My first night in Las Vegas for the CES show, I was fortunate enough to be a guest at the 2008 Monster Retailer Awards, hosted by Noel Lee, owner of Monster Cable, at the Paris Hotel. Noel Lee has been very generous in his award shows going back many years now, and I’ve been lucky enough to attend a few over the years. They’re always a great time, and this one was no different…featuring the one and only…

Mary J. Blige

As you can see from the picture, I think Mary and I had quite a connection, and I’m pretty sure she was singing directly to me…it was a very magical moment…for me at least

Here’s a short clip that shows why she’s so great. She sings with so much soul and passion…it was just amazing to see her perform like this so close.

In this short clip, Mary shares some very inspirational words…then breaks into another awesome performance.

What a performance, and what a night. If they ever happen to read this, thank you Noel Lee and Mary J. Blige!

Plasma TVs and LCD TVs definitely have the “wow” appeal, and many people love them because they free up so much space compared with conventional large TVs. Replace the old 50″ Rear Projection Big Screen TV with a 50″ Plasma or LCD TV on a stand and your room just opens up…they take up so much less space and are visually so much more appealing. Mount that same TV on the wall and hide your electronics in a cabinet or a closet and the room takes on an even more spacious look.

Now there’s an option that has become commercially available which takes things one step further - make your Plasma or LCD TV disappear altogether. More than one manufacturer, such as Sanus Systems or Chief Manufacturing, make a “picture frame” that goes around your TV to make it look like a picture. This one is one of the versions available from Sanus Systems (around $1000.00 for a 50 inch TV).  It’s important to note, these DO NOT include the mounting bracket to attach your Plasma or LCD TV to the wall.

So as you can see, it looks exactly like a picture frame. This one has a silver finish, but like picture frames, they are available in different finishes to match your room’s decor.

They also include an IR kit (infrared) so that your remote will still control your Flat-panel TV through the frame assembly.

One really cool add on is an optical mirror kit (about $1400.00 for the 50″ mirror kit, also from Sanus Systems). When you’re watching television, the optical mirror “disappears” so that your wall-mounted “mirror” becomes your TV. When your TV is off, it goes into “mirror” mode. That means when you’re not watching TV, your TV disappears and now it’s a framed mirror on your wall.

Click on the image above to see a larger image…it turns your TV into art! Now this is a very cool and easy solution for something many of us have been asking for…a TV that doesn’t look like a TV.

Click here to see Blue Echo Audio Video’s selection of Sanus Decorative Frame kits…all on sale with free standard shipping promotion. 

Recently I had the opportunity to audition a pair of the Shure SE530 “sound isolating” earphones. I have to tell you, before I listened to them, I was thinking ‘how big of a difference can headphones make…there’s NO WAY I would ever spend $500.00 for a pair of headphones.’ Yes, I did say $500.00. The Shure SE530 Earphones retail for $500.00 for a pair.

You’re probably thinking, ‘you’re right, I would NEVER spend that much either…what on earth could make earphones so expensive?’ Well, actually, I own the previous version in a lower model, the Shure E4, as well as the E2. Both last year’s models, the E4 costs $400.00 (which was already way more than I ever thought I’d spend) and the E2 costs $100.00, so maybe I would be crazy enough to buy the SE530s.

Before I talk about the SE530s, let me just say that the difference between the E2 and the E4 is pretty dramatic. Not just sound quality, but comfort. The E4s are much more comfortable than the E2, which is really important for long term listening, such as on a long flight.

The E4s also have a better frequency response, which means better bass and better highs. And they just sound more musical…so how much bettr can it get?

So I was anxious to try the new Shure SE530 for myself. I mean, how much better can they be than my already outrageously priced E4s? Well, let me tell you I was blown away! They put an instant smile on my face…I couldn’t believe the difference. They were better in every way. Better Bass. Better midrange. Better treble. More open. Smoother sound. More detailed. More comfortable. These are no small statements, considering how much I love the E4. What makes them so great?

