2004 International Consumer Electronics Show Coverage

January 8, 2004 This is the first of three reports filed by Dave Weinstein from the CES show floor in Las Vegas (2004). The other reports can be found here and here.

When the New Year dawns, consumer electronics professionals from around the globe begin their annual pilgrimage to Las Vegas for the International Consumer Electronics Show - the world's largest display of electronic excess. This year the show opened Thursday January 8 and more than 100,000 industry representatives, media and consumers hit the show floor - once more the wolves and the wares are in rare form.

Convergence is the dominant theme

Convergence is the dominant theme, with portable jukeboxes that can display movies as well as play MP3 audio, HD DVR devices that combine to replace your satellite box, VCR, home photo album and CD player, and even one colossally expensive combo big screen TV/photo printer from Epson. But with all the potential for hype, there seems to be an actual shortage of truly new concepts this year, with companies following through with last year's promises before making new ones.

Flat panels worth looking at ...

For the past few years, Samsung and LG have been playing a game of oneupmanship in the large flat panel display market. Last year, LG demonstrated a 52" true 1080p display (that's full HD resolution without any scaling), then Samsung showed a 57" unit. Well, they're at it again, and the customers will be the big winner with the products due out in 2004.

Samsung is bringing its 57" LCD 1080p display to market, and will have a whopping 70" 1080p plasma display to go with it. This is a huge step forward, since these are the first true HD displays available to the consumer. Not to be left behind, LG is showing a 55" LCD but can't quote an actual delivery date.

Samsung also has its cool prototype as well, a show stopping 80" full HD resolution plasma display. Samsung has safely won this round of the flat screen wars, so now we must wait to see if they can actually deliver the product.

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