Digital televisions are eclipsing the usual gadgets and gizmos at this year’s International Consumer Electronics Show.
A dozen manufacturers are displaying near-production models or working prototypes of the new breed of TVs, which consumers will find in stores in the fall. The sets will be capable of displaying high-definition television, or HDTV, the new standard that promises twice the picture resolution of current TVs.
But the new sets are expected to cost $7,000 to $11,000, and it’s uncertain just how much high-definition programming will be on the air by the time the sets are in the stores. The manufacturers aren’t predicting a consumer gold rush.
For those without the money or patience to await the first digital TVs, manufacturers are offering lots of new twists on digital video discs, or DVDs, which look terrific on existing TVs and even better on the forthcoming technology.
And digital definitely was the byword in the bulk of the new products showcased at the show, from watches that double as pagers to handheld language translators to the pinnacle for audio enthusiasts, the rewritable CD, or CD-RW.
Here are highlights of this year’s show, which by the time it ends on Sunday will have drawn 100,000 people to gawk at sound systems, telecommunications, computers, calculators, electronic watches and the odd dancing puppet:
– If you want to receive your pages in a timely manner, Timex Beepware ($129) combines a watch and a pager, and the Beepware Pro ($159) adds Timex’s Data Link functions, which allow transferring database information between a personal computer and the watch.
– Microsoft Corp. announced plans to bring its Windows CE operating system to the car as Auto PC. This fits in the dash in place of the stereo and combines paging, e-mail, cellular phone, navigation and other data services, as well as being a radio and CD controller. It is voice-activated, can record your voice and respond in a synthesized voice, so if you become lonely while driving, you can hold a simple conversation with it.
Clarion Co. quickly jumped aboard with a model at a base price of $1,200. It includes a CD/CD-ROM drive, but not the phone or navigation equipment. Visteon, the electronics division of Ford, Nissan and other car companies, announced support for the system.
– GlobeWave eased the difficulty of connecting a cell phone to a laptop PC modem. The Com.Plete PC Card ($449) combines a cell phone and modem in a single Type III PC-card. When not transmitting data, the earpiece, speaker and microphone allow it to be used for conversation. It also plugs into regular phone lines.
– Run Seiko’s Quicktionary over a French or Spanish word, and it displays the English equivalent; the handheld scanner translates text one word at a time. Seiko promises that by the time the $250 translator arrives on the market in the fall, it will add more languages to its repertoire. Each unit only translates a single language.
– Cassette decks, once prominent Consumer Electronics Show stars, took a back seat to recordable compact disc decks. If you record one of the new, so-called CD-R disks on one of these recorders, it will play on any CD player–but it can’t be erased and re-recorded.
A rewritable CD, called a CD-RW, can be recorded, erased and re-recorded over and over, but it only plays back on a CD-RW deck. Manufacturers claim the next generation of CD players will handle the CD-RW discs. Pioneer, already a leader in CD-R, showed its first CD-R/CD-RW deck, the PD-R555W. At $700, it costs $300 less than Pioneer’s least-expensive previous CD-R recorder, and has more features.
– The other reason that cassette deck introductions could be counted on the fingers of one hand came from the little disc that could: MiniDisc. This virtually indestructible 2 1/2-inch disc records and plays for up to 74 minutes with near-CD quality sound. It incorporates even more convenience features than a CD, and is more portable.
After being barely noticeable at the show in the six years since its introduction, it turned up in nearly every audio display. JVC created the most novel unit, combining a three-disc CD changer with a MiniDisc recorder. The XU-301BKW ($660) can do some pretty fancy copying and even contains a flip-open remote control with a full keyboard for typing electronic labels for each track that are recorded onto the MDs and shown on the player’s display.
– JVC also demonstrated the world’s smallest video printer. The size of an average headphone personal stereo, the printer spits out credit-card-size photos from video sources. It doesn’t even need wires if the video source sends infrared signals. JVC announced no price or introduction date.
– JVC and Panasonic introduced analog camcorders that also can store digital still snapshots in memory. The Panasonic PV-L958 ($1,100) and PV-L858 ($1,000) can even record the snapshots onto the video, or download them to a PC. The JVC GR-AXM700 shares many similar traits, but allocates more memory to the digital snapshots.
All three come with the appropriate software to manipulate the digital images. Canon, always of a more serious bent, debuted the Optura true digital video camcorder ($2,699), the first with design and operation similar to a 35 mm SLR still camera, while the XL1 DV camcorder ($4,699) even accepts Canon’s 35 mm SLR lenses.
– Boom boxes have become much too civilized lately for JVC, which has launched the RV-B90 Kaboom Box ($330) in Army green with an explosive 50 watts of power. Designed to look like a mortar launcher on steroids, this armful certainly puts the macho back in portable audio.
– Finally, for those left cold by new technology, Wurlitzer Jukebox Co. introduced a home CD jukebox small enough to fit on an end table.
It claims that the Princess, which changes 120 CDs, contains all the charm and craftsmanship of the original Wurlitzer Model 1015. It announced no price, but some will find the unit is priceless.
For a comprehensive look at digital television, turn to the Business.Technology section in Monday’s Tribune.