Well, to help understand, let’s compare it to a traditional speaker. Typically in better speakers, you’ll find more drivers, of different sizes. Each driver handles a specific portion of the frequency range and is designed to specialize in those frequencies. Tweeters, for example, are very small speakers that are designed to move extremely quickly to handle high frequencies only, so they specialize in these high frequencies. Larger drivers, such as woofers and subwoofers cannot move as quickly, but can move the large amounts of air needed to output the low, bass frequencies that are so important.

The Shure SE530s use a similar approach. This is the only earphone in Shure’s lineup that uses triple drivers. It uses a tweeter and dual woofers to divide the frequency range and send the right frequencies so that the drivers can “specialize” in their duties. Also, like any good high end speaker, the Shure SE530 uses passive crossover networks to send the appropriate frequencies to the right driver. So the tweeter can specialize in playing only high frequencies, it doesn’t have to work as hard trying to do something it wasn’t designed to do. And the dual woofers really reinforce the bass output for an amazing bass reproduction, but not overpowering. It gives a really seamless integration with the high frequencies.

The Shure SE530 has a frequency response of 18HZ to 19kHZ, which covers the range of human hearing…it’s pretty tough to find an actual speaker that plays below 20HZ.

Also, they have different tips to fit different sized ears comfortably, and the design isolates 90% of outside noise.

I guess if you’re really passionate about your music, and you want to listen to it the way it’s meant to be heard, $500.00 isn’t that much for the amount of use and enjoyment that you’ll experience from these. I bet most of you spend more than that for your home speakers, and maybe don’t listen to them as much as you would listen to these.

So if you’re looking for an awesome pair of headphones that will take your ‘on the road’ music enjoyment to another level, the Shure SE530 is for you. If you’re looking for a great deal on a pair of earphones, I may know a guy that is selling a pair of used Shure E4 earphones…

Continuing from my post on day one, here’s some more of the cool things I saw at the CES show.

Another item that was very high on my list, and apparently everyone else because it was a very busy display, was the Sony XEL-1 11 inch OLED, as well as the larger 27 inch OLED prototype. I was blown away by the pictures of both of these items. The 27 inch is a prototype, but the XEL-1 should be shipping this month at a suggested retail price of $2500.00. It’s rated to have a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1, with a wide color range and rapid response time, and the panel is only 3mm (.11 inches) in depth. Amazing.

Samsung had its own thin LCD TVs on dislpay…here is one of there ultra-slim LCD TVs.

I wasn’t supposed to take a picture of this, but I took one before I realized (and they told me) that I couldn’t, so here it is. It was really thin, and also had a great picture. I’ve become a big fan of the Samsung product over the last few years…very impressive line-up.

Some other cool things that Samsung displayed were a 3-d DLP (headset required) and game, and a 3840×2160 resolution LCD Panel…which also had an amazing picture. The 3-d DLP and game was very cool also…the football game even had raindrops hitting the screen, which made me feel like I was back in the Northwest!

Hitachi showed it’s prototypes of the slim TVs, and also had some wireless video displays, which I’m sure we’ll see a lot of over the next year. Here’s a couple pictures of those and of one of Sony’s wireless HDTV display.

There was so much information to take in, it’s hard to cover everything here. I’ll try to cover more specifics in the next couple of weeks.

I had a great time at the show, and I think it’s going to be a very exciting year in the world of Consumer Electronics and we’ll see some incredible products launched this year…check back for more!

2008 Consumer Electronics Show, Las Vegas, Nevada

Well, it seems a lot of people think it was the opposite, a lackluster show.  I’m not so sure…maybe it’s because I didn’t go the last couple years, but I thought it was an exciting show, and this year’s products, as well as the prototypes were pretty amazing.  There were a few themes that seemed to really stand out this year at the CES show. Some of the concepts weren’t really surprising, but the execution just blew me away. The themes as I saw them were:

1. Bigger TVs - Panasonic topped things off with the 150 inch Plasma TV, but several of the manufacturers showed screens larger than 100 inches, both in Plasma TV and LCD TV Technology.

