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Insight Media has decided to identify the technologies and products
with the “Best Buzz” at CES. Winners will receive nothing
other than the notoriety of making this list.
What do we define as Best Buzz? It is what the analysts at Insight
Media, other editors and journalists, and you, the readers of
Projection Monthly and Microdisplay Report, were talking about
at CES. Achieving a Best Buzz award does not mean we performed
an exhaustive survey and evaluation of the products at CES –
that comes later. It is what struck us as cool, interesting, provocative
or exciting during the show. It is what we were asked most about
and what we talked most about.
We will also recognize a Worst Buzz award for CES. This is for
a product, prototype or strategy that caused us, and others to
wonder, “What were they thinking?” A Worst Buzz recipient
can assume that their ideas were not well received within our
circles. This does not mean we are or are not a good barometer
of eventual market success; it just means the idea resulted in
more snickers than accolades.
So, let’s get to the awards. Taking top Best Buzz honors
were two key developments:
· The 61-inch Thomson RCA/InFocus RPTV that is only
6.85 inches deep
· Intel’s unveiling of its LCOS technology for
RPTVs
Living up to the advance billing, Thomson/RCA delivered by showing
off its 61-inch RPTV that measures only 6.85 inches deep. Powered
by DLP technology, the TV was designed and developed by InFocus
using a proprietary optical system. It does not use electronic
warping techniques nor curved optics, we learned, but nothing
more can be revealed at this time. Image quality does not suffer
either as uniformity looked quite good with nice crisp details.
This depth is a major breakthrough in technology and creates a
new class of RPTV – a category that remains unnamed –
so send some suggestions our way. Thomson has decided to price
the sets, which will be offered in 50-, 61- and 70-inch screen
sizes, at a more than 2X price premium to similarly sized DLP
RPTVs that offer a more standard depth of 14-18 inches. Look for
them this fall.
Tied for the top Best Buzz award is Intel’s public unveiling
of its LCOS development program. We have been watching progress
here for two years now, and we were very impressed with the image
quality that Intel showed on six demonstration TVs in its suite
at Bellagio. The best of these prototypes offer high contrast,
image crispness, great color saturation and rock steady performance,
owing to their all-digital architecture. With newly announced
partners including TCL, Skyworth, InFocus and Primax, Intel is
poised to change the RPTV competitive landscape. If Intel can
exorcize the manufacturing demons that have haunted all LCOS developers
to date – watch out. Intel President Paul Otellini stated
in his keynote that the company expectsits customers to come to
market within a year with 50-inch LCOS RPTVs with 1280 x 720 resolution
for $1,800. That will shake things up, especially if the image
quality is excellent. And, it is likely to be a one- or two-panel
design.
Other Best Buzz awards goes to:
· Selling CE Products to Women
A new effort to market CE products to women could be one of the
most significant developments of this decade. Women do not like
buying most CE products because they feel like fish out of water
in a male-dominated retail environment. Now, there is growing
awareness among manufacturers and retailers that this has to change
since women do make and influence the purchasing decisions for
TVs, PVRs, set-top boxes, DVDs, digital cameras, etc. In a panel
session devoted to this topic, and with confirmation from the
CEOs of the top retailers in another session, reshaping the way
CE products are marketed and sold to women will be rising to the
top of initiatives over the next few years, it would seem. This
will require new ways to target and educate women, such as using
women’s magazines, and stressing the benefits and life-simplification
advantages of new products. In addition, the retail environment
needs to be completely revamped. Like men, women love flat TVs,
but they want to see how such sets will fit in living rooms, so
retailers need to show them. Plus, sales personnel need to be
retrained to not talk down to women and make the education and
sales experience more appealing. CES and other trade show exhibitors
may also want to consider using other than scantily clad women
as the primary content for their product demos and as their booth
representatives on the show floor.
· Epson’s Printer-RPTV combo
Known best for its printer technology and for being the dominant
high-temperature polysilicon (HTPS) LCD microdisplay supplier,
Epson has combined both strengths to offer its first RPTVs. But
it will not enter this segment with another copycat product. Instead,
it has integrated a dye sublimation printer and menu interface
for photo management right into the HTPS RPTV. Reaction to this
product was mostly “loved it” or “hated it.”
We think it is a brilliant move as Epson will ride the growing
wave of marketing CE products to women. Digital cameras are very
popular with women, but they want to manage and print photos more
easily. This product allows them to do this by including multiple
memory card slots, a writeable CD drive and printer. And, by the
way, it also gives the man of the house what he wants – a
big-screen HDTV. Very clever. It will offer 47- and 57-inch models
for under $4K.
· Media Server/Entertainment PC
Intel President Paul Otellini laid out one of the best visions
for the connected home we have heard to date in his keynote address.
He described how the rack of AV equipment in some living rooms
today will disappear in favor of an Entertainment PC (EPC). This
single box will receive all of the audio and video signals coming
from cable, satellite, broadcast, the Internet, DVDs and PCs;
store it; and serve it up to all of the TVs and portable AV equipment
owned by the household. The EPC includes wireless capabilities
and combines a digital audio player, digital video recorder and
HDTV tuner into one device. In combination with new Media Server
software being developed by Microsoft, each TV will be able to
select source material and have it sent to the TV wirelessly.
Many other manufacturers offered similar visions for media servers
at CES, so we think this will become part of mainstream buying
patterns in 2004.
Finally, the "Worst Buzz" award goes to:
· Philips’ Ambilight Technology
Debuted at CES, Philips’ new Ambient Light Technology –
Ambilight – is an innovative lighting concept integrated
into a new range of LCD and plasma TVs. Light emanates from the
two sides of the screen to create a glow. The color of the light
is changed, apparently, according to the visual or audio content
on the TV. So, envision watching Moulin Rouge with some additional
red light, or Top Gun with more blue light. Sorry guys, but this
one produced a lot of negative comments, mostly concentrating
on how distracting this would be to the TV viewing experience.
We think that “Mood TV” is a bad idea, but you do get
a thumbs-up for creative thinking.
Anyway, there you have it – the first Best Buzz awards.
Please realize we can’t give recognition to everyone, even
if worthy, but your feedback is welcome. We will have full coverage
of CES and more in the next issues of Projection Monthly and Microdisplay
Report.
Chris Chinnock
President, Insight Media
chris@insightmedia.info
Contact:
Insight Media
Annmarie Gabisch, 203-831-8464
annmarie@insightmedia.info
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