DigiUpdate.Com

The Digital Home and HDTV Update

February 26, 2004

 

This site is dedicated to the memory of Arun Gupta, the founder of digiupdate.com. Our guides on Digital Home and HDTV are organized so that you can understand these complex and changing technologies and make smart decisions about your digital home.  We are consumers ourselves using our hands-on experience to guide other consumers.  We are not affiliated with any vendors, retailers or other publications. This first update is timed with the CES 2004 show, January 8-11, Las Vegas.

Guides - More Coming Soon Selecting a High Definition Display DLP RPTV  Updated 2/26 Samsung HLN Sets: DLP 2003 Interview with Samsung on HLN-W1 3/12/04 LCoS RPTV New 2/17 DVI, HDMI and HDCP – a Practical Guide Testing PQ on Digital Displays HDTV Poll at AVS Forum New 2/17 HD DVD Players with DVI/HDMI  New 2/18

The digitization of consumer electronics is well underway - in music, photography, video, telephony and more. It converges consumer electronics, computers and telecommunications technologies. It coincides with the roll-out of High Definition Television (HDTV) that is causing most of us to upgrade our home electronics equipment.  But our challenge is to move into the digital home arena smartly, so that we can reap its full benefits at the least cost and pain.

A digital home is not only about digitization but also integration: integration of systems in every room, on your person, in your car; and integration of functions such as video, audio, pictures, gaming, telephones, internet access, security, and control.

The Consumer Electronics Show was held on January 8-11, 2004 in Las Vegas.  The show was again bigger than ever with 110,000 attendees.  It took up not only all of  Las Vegas Convention Center, but half a dozen other sites around as well.

The CES 2004 Show Entrance at LVCC	Samsung HLP5685W 56” DLP RPTV  a Best of CES Innovations Honoree

 

A quick look at the show exhibits and program confirms that digitization of consumer electronics has now moved into integration.  Most new products and technologies at the show were targeted at this digital high-definition home, extending into cars, boats and personal mobile electronics as well.

According to IDC, over 350 million digital devices will be sold into the home this year, and 1.5 billion between 2004 and 2006. In many ways it's a larger market than the PC.

CEA expects ’04 Consumer Electronics sales to hit $101 billion, and they predicted that 12 million plan to purchase HDTV in the next 18 months.

The major theme in Keynotes was the connected home – where all your electronics equipment is seamless connected together.

Microsoft’s Bill Gates called it Seamless Computing and announced Microsoft Windows Media Extender technology so that Microsoft powered devices can talk to each other seamlessly.  Microsoft’s own Windows Media Center PC and XBOX will connect using this technology, so will the newly announced Portable Media Center platform.  A number of vendors; including Creative, iRiver, Viewsonic, Sanyo and Samsung, HP, Gateway, Dell and Alienware; announced support for these Microsoft Media platforms.

Intel's Paul Otellini talked about the "entertainment PC" or EPC, a media playback device.  Intel’s reference design for this device will be provided free of charge to OEM’s.  Intel also announced new semiconductor devices for this market – a liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) chip, the Xscale embedded processor and a new mobile graphics processor.  "We think that in 2005, we think that an LCOS-based 50-inch HDTV will be sold for less than $1,800”.  Intel Corp. also  announced a plan to kick-start the digital home by announcing a $200 million venture-capital fund through its finance arm, Intel Capital.

Philips called it the Connected Planet, focusing on the wireless nature of connectivity.  Panasonic AVC Networks Company President called it Lifestream in his address.  Dell's Michael Dell talked about the Dell Effect, promising price performance for Dell’s electronic products. HP's Carly Fiorina announced an agreement with Apple to OEM iPod, and talked about the need for Digital Rights Management (DRM).  Sprint’s Gary Forsee talked about integrated voice and data services on its networks and 3D games and virtual meeting rooms for gamers.

CEA president Gary Shapiro talked about the need to make CE devices simpler and more connected. FCC chairman Michael Powell talked about copyright protection, Wi-Fi and the future of technology.

The show was dominated by Displays – LCD, Plasma or digital rear-projection (Digital RPTV) kind.  LCD’s and Plasma got predictably larger, but at exorbitant prices.  Digital RPTV’s gained as the technology of choice if you want large sizes at reasonable prices.  TI announced new DLP chips, and many new vendors entered the DLP RPTV market, and Intel announced plans for a competing LCoS chip.  Manufacturers also announced plans to integrate High definition ATSC and CableCard tuners into televisions in the second half of the year.

Many new Home Media Devices will drive these displays.  New High definition receivers and Digital Video Recorders (DVR) will receive programs from air, cable and satellite and save it for later viewing. New DVD players will support DVI/HDMI, Windows Media 9, HighMAT, SACD and DVD-Audio.  New DVD recorders will record your content onto DVD’s.  Many vendors demonstrated Prototypes of HD-DVD.

In Home Networking, many vendors introduced wireless 802.11g devices that will deliver bandwidth of up to 56MBPS and higher.  This year, new networking solutions were also introduced that will use the same cable that you use for TV antenna cabling.

The biggest advances were in Home Media Networks, client and server devices networked together that will enable you to share video, audio, pictures and internet at home.  Microsoft announced Microsoft Windows Media Extender platform that will allow devices from many vendors to be networked together. New Media servers will store your video, audio and picture content.  New Media players will access this content over the network.  Most promising were whole house media systems that combined these boxes into an integrated network serving all media functions throughout your house.  Tivo, Voom and others demonstrated full integrated systems.