2. Better Picture Quality - Manufacturers emphasized big improvements in picture quality, emphasizing colors, brightness, viewing angles, and especially contrast ratios. Manufacturers displayed prototypes of TVs with…are you ready for this? (let my get my Austin Powers voice going) 1,000,000 to 1 contrast ratio. I’ve never been big on the way manufacturers rate their contrast ratios, but that’s what some of the claims were. And of course, 1080p (and higher) resolution was everywhere, as was blu-ray and hd-dvd…although the hd-dvd camp seemed much quiter than blu-ray. Maybe in light of the news announced that Warner would now back blu-ray exclusively.

3. Thinner TVs - Almost every manufacturer also displayed very thin flat-panels, both Plasma TV, LCD TV, and the new Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLED TV), in thicknesses down to 3mm (.11 inches). It was truly amazing to see the prototypes, as they had excellent picture quality as well. The brightness and clarity was unreal, as were the black levels and contrast.

4. Wireless Audio and Video - Wireless streaming of HD content, including 1080p, was everywhere. There was a large display of Windows Media Extenders as well, which allow wireless streaming of music and pictures. Media Centers had a large showing as well.

5. Storage and Distribution - Many manufacturers displayed Media Centers and Servers which allow you to store your content (photos, music, HD) and distribute it to different TVs. This really seems to be the future of Audio and Video, and the focus was really on user interaction and entire solutions. We should see many more options this year.

It was very exciting to see all of the amazing new technologies that were introduced, and this year will be very exciting for consumers. Here’s some highlights and I will post quite a few more in the next day or two.

It seems Panasonic stole the show with their announcement of the world’s largest Plasma TV. The Panasonic 150 inch Plasma TV was HUGE, really difficult to understand just how big it is without seeing it. And I was blown away with the picture quality. I was really surprised by the black levels and the clarity. I would have thought that it would appear grainy and have a lot of artifacts, but I didn’t notice that at all. There were several of the 103 inch Plasma TVs on display, but they looked tiny compared to this one

It’s a little hard to capture exactly how thin these TVs are, while also showing their picture quality, but these are the prototypes of the ultra-thin Panasonic Plasma TVs. Most likely we will see these available in the next year or two, and there was an impressive display of these by Panasonic, Pioneer, Sony and Samsung. The Samsung was not available for photographs, but I managed to get one before the Samsung folks pointed that out to me…I’ll post that photo in part 2.

Here is Pioneer’s thin display Plasma TV prototype. Amazing. It’s a 50″ 9mm (.35 inches) thick Plasma TV, which Pioneer claims to be the first Plasma TV that is absolute black…that is having no measurable light emitting from the Plasma TV.

And Pioneer Elite’s flaship 1400 watt AV Receiver, the SC-09TX.

Here are pictures of the back of the SC-09TX. Be careful clicking on the picture…it’s a little intimidating. Next is a shot of the Elite speakers and Components. Great looking and awesome sounding!

Sharp displayed several great looking LCD TVs, but here is their biggest, the Sharp 108 inch LCD TV. Also a very impressive picture. The picture was very bright, so I didn’t get a chance to get an idea of how well it displayed dark scenes, but it was a fast moving picture and I didn’t see any real issues with response time. Very impressive for a large LCD TV.

A cutaway of the classic B&W model.

B&W displayed a wireless system that looked awesome. I didn’t get a chance to hear it, and I’m still a little skeptical about most wireless speaker systems, but I know they making a lot of ground in this area. The also had a very cool Ipod dock and speaker system. The next picture is a system composed of very large high end speakers which use ribbon tweeters to for the mids and highs. Very impressive looking speaker. They sounded nice, but I wasn’t completely blown away with them, but to be fair, it’s not really the best environment to demo high end speakers.

