Press Day is the Consumer Electronics Show’s "fifth day," which we had requested for so many years. The exhibits are mostly still under construction, but the day is filled with press conferences and new product announcements. And this year there was even a preview before the preview: a reception announcing the winners of CES’s Innovations awards. Definitely worth turning out for.
     Oh...for that and for the caviar.
     Naturally, consumer electronics cover a lot of ground, and so do the awards. There were digital phones pretending to be laptops (almost), a Sanyo GPS handheld navigation system that is also a DVD player, and an Austrian backpack designed to keep your electronics dry. Plus a digital jukebox that looks rather like an old Wurlitzer, despite its MP3 innards. The manufacturer is Gibson (maker of the famous guitars), but the brand name is Wurlitzer!
     The most off-the-wall of the winners is the new Kicker subwoofer, shown here. It is 18" (46 cm) across, and has claimed peak power-handling of 10,000 watts. Let’s see, now, with 13.4 volts, that’s pretty close to 750 amperes, about four times the current capacity of a typical home electrical system. Do we smell something burning?
     We are not generally that fond of LCD monitors, but LG/Zenith won an award for some large HDTV LCD monitors that look better than we are used to expecting.
     We know Fosgate as un upscale manufacturer of home theatre gear, but its new preamp-processor caught us by surprise. Why? Because it is -- wait for it -- a tube unit! And built from exotic wood yet! Visually, it looks like the sort of thing you expect from the Italian amplifier manufacturer Unison. it’s shown below. Will it show up in all Fosgate dealers? We shall see.
     The most familiar winner is the Thiel CS2.4 loudspeaker...familiar because it is reviewed in UHF No. 68. This may be the first time we’ve reviewed an award winner before it won. We agree with the award, though.
     Monster Cable had two products presnt: one of its current filtering systems, and its new corner subwoofer. The sub is a good-looking piece, with a 1000-watt "Godfather" amplifier. Yes, that is its name, and we figure it’s an offer you can’t...oh, never mind!
     With a growing emphasis on home theatre, multi-channel amplifiers are growing more common. One of the most unusual is the Flying Mole, shown below. (Yes, Flying Mole...the sort of name you used to see from China, but this one is Japanese.) It includes up to 16 channels with total power of 2560 watts. And by the way, it’s hot swappable. The one shown in our picture was running when one module was pulled out.
     The actual press day opened, as usual, with conferences by the large companies. That of Pioneer was the first one, with the company claiming great figures for sales of DVD-RAM burners. Really? Well, yes, because the burners are also compatible with DVD-RW, the dominant format. Pioneer’s oddest new product is a DVD turntable for veejays, to let them "scratch," slow down and revserse, just as they do with LPs.
     Panasonic showed some neat new products, occasionally veering toward the weird. For instance: a camcorder that can "tell" when it sees skin tones, and softens the focus on that part of the image. Perhaps it’s a niche product for aging baby boomers. The company reserved the most hoopla for the new logo shown in the photo below. First problem: figuring out what it says. It’s "Viera," in case you’re having problems with it. Its the new name for Panasonic’s line of flat TV screens (LCD, plasma and DLP). We thought it looked like a cross between Wega (Sony’s name for the same thing) and the name of a very popular blue pill.
     Mid-morning, the satellite radio broadcaster Sirius distributed a brochure claiming its service to be the only commercial-free satellite service. A mere two hours later, its (dominant) competitor, XM, announced 121 commercial-free channels. With no increase in price, which is lower than that of Sirius. There were other announcements: new weather and traffic channels, and the placement of XM Radio in jetBlue aircraft.
     XM now has an application before the CRTC to expand the service into Canada.
     Kevro has pulled off a coup: taking the Myryad brand away from Artech, and getting distribution for all of North America. Kevro’s US division also distributes Monitor Audio speakers. Last week it pulled away Simon Spears from the mother ship in the UK to head up Monitor Audio’s North American marketing. Spears showed the new Radius speakers (he’s holding one in our picture). The Radius series, he says, is mean to be "solutions driven," which means designed for home theatre and computers. The small Radius is solid and seems very well-built. The in-wall versions have rear boxes, rather than taking a chance with whatever’s back there. Drivers are metal, just as in Monitor Audio’s more traditional products, and Spears says they have the same sonic signature as the Monitor Audio speakers they may need to be matched to.
     There seemed to be rather fewer press conferences than in recent years, but more journalists: getting a seat at a press centre table was a hassle. But here’s a piece of good news for us: this year the Wi-Fi wireless service we used to put this report on line was finally set up correctly. We’re hoping they’ve done as well at Alexis Park, where most of the high end exhibits are located. We’ll find out tomorrow morning.
     The day’s not quite done as we write this. There’s a presentation by Wireworld in the South Hall of the Convention Centre, and later the AVS party at the Rio.
     We know, we know, it’s a tough job but somebody has to do it.

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