Archive for the 'Home Entertainment' Category

Last night we hit up Nobu, the sushi restaurant nestled inside the Hard Rock hotel and casino. Verizon was having a party to celebrate the launching of their FiOS TV service, and they decided to do that by giving an open sushi bar to hungry journalists and industry insiders.

I'd like to say the best part was the fact that we didn't get hassled for taking pictures, but the pictures came out kind of crappy and let's be honest — the sushi was the best part. Overall, props to Verizon for making up for earlier party issues. –Adam Frucci

CES 2007 [Gizmodo]

Which monitor above is wireless and which is HDMI? In a challenging demo, two 720p TVs were placed side-by side, with one fed by a conventional HDMI cable and the other with the uncompressed wireless HDMI technology the company calls a "video modem." Could we guess which one was HDMI and which was wireless? No, we got it wrong. There was no discernable difference between the two.

Then they showed us its near-complete lack of latency (under 1ms) by playing some 720p Xbox 360 games over the 1.36Gbit/sec device.

Company reps say we'll be seeing wireless HD products by the end of this year, with Sanyo first to demo the device. The also expect to be demonstrating wireless 1080p by next year's CES. How much will this cost?

The target is under $200 for the 720p/1080i dongle version by the time it hits the market, and just a few bucks by the time it's mass produced as a small chip inside TVs and projectors everywhere. – Charlie White

In pretty much every room of the Next Gen House is a wall-mounted touchscreen running off of the main server in the back using Vista (which is pimped pretty thoroughly in the house). As you can see in the galleries, the touchscreens can be used to control pretty much every aspect of the house, from lighting to the climate. You can also stream HD video to each touchscreen as well as pictures. Don't look for these babies in the $15k connect home dealio that Best Buy is offering up, though — these are aimed exclusively at high-end consumers and it costs many, many thousands of dollars. Granted, you can always add on to the Best Buy package, provided you have the dough. Gallery goodness after the jump.

– Matt Buchanan

I thought it was a picture puzzle, they claimed it was a "temporary glitch." Whatever, that was the easiest picture puzzle I've ever done. –Travis Hudson

I stumbled upon the Hillcrest Loop remote control deep in the bowels of South Hall, sitting encased in glass in a sparse booth. I asked for a hands-on and was shut down, and they had no info on when this thing will see the light of day. Pretty fishy. What gives, Hillcrest?

Our previous hands-on with this made it seem pretty robust, but their display here just screamed vaporware. Here's hoping that's not the case. –Adam Frucci

CES 2007 [Gizmodo]

Warning: Above video contains adult language, so cover Junior's ears.

Night before last was Digital Lifestyles, a preview of CES that basically shrinks down the conference center into one big room. It had lots of food, free booze, and tables and tables of gadgets. Witness scenes from the floor and minor tech-world celebs such as Walt Mossberg and Adam Sessler hanging out while future Nobel laureate Vince waxes poetic about a house party that we passed on as we had plans to get harassed at some other parties instead.

Man, I hate those guys. –Adam Frucci with video by Richard Blakeley

CES 2007 [Gizmodo]