It doesn’t get much bigger, or better, than the CES show in Las Vegas. And in Las Vegas, size matters! In this photo, Panasonic shows off its 152-inch plasma TV. Price? If you have to ask, you can’t afford it!

Every time I head out to cover the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January several questions go through my mind: Is it going to be warmer in Las Vegas than it is here in NY? Are the lines going to be as long again? And what will be the hottest technology at the show? The answer to the first question is always a gamble (appropriate for the town in question, don’t you think?): I’ve actually been to the CES show three times when it was snowing before, during, or just after the show, and several times when it was actually warmer in NY than in Nevada. This time around, however, I got a break on the temperature, as daytime highs in Vegas averaged in the mid to upper 60’s, and the show floor was even hotter, literally and figuratively! (Back just one day from the show and the temp outside my studio in NY right now is 1 degree! Brrrr!)

As for question number two: In the past I’ve referred to CES as the “Hurry up and wait!” show. This year, despite my best efforts to avoid the slowdown in Vegas by getting there several days early for “Press only” events, I ran smack into the slowdowns again. First, it took nearly 13 hours to get to Las Vegas (compared to a normal 8 hours), thanks to major incompetence on the part of U.S. Air (USeless Air). Second, the onslaught of approximately 110,000 attendees flocking to the show this year taxed the taxi system as usual, with wait time stretching from 20 to 40 minutes in many cases. And thinner than usual staffs at all of the hotels led to longer lines at check in, restaurants, and other venues. As a veteran of the show, I always pick a hotel near the monorail, stock my fridge with Starbucks coffee the night before to avoid morning lines, and take the monorail whenever I can. But this year, unusually long lines were also the norm at the MGM monorail station heading towards the show, and even my secret short cuts around the show floors were little help.

However, if I had to do it all over again, I would—but perhaps I’d stay a day or two after the show to enjoy the great weather I barely had time to enjoy, or wander through the show on its closing day to enjoy more of the incredible displays and new technology that I’m sure I missed. My primary goals at the CES show have always been to find new and innovative technologies that will affect the way photographers and videographers capture, display, and share their photos and videos. At this year’s show, there were many exciting developments on the capture front, and quite a few online, picture-frame, or cell-phone based “sharing” technologies announced. But I’d have to dub CES 2010 as the year that large screen TV’s finally got to the point where they can’t go much further—especially when it comes to image quality, 3D capability, thickness, or size. (I’m sure I’ll be proven wrong on the size, but size isn’t everything when you can’t even fit the current size champ, a 152-inch Panasonic plasma screen, through the doorway of even the typical mac mansion. See photo above.)

After analyzing last year’s CES show and a number of other big shows I had attended in 2008, I predicted the rapid growth of 3D capture and display technology during my presentation at the DIMA show prior to PMA in February, 2009. (What’s Next in Consumer Digital Photography? DIMA 2009). However, even I didn’t expect to see the advancements in 3D capture and display technology showcased by Panasonic, or the 3D and LED displays that wowed the audiences and stopped floor traffic dead at Samsung, LG, and Sony booths. Panasonic introduced the first pro-level, relatively compact 3D HD camcorder with a dual optic lens that helps feed a stereo view to dual HD sensors within the camera. I believe this model is just a hint of what’s to come out this year on the camcorder front—but I’ll bet money that Panasonic is working on a similar solution for its G-Series interchangeable lens hybrid cameras. At the same press conference, Panasonic introduced several large 3D-capable plasma screens, a 3D capable Blu-Ray disc player, and a announced a partnership with Direct TV to support a full HD, 3D channel in 2010. (Note: At the Panasonic press conference it was revealed that unless a “3D-capable” TV or monitor features a new HDMI version 1.4 connector, it won’t be compatible with standardized 3D playback devices such as the Blu-Ray player mentioned. Nice surprise to anyone who bought a 3D TV over the holidays featuring the advance 1.3 HDMI connector!)

