The 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas was busting at the seams with over 153,000 attendees (some 14,000 more than last year) and a record 3100 exhibitors in 1.86 million net square feet of exhibit space. Doug Dixon was there to report on the latest and greatest.
North America’s largest trade show spans the living room, desktop, and mobile, covers televisions and tablets, connected homes and smart phones, computers and content, telecom and wireless, autos and appliances, digital photography and digital health.
Yes, some big names like Apple and Google do not exhibit at CES, and Microsoft is bowing out after this year from exhibiting and from its traditional keynote event, but the show does keep expanding its scope. For example, around half the space in the North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center was dedicated to the iLounge Pavilion for iPhone, iPad and related accessories, next to growing areas for digital health and automotive electronics.
But the big themes of this year's CES can be summed up in two words – ‘thin’ and ‘smart’. The emphasis on thin comes from devices that are now measured in millimetres instead of inches, from the new Ultrabook laptops that are too thin for standard connectors, to television displays that look like a pane of glass. And the profusion of smart, connected devices extend from widescreen TVs with downloadable apps to connected appliances that can text you when the wash cycle is done.
THINNER AND SMARTER
The big news at CES for PCs was in Ultrabooks – amazingly thin laptops that still deliver good performance (think of the Apple MacBook Air). This was the fatal flaw in the big push for netbooks a couple years ago. Netbooks were the right idea – smaller, lighter laptops that are easier to carry – but the user experience failed because the size and cost reductions resulted in frustratingly underpowered systems. This time, Intel is driving the Ultrabook category based on both size and performance, built around several generations of the Intel Core processors.
The first Ultrabooks, like the new HP Envy Spectre with its glass-based chassis, are now coming to market based on the Intel ‘Sandy Bridge’ Core i5 and i7 low voltage processors. These feature thin and light designs (under 21mm and around 1.5kgs), with fast start-up, extended battery life (targeting 5 to 8 hours), and with mainstream pricing (targeted under $1,000). The second wave, due this spring, is based on the third generation Intel Core processors (‘Ivy Bridge’), for greater performance and faster graphics (20% better), with expanded support for USB 3.0, and greater availability of larger screen sizes (from 13" to 14 and 15"). Then the 2013 models will be based on Intel’s next-generation ‘Haswell’ processors, with significantly lower power consumption resulting in longer standby battery life (more than 10 days in some cases).
Ultrabooks also will be a strong platform for Microsoft Windows 8 when it is released later this year, particularly with support for touchscreen designs (consumer research shows that the keyboard is for work, and the touchscreen is for fun). Ultrabooks also can include a motion sensor so users can tilt and manoeuvre the unit to control action on the screen. Expect to hear much more about the Ultrabook format this year.
While there were lots of different product categories at CES, the flagship still is the big- screen displays in the Central Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. Thin was also the buzz word for TVs, along with ‘smart’.
This year's hit were the beautiful 55-inch OLED displays from LG and Samsung. OLED offers much faster displays (eliminating motion artifacts), vibrant colour and contrast, and good viewing angles in an amazingly thin panel. The displays at CES were ludicrously thin – like a sheet of glass – and with a similarly thin bezel around the display they can look like windows floating in the air. Even better, these displays may even begin to appear as real products this year, albeit with the pricing still to be announced.
After the big pushes for Blu-ray and then 3D displays in recent years, the CE industry seems to have settled into a more pragmatic long-term approach to deploying new features for consumers. This year, 3D and ‘smart’ technologies have extended beyond just the high-end TV lines, so that the next big display that you buy will probably be at least 3D ready – for when you find a compelling reason to try out 3D content. Work also continues on glasses-free displays for both the living room and for PCs, with fixed viewing positions and/or using a camera to track the position of a single viewer.
Of course, there's always new technologies, so this CES saw some support for even-higher- res 4K x 2K displays, with Panasonic demonstrating an incredibly detailed picture on a small 20-inch 4K prototype display, and Sony introducing a Blu-ray player that upscales to 4K, which provides at least one source of content to display.
But the real focus was not on the displays; it was on the ‘smart’ capabilities embedded in TVs and set-top boxes.
Smart means in-home and internet connectivity, with internet browsing, media sharing throughout the home and with portable devices (ie, with DLNA), direct sharing between devices via Wi-Fi (without requiring an access point), universal control of screens and sources. Smart also means on-screen interfaces for accessing stores for content, plus stores for apps developed for the TV display. One such option is Google TV, now built in to some LG displays and available in a Sony set-top box. You also can add smart connected features to an existing display with a new Blu-ray player.
Smart also applies to interacting with your devices. For example, the Panasonic touch pad remote provides more convenient navigation across menus and lists of content, and the LG Magic Motion Remote Control lets you wave to control the cursor. But this year's interfaces are moving beyond pointing to gesture control, plus adding microphones for voice input commands and even cameras for face recognition to customize the interface for specific users. As your family watches in the living room, your TV will know who you are, what you are saying, and what you are watching, as it communicates with cloud services to enhance and augment your viewing experience.
