No one loves their gadgets and technology like the Japanese, and Japan's biggest consumer electronics show is CEATEC, which is just winding down today. This week, thousands of consumers, analysts and media converged on Makuhari Messe, just outside Tokyo, for CEATEC 2008, the fifth annual hosting of the event, to view the wares of consumer electronics giants such as Panasonic, Sony, Pioneer, Hitachi and more.
Although no one product or technology stood head and shoulders above the rest this year, there were a few cool and interesting products and technologies to be seen, some of which are available now and some of which were visionary views of what may be possible in the near future.
What follows are a few of our favorites from CEATEC 2008:
The hordes converge on Makuhari Messe in the wee hours of the morning on September 30, 2008.
An impressive 3D demo from Panasonic featured three-dimensional footage from the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The two independent streams of 1080p visual data were each stored on a standard Blu-ray Disc using Bonus View technology, though the Blu-ray Player and plasma TV had to be customized for 3D playback.
Geoff Morrison from Home Entertainment magazine interacts with a 3D prototype television from Pioneer which requires no glasses for its 3D effect.
Hitachi's Wooo UT (for "Ultra Thin") LCD TVs measure in at just 15 mm (about 0.6 inches).
Hitachi also moved beyond basic black with a sampling of artsy frames for their Wooo TVs. Pictured above is their gold leaf model.
Japanese consumers love to record, and Panasonic plans to keep them happy with the PZR900 plasma series, which features an on-board one terabyte (1 TB) hard drive.
If you prefer your plasmas to be super-model thin, then you may be interested in Panasonic's newest plasma models with a panel depth of just 24.7 mm (less than one inch). Pictured here is the pole-dancing 65-inch model.
And if you think that's thin, then have a look at this prototype 11-inch OLED panel from Sony. It measures in at just .33 mm thick (that's twice the thickness of an average business card).
Side view of Sony's bendable ultrathin OLED panel.
And in the opposite direction (size is no object), Panasonic's prototype 150-inch plasma was also on display with a diagram showing the size of the mother glass needed to build it. With one piece of mother glass they'll be able to carve out 16 42-inch plasmas or one 150-inch model. The plant to make these is expected to go online in May, 2009 but the 150-incher will probably not see production until 2010.
150 inches still not big enough for you? Then consider Panasonic's concept "Life Wall" - an interactive TV that takes up an entire wall of your home, allowing you to view photos, watch TV shows, communicate with friends and family around the world and more. Panasonic expects a product like this to be possible some time in or around 2015, and though their concept model was created using rear projection, in the future the actual huge screen panels may be built using OLED.
Need some way to power all this great technology? No problem. Panasonic is already doing trials and will soon be selling this household fuel cell module. It takes natural gas, extracts the hydrogen, and combines it with oxygen to make electricity. It's more efficient and much cleaner than burning the gas for power - its only byproduct? Water.
Hoping to get into Blu-ray recording? Better move to Japan. Panasonic and other makers offer a bevy of models starting at around 80,000 Yen ($800 US) with built-in hard drives starting at 250 GB up to 1 Terabyte. But they're still mum on when they'll introduce models into the US. Let's hope CES brings better news.
Old meets new with Sharp's BD-HDV22 Blu-ray recorder with a built-in VHS deck. Throw in a laserdisc player and you've got all your bases covered.
Power conservation is on everyone's agenda these days. Panasonic's new neopdp technology enhances their plasma flat panels to use 50% to 80% of the power of current models. Hitachi and Sony displayed power saving LCD models as well.
And speaking of Sony, Sony had on display several different LCD models, ultra-thin models for the style conscious, 240 Hz models for enhanced motion reproduction and their new "Triluminous" models lit by RGB back-lights instead of CCFL backlights. Demos show how much better black levels are with the new lighting. This will make its way to the US in the XBR8 line later this year.
Sony's RGB backlighting module offers more precise control over the backlighting of LCD TVs, allowing them to approach the contrast (black level) performance of plasma and OLED.
Toshiba is bringing a powerhouse processor to its television line in the form of the Cell TV. Based on the same processor used in Sony's PS3 and in several high-powered IBM computers, the Cell TV supports playback and recording of 8 independent HD streams, or up to 48 streams of standard definition materials. It can even display a single program in 48 chapters with each chapter visible on the screen at a time for easier navigation.
Pioneer's big news this year was their exit from plasma manufacturing. They'll continue to make and sell plasma TVs, but will be buying the glass from Panasonic rather than making it themselves. For smaller screen sizes (32-inch to 46-inch), Pioneer is partnering with Sharp to offer three new KURO LCDs, including the 46-inch model pictured above. These are being introduced in Europe later this year.
Sharp's partnership with Pioneer is a two-way street. As they provide LCD technology to Pioneer for their KURO LCDs, so Pioneer provides the soundbar used in Sharp's latest XS "Extra Slim" model of LCD TVs.
And last but not least, also at the Sharp booth, proof that Home Entertainment magazine's editor in chief Geoff Morrison has a brain... but he keeps it in Japan.
That's all for CEATEC 2008. See you next year from Makuhari Messe!