While Panasonic gets my vote for numero uno on offering the best end-to-end solution for 3D technology, it had quite a bit of competition from the other display manufactures when it came to 3D TV and LED TV. At LG, ultra thin LED monitors were the big attraction, with colors that jumped off the screens. The same can be said of the LED displays at Samsung, which also showcased several 3D-ready LED models that combine the best of both worlds. Samsung gets my vote for having the best monitor display I’ve every seen in my life—on a scale that defies description, but hopefully can be approximated by some of the photos in the following gallery:

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At home, I not only watch my HD videos on it. I’m looking to replace my ailing 2003 vintage- 57-inch Sony HD CRT rear projection model this year, and until I saw the Samsung 3D LED display, I was leaning towards an LED TV vs a 3D capable plasma or LCD model as my next purchase for the living room. For me, the color accuracy, expanded color gamut, and the glass-free viewing experience you get from an LG, Sony, or Samsung LED TV is superior to any other display technology. (Ok, I was impressed with the color and viewing angle on the 20+-inch OLED teaser Sony had hidden in a back room, but that’s still several years away from the mainstream especially when it comes to competing on size.) Also, for the moment, there really isn’t enough 3D content to make me want to purchase a TV based on its 3D capability (plus I’d have to add a 3D- Blu Ray device, and several pairs of high tech 3D glasses to the purchase.) Hopefully, with the success of 3D movies such as Avatar (which grossed over 1 Billion dollars worldwide in just a few weeks!) that will change over the next few years. But for now, I think I’ll wait till after this year’s Infocomm 2010 show to see what the other manufacturers bring out on the 3D LED front, then save up for next Christmas’s big screen for the family. Oh yeah, they want one too!

Also, check out the official CES video podcast interview done by Sarah Myers on day two of the show with yours truly:

This year’s Infocomm 2009 Trade Show in Orlando, Florida wasn’t nearly as exciting for me as last year’s show in Las Vegas. I could blame it on the location (Orlando? BOOORING!) and the flattened economy (both obvious contributors to lower attendance). But could it also have been that last year I was a wide-eyed newcomer to a show that tries to cover everything from professional audio equipment to “Minority Report” style display technologies?

This year’s show certainly boasted a greater assortment of thin, large screen TVs, some of which featured high resolution beyond the once leading edge 1080P format (until you see an image on a 6 or 8 Megapixel, 56-inch screen you won’t be able to imagine how gorgeous it looks. But if you have to ask how much it costs, it’s not for you!) Video display wall technology also jumped up several notches, with new LED backlit displays adding color way beyond NTSC standards. And everywhere I turned the big AV players had multiple large screen monitors grouped together to display extremely high resolution (or wide format) photographs, CAD drawings, and art work.


With video walls, you could still see the narrow seams in between monitors if you look closely, but projector displays used a combination software/hardware solution from Scalable Display Technology to seamlessly stitch multiple images into one. I’m still dizzy from the flight simulator walls that showcased this technology, and can’t wait till it becomes more affordable.

Next, there was an abundance of new 3D displays from HDTV manufacturers such as Mitsubishi, and even a few DLP-projector manufacturers. Most of these displays required the use of special glasses to sync the right and left stereo pair images, but using these glasses provided a truly remarkable 3D experience. (Forget using those crappy old paper and plastic 3D glasses, that’s not even close to the new 3D experience.) But the real challenge will be providing enough quality content to convince 3D enabled HDTVs to purchase multiple pairs of 3D glasses. While there are some auto-stereo monitors on the market that don’t need glasses, they’re still too small for home theater use, and the viewing angle is very limited.