Portable Media Devices are ever more popular.  In audio jukeboxes, iPod continues its dominance, but a very large number of new devices were announced to compete in this fast growing category.  Portable Video Players are now a center of attention – many devices were announced that are based on the Portable Media Center platform.  New portable hard drive technologies promise to add more capacity at small sizes.

In Cell phones and PDA’s, convergence was the theme -- SmartPhone adds PDA functionality into cellular phones. More media capability was added to both types of devices in the form of cameras and media jukeboxes.  ATI and nVidia introduced new graphics chips for mobile devices.

General at AVS Announcing our 2004 CES Website! Show Impressions What I saw at CES today...   Other CES Coverage CNET CES 2004 ExtremeTech CES Trends and Gadgets Gizmodo CES Coverage DesignTechica CES Coverage PC Magazine CES TechTV Best of CES Secrets CES 2004 show report Home Theater Hi Fi Show Report   Texas Instruments and DLP TI showing 1080P DLP HDTV at CES! TI showing consumer 1080P DLP at CES, TI HD3 available! TI HD3 vs. xHD3...? What are the differences between HD2 and HD2+ ? TI at CES (not 1080) What resolution is the xHD3, the rogo scare Please explain DynamicBlack, DarkChip2 and SmoothPicture!   Intel and LCoS Intel LCOS CES Press Release and Article More Intel LCOS info InFocus and Intel LCOS   Technologies Windows Media High Def News at CES

Rear Projection TV New DLP RPTV's at CES 2004 LCD RPTV News at 2004 CES? hd2+ chip in rear projection dlp? New Panny DLP RPTVs Introduced at CES 2004 Panasonic 2004 New Rear Projection HDTV Line-up !!! New Panny DLP's and Lcd's press release DLP Introductions at CES Any Sony CES announcements. And what's Mits up to this year? CES CRT breakthrough! New Infocus DLP at CES EPSON Livingstation JVC Announces D-ILA RPTVs   Plasma / LCD Samsung displays 80" Plasma 57" LCD at CES NE1 see the 80" Samsung PDP at CES? CES Attendees: Please Check Fujitsu 55" New Panny Plasma & LCD's Announced!   Front Projectors Meeting With Sanyo at CES Any news from Immersive at CES? NEC HT1100 at CES? ? for CES participants What things to check out at CES? CRT   Vendors Panasonic Press Conference Pioneer 2004 line (link to CES PR) Jvc @ Ces Hitachi CES 2004?

HDTV / STB Boxes SA 8000DVR and 8300DVR CES press release OpenCable / CableCARD STB announcements from CES?   DVD Players / Media Players NEW DVD Players with DVI or HDMI – CES 2004 Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD Samsung announces new DVI players at CES Bravo WM9 HD dvd player. Check this out. Hot New Bravo D2 & D3 DVD Info!!!! New Panny DVD recorders announced! New Toshiba DVDR's Announced at CES.. Prismiq Media Player/Recorder at CES I have a few questions about HDMI and the CES show? New Sony DVD Recorders Announced at CES 2004 LG LGXBD420, the First Blue-Ray DVR combo at CES. Add another HD-WMV9 DVD player to be displayed at the CES show.   Audio Denon 5803 replacement - any CES news ?   Services / Programming DirecTV speculation - January 8th Press Conference. Turner to Enter HD Arena Voom HD PVR, HD in every room from 1 receiver Voom at CES was best display/information of the show (some E* & D* info too)   Integration / Networking Panasonic HD-PLC at CES HDTV Networking over Coax Will Launch at CES

Over time, we plan to cover all aspects of a digital home, including the following areas:

 

	Home	Portable	Auto / Boat	Services, Content
Displays Home Theater	CRT Direct View LCD Flat Panels Plasma Displays DLP RPTV LCoS RPTV LCD RPTV Front Projectors	-	Auto Displays
Sound	Audio Receivers & Amplifiers Home Speakers	Headphones	Auto Receivers & Amplifiers Auto Speakers
Media Devices	TV Receivers and PVR’s Home Media Players DVD Players and Writers	Portable Players Portable DVD Players	Auto Media Devices
Networking	Home Media Network Wired Network Wireless Network Net Cameras Home Network Misc.	-
Computing and Web	Desktop & Media PC Computer Cards Computer Peripherals Computer Software WebCams	Notebooks PDA, Wrist Weather	GPS / Navigation Auto Computers	Internet Services
Video	TV Services TV Antennas	-	Auto TV Service	TV Services DVD On-line/ On-demand Video
Audio	Home Satellite Radio Radios	-	Auto Satellite Radio	CD On-line Music Satellite Radio FM / AM
Photography	Digital Cameras Printers Scanners	-	-	On-line Photography
Telephones & Videophones	Home Telephones Video Phones IP Telephones	Cell Phones		Phone Services IP Phone Services Cell Phone Services
Gaming	Game Consoles Game Accessories	Portable Game Players		Games On-line Gaming
Control & Security	Remote Control Home Control Home Security		Auto Control & Security
Accessories	Power Accessories Cables and Connectors Storage Accessories Furniture Accessories
Appliances	Digital Appliances

 

Technologies and Standards for the Digital Home Audio, Video and Pictures Encoding and Broadcasting: ATSC, NTSC, CableCard, mp3, WM9, WMA etc. Networking, Wireless and Telephones Display, Sound and Speakers Computing, Storage and Software Connections and Cables Input and Output