ACCESS ALL DEVICES
This explosion of consumer options for different kinds of devices to access content, and sources to acquire media raises the bar for manufacturers and service providers who need to provide consumer-friendly interfaces for discovering, purchasing, and delivering content. One solution comes from companies that provide customizable storefronts and interfaces for associated back-end services.
For example, Rovi is the former Macrovision, refocused in 2009 on the discovery and enjoyment of digital entertainment, and combined with Sonic Solutions, including media tools, the RoxioNow storefront, and DivX video technology.
At CES, Rovi demonstrated its second- generation TotalGuide G2 content guide that provides unified entertainment discovery and access for CE device manufacturers, with rich program data, personalized search and recommendations, title access and control across multiple vendors, and interactive advertising. It provides a common interface for browsing and searching for interesting content, and then links to available on-line stores to purchase the material.
Behind the interface are the Rovi components for integration into devices or as cloud services. The Rovi Entertainment Store is a turnkey white-label solution for vendors to create over-the-top (OTT) storefronts, and is currently supporting almost a dozen third-party services. It integrates with UltraViolet digital library and Rovi Digital Copy to recognize and authenticate a movie on a physical disc.
The Rovi Data information service provides media data on more than 3.8 million TV programs since 1954, over 500,000 movie and video titles, and over 28 million music tracks – and now includes Twitter feeds from actors and artists. The Rovi Cloud Services interface provides access to metadata, recommendations, and search. And the Rovi Advertising Service places content-appropriate ads, and currently reaches more than 50 million households globally.
For content delivery, Rovi also demonstrated DivX Plus streaming to provide a Blu-ray Disc-like streaming experience, including dynamically adjusting visual quality based on available bandwidth, plus features including 1080p full HD, multi-language subtitles and audio tracks, and trick-play functions including smooth fast forward and rewind.
Also at CES, Irdeto showed its newly-launched TV Services platform and suite of reference applications created by Accedo for multi-screen user experiences across tablets, smartphones, connected TVs, and other iOS and Android The Irdeto TV Services platform provides modular cloud TV services for operators and content providers, including dynamic security and monetization tools. Accedo provides tools and services for interactive Smart TV and IPTV applications to media companies, consumer electronics manufacturers, and TV operators globally.
Meanwhile, Technicolor has been packaging its deep expertise in multimedia technology as a variety of products, extending into consumer applications.
Technicolor demonstrated its M- GO free consumer application for connected devices to provide convenient access to cloud- based entertainment content. M-GO provides media navigation and discovery, including movies, music, apps, and live TV. It can deliver content directly, or provide a second-screen experience on tablets and smartphones.
In partnership with Intel, M-GO will be available on Intel Ultrabooks through the Intel AppUp centre. With Samsung, it will be loaded on Smart TVs and Blu-Ray Disc players, and accessible on Galaxy tablets. And with VIZIO, M-GO will be pre-loaded on televisions, tablets, Blu- Ray players and stream players with VIZIO Internet Apps Plus.
Technicolor also demonstrated MediaEcho to synchronize a tablet as a second screen with live playing content, including associated information, interactions on social networks, and e-commerce for products related to a favourite program. MediaEcho can synchronize tightly with a compatible connected Blu-ray player over the home Wi-Fi network, even providing multiple angle video from a cloud server.
The biggest change in the infrastructure for managing and delivering consumer content is UltraViolet. The DECE held a press conference at CES to provide an update on UltraViolet, which began rolling out last year in the US and UK, and is now expanding to Canada. This year will see significant expansion of releases on DVD and Blu-ray, along with the introduction of Blu-ray players that support the format.
Time Warner moved to help boost UltraViolet by acquiring Flixster in May 2011, with its movie discovery and community destination websites at Flixster.com and RottenTomatoes.com, and apps on Facebook and MySpace, and on smartphones. On the set-top, new Panasonic and Samsung UltraViolet Blu-ray players will include Flixster to access and play UltraViolet content. Amazon also announced that it will sell UltraViolet downloads, from a yet-undisclosed studio, since the UltraViolet model matches well with Amazon's current business of selling content that is accessible across a wide range of platforms.
But the most interesting breakthrough in business models was the ‘Disc to Digital’ feature developed by Rovi and Flixster, and to be available on Samsung UltraViolet Blu-ray players. This will allow consumers to add Blu-ray and DVD discs from their existing home collections to their UltraViolet libraries. While sample pricing has not been announced, Rovi suggests converting a disc to electronic format could be around 99 cents. Yes, this could allow consumers to trade discs to bulk up their collections, but the result is still new revenue for the studios. This process also could be enabled for rental discs (which can be identified as a different SKU) and even for ripped discs (identified by scanning), although likely at higher prices.