Gaming also had a very large turnout. Here is a curved monitor which really immerses you in the game. Samsung had a 3-d system where you put on glasses to play. The depth and realism was very impressive.

Here’s a Monster Stack…followed by a Monster Lamborghini with an amazing custom stereo. Monster Cable is always good to have one or two amazing exotic cars on display at the CES show.

And here is the underbed motorized Plasma TV mount. It’s a remote controlled motorized mount the completely hides under the bed, and when it’s been brought out, you can rotate it around to view anywhere in the room. Pretty cool.

On top of the themes mentioned above, wireless technology with cell phones and computers was very big, as was gaming systems. That’s not really my specialty, so I didn’t spend much time on those, other than to admire the cool toys. I have some more cool pictures to post soon and will get some more detailed information up soon also.

I have to say the future of electronics is extremely exciting, and I’m very happy to be a part of it. The show was awesome and the technologies that are now available, and will soon be available to us are mind-blowing.

I recently had the chance to go Japan, one of my favorite places, and while I was there I got the opportunity to go to the Tokyo Motor Show and the electronics district of Akihabara. Tokyo’s a crazy place, and the Motor Show was no different, but what a blast.

You’re probably wondering what the title means, “Liver Sashimi.” Well, I’m wondering too…wondering what made me try it I’m pretty open when it comes to trying things, and I’ve tried some crazy things in Japan before, but this really didn’t sound appealing, or look appealing. But, it’s very popular in Japan, and people go to out of there way to find a place to eat it. I never knew such a thing existed, and after trying it, I wished it hadn’t! Well, maybe it’s one of those things that grows on you.

So, on to the motor show. I think the busiest place there was the stage for the 2009 Nissan GT-R (I think it’s not called the Skyline anymore, but not sure). It was hard to get a good look at it, but what an awesome car. This is HUGE with the racing crowd…and for great reason!

I couldn’t help showing a few pics of the Ferraris…my all time favorite cars. There’s just something about them, that quality that just separates them from the crowd. Well, besides the fact that they’re hand made Italian race cars that cost over 100k. But they are definetely my favorite!

The Tokyo Race Queens are always a crowd favorite.

This Dumptruck is one of the coolest things I saw there…very futuristic looking. I’m not sure I’d want to get it dirty though!

I’ll try to post some more pics soon…there was too much to see. Besides cars, they had a bunch of motorcyles, and motoring accessory booths. Some cool shows to introduce the cars…just a very fun, high-energy day in Tokyo.

The next day I went to Akihabara to check out the latest. I didn’t get to take too many pictures here, but I went to a gigantic electronics store, about 8 floors full of electronics. I wish I could have taken more pictures, but they had everything you could imagine. A lot of the same brands we see here, but totally different model numbers and styles. I looked at some price comparisons, but there was no real pattern. Certain items were cheaper, certain items were more expensive. They had some nice audio, high end Marantz, some of the nicer Sony ES, and a ton of speakers…but none of it was set up like we’re used to here. It was just a loud, crazy store, with people on microphones with specials that only lasted for a few minutes, music and TV was blaring all around. And I had to get a picture of this TV…it looks big, but only because it’s a small girl next to it. Well, actually it used to be consired big…but I hear they have a new one to replace it. This is the Panasonic 103″ Plasma TV. I think they had it for around $50,000 usd…and I think it was going for around $70,000 in America. Very impressive and amazing picture for such a large TV. Today Panasonic showed their new 150″ Plasma TV…the largest in the world.

I’m heading to the CES show tomorrow, and I hope to come back with some GREAT pictures, reviews, and information, so make sure to check back here soon. I’ll try to get a picture of the new 150″ Plasma, among other things.

This is one of the subcultures in Japan that’s popular with some of the younger folks there. She was trying to go into the temple, and the officer didn’t let her go. Pretty cool outfit!