,000 basic cable subscribers for the fourth quarter of last year.

As I’ve said before, the pay-TV services are getting squeezed and I expect that we’ll see some significant changes in the business before this year is over.

Posted by Alfred Poor, February 14, 2012 5:00 AM

Alfred Poor is a well-known display industry expert, who writes the daily HDTV Almanac. He wrote for PC Magazine for more than 20 years, and now is focusing on the home entertainment and home networking markets.

Retransmission Fees: Who Is Winning?

As I have mentioned recently, one of the big topics for 2012 will be the dispute over retransmission fees. Cable and satellite service providers complain that the content producers are holding their customers hostage in order to extort larger fees for the rights to rebroadcast their copyrighted programming. The result has been blackouts of channels — sometimes for extended periods of time — when the previous retransmission contracts expire.

On the content producer side, they are seeing their revenues dwindle from other sources, so they see retransmission fees as a way to recoup their losses. The subscription television services are the ones who draw angry reactions from consumers, however, as their television service bills keep rising year after year. The increased fees are forcing cable and satellite to consider unpalatable options such as lower-priced channel bundles. They could even be forced to offer a la carte pricing.

While the situation is not clearcut, the recent earning news from News Corporation indicates that the retransmission wars may be providing a big windfall for the content providers. The company reported that it experienced “a greater than 100% increase in retransmission consent revenues.”

With the economy the way it is, it seems strange that the rules let a company double its revenues just for providing the same content as before. It appears that part of the problem is that there is no competition permitted in the current rules, and there may be too much leverage given to the content providers.

With numbers like these from News Corp and continuing problems with extended blackouts, it looks like something is broken in the system and this may be the year that it’s bad enough that the FCC or Congress will decide to fix it.

HDTV Almanac - Retransmission Fees: Who Is Winning?

As I have mentioned recently, one of the big topics for 2012 will be the dispute over retransmission fees. Cable and satellite service providers complain that the content producers are holding their customers hostage in order to extort larger fees for the rights to rebroadcast their copyrighted programming. The result has been blackouts of channels — sometimes for extended periods of time — when the previous retransmission contracts expire.

On the content producer side, they are seeing their revenues dwindle from other sources, so they see retransmission fees as a way to recoup their losses. The subscription television services are the ones who draw angry reactions from consumers, however, as their television service bills keep rising year after year. The increased fees are forcing cable and satellite to consider unpalatable options such as lower-priced channel bundles. They could even be forced to offer a la carte pricing.

While the situation is not clearcut, the recent earning news from News Corporation indicates that the retransmission wars may be providing a big windfall for the content providers. The company reported that it experienced “a greater than 100% increase in retransmission consent revenues.”

With the economy the way it is, it seems strange that the rules let a company double its revenues just for providing the same content as before. It appears that part of the problem is that there is no competition permitted in the current rules, and there may be too much leverage given to the content providers.

With numbers like these from News Corp and continuing problems with extended blackouts, it looks like something is broken in the system and this may be the year that it’s bad enough that the FCC or Congress will decide to fix it.

Posted by Alfred Poor, February 13, 2012 5:00 AM

Make Differences


Charities


Articles


Asbestos Deaths


Mesothelioma


Mesothelium


Deaths from Asbestos


Mesothelioma Advice


Mesothelioma Resources


Exposure to Asbestos


Auto Donation California


Car Donation Centers


Car Donation San Francisco


Vehicle Donation California