SECOND SCREENING
The excitement with televisions and portable devices merge nicely with ‘second screen’ applications, which leverage a tablet or smartphone as a companion to what's showing on TV – including additional information on movies and actors, statistics on sports teams and players, or product catalogues for home or garden or cooking shows. This kind of material also can be displayed directly on the TV, but is often better on the second screen so the group can enjoy the full widescreen experience while an individual accesses the associated information.
But how does the tablet or the TV display know what is being displayed, especially if it is live TV, or time-shifted content from an attached device? The answer comes from automated content recognition (ACR), based on monitoring the audio channel to identify the content by its ‘digital fingerprint’. Even better, content recognition can identify the position in the program in order to provide content that is tightly synchronized to the program. Audible Magic provides services including broadcast monitoring for advertisers, checking media for copyrighted works for replicators, and checking for illegal downloads on college networks.
At CES, it demonstrated its Live TViD service which identifies live content as it airs, based on the company's real-time monitoring of over 150 networks. Similarly, Civolution has developed watermarking and fingerprinting technologies for applications including forensic watermarking for uniquely marking content, broadcast monitoring for tracking content usage over 1,500 television channels in more than 50 countries, content identification for websites and social media platforms, audience measurement, and second- screen synchronization based on both audio and video content identification.
At CES, Civolution demonstrated the ConnecTV app powered by its audio-based synchronization technology. ConnecTV provides a free, real-time second screen for TV viewers, and is available on tablets, laptops and home computers. It adds associated content and a social companion experience to all programs on more than 250 networks nationwide, and will soon roll out on regional sports networks and on over 200 local affiliate networks from its broadcast partners.
TRADITIONAL AND PHYSICAL
The CES week kicked off with the companion Storage Visions Conference, with some 800 attendees and 25 exhibitors (both up around 20%), and some 40 speakers presenting at 15 sessions over the two days.
This year's theme was ‘Heavy Storage for Thin Clients’, addressing the soaring demand for storage as content grows exponentially, from consumer enjoyment of streaming video (now over 60% of internet bandwidth) to higher res professional video (from 4K x 2K to 8K x 4K).
One answer discussed at the event was cloud storage, not only for consumers, but also private cloud services for larger-scale enterprise needs. But the most discussion at Storage Visions was around flash memory and SSD, as prices continue to fall and manufacturing capacity ramps up. Intel and others make the argument that while hard disk drives are less expensive per byte, SSD already wins on total cost of ownership, plus has strong advantages in speed, weight, lower power, ruggedness, and battery life.
Presenters also saw strong trends toward the use of hybrid storage systems using solid state storage and hard drives, especially in Ultrabook computers, as well as for tiered cloud storage including flash memory, HDD, and tape.
Several presenters, including Imation, also discussed the need for built-in security, stating that abstinence does not work (telling people not to use removable drives). Instead, self-encrypting SSD designs like the Storage Vision award winning Micron RealSSD self-encrypting drive (SED) ensure that the data is always encrypted, and the drive can be wiped by simply erasing the on-board key.
Imation extended this message in its booth on the show floor, showing Secure brand solutions for consumers and the enterprise, covering flash, hard drives, and Blu- ray optical discs (with built-in encryption and burning software). The enterprise line included solutions for Secure Data across the business (encryption, authentication, and device management), Secure ID with USB drives, and Secure Space (booting from USB with the operating system, applications, and data all on the drive).
Millenniata won the Consumer Storage Device award for its new M-DISC ‘permanent’ DVD format, which was also demonstrated at the LG Electronics booth. The M-DISC is a new disc format that is compatible with existing DVD players that support the DVD+R/RW format, but does require changes in media manufacturing and burners.
Millenniata has partnered with Hitachi-LG Data Storage to manufacture and market M- READY DVD drives under the LG brand. The current media is single layer DVD (4.7 GB). Millenniata has demonstrated dual-layer DVD media, but is pressing ahead to develop Blu- ray media, expected out of the lab this year. A further indication that there is life yet in physical media came with other companies in the packaged media supply chain who chose to exhibit at CES.
Vinpower Digital demonstrated its duplication equipment for CD, DVD and Blu-ray as well as flash memory (including USB drives and SD memory). These range from portable units with a handful of simultaneous targets to tower systems, and manual loading systems to robotic autoloaders with 1,000 disc capacities. The publishing systems also include label printing, some featuring solvent inks that can print across many different surfaces without requiring any special coating or treatment, and are also extremely water and scratch proof.
Moser Baer was at CES for its third year, exhibiting optical and flash media products. The company reports that the timing of the show is convenient at the beginning of the year, and that it has success both meeting with customers and finding new prospects at the booth.