Last year there was a lot of hoopla about the arrival of pico projectors, and this year there were more units on display. However, most of the discussion about those small devices centered on slightly increased Lumens ratings, and the entry of LCOS-based imaging engines with LED light source, where where once single-chip DLP and LED ruled. From my perspective, pico projectors don’t offer enough brightness (or overall value) to be commercially competitive with current projectors, whether DLP or 3LCD based. However, I predict we’ll see pico projection technology sneaking into a wide variety of devices in the next year, from minivan ceilings to portable digital cameras (who needs a big LCD monitor when you can project your photos on the floor, wall, or ceiling?)

Predictions for LED lights eventually replacing the current bulbs used in the projectors continued, mostly by the manufacturers of LED (such as Phlatlight) and the DLP camp. But as I mentioned, the Lumens output isn’t yet up to par, even though LED lights do boast much longer life spans on the order of 10,000 to 20,000 hours or more. Last year, I heard a DLP presentation claiming that the upcoming wave of 3-LED-based DLP units would be capable of displaying billions of colors, with as many as 200 trillions someday. I argued that claim, (and might be for several years to come if the same folks who once claimed sealed optics are writing the copy on 3-LED color.) This year, I heard claims for billions of colors in a shipping product at the DLP booth, but the fact is there is no such thing as billions of colors and there never will be. (Color scientists and opticians agree—the human visual system is only capable of discerning about 12 million colors. Perhaps a few of us can see the 16.7 million colors in a top-grade 24-bit monitor or TV, but no one can rightfully claim a display system with billions or trillions of colors.)

Upon close inspection of the 3-LED projector images being shown, I noticed there were lots of oversaturated colors, the likes of which could never be created by a single chip DLP projector (but easily within the realm of a 3LCD projector). I didn’t hear the rep boast of how the 3-LED projector brightness had improved from 400 Lumens in 2008 to 1100 Lumens just one year (a significant improvement), or how using 3 primary color LED’s had dramatically improved the color gamut and quality over the use of a multi-color wheel (wait, that would sound like a 3LCD presentation!). Instead, both the DLP and Phlatlight reps claimed (in two different presentations) that a focus group had agreed the 3-LED projector on display produced a “perceived” brightness of nearly 2100 lumens, nearly a 1000 lumens more than its tested Lumens rating! Neither could explain why a focus group came to that conclusion, other than to suggest it had to do with the perception of bolder colors on the screen (PS: Not a scientific explanation by any means). But I figured the focus group might have come to that conclusion after it compared the output from a single-chip DLP projector (with a claimed 2200 Lumens output, and a tested color light output closer to 1000 lumens) to the actual 1100 Lumens rating of the 3-LED projector.

Background голова болит секс голова болит секс : As a photographer, videographer, and image-quality expert, I’m not a big fan of single-chip DLP projectors. I have yet to find (or test) a single-chip DLP projector that can match the color gamut and overall image quality of a similar-priced 3LCD projector. And as a color scientist, I can disprove the DLP claim that projecting white light through a high speed, spinning color wheel containing subtractive primary colors (such as M, C, Y) in addition to R, G, B creates superior color accuracy and gamut to a 3LCD projector. Many DLP projectors I’ve tested don’t live up to their claimed lumens either, coming in at 20-30% lower even in their bright modes. Sure, if you set a DLP projector to its Film, Photo, or Video modes (instead of Bright mode), image quality and color improves dramatically, but projector brightness often drops in half compared to 3LCD projectors with similar Lumens specs. Lastly, I’m also bothered by rainbow effects that plague single-chip DLP projectors, especially when viewing b&w photos, high contrast scenes, and a wide variety of movies. That said, 3-chip DLP units are in a different league altogether when it comes to image quality, but they’re also 10X the cost of single-chip units. And despite the claims on the DLP website, they are not capable of displaying 35 trillion colors. What they apparently meant to say, and I hope somebody at TI is listening, is that a 3-chip DLP projector may be capable of forming 12 million to 16.7- million visible colors using up to 35 Trillion color data combinations. After all, by definition color is a human visual experience, and if no human can tell the difference between two “color data combinations” then there is really only one true color present.