CES 2008

Over in Las Vegas, the Consumer Electronics Show is filled with news about the latest HD entertainment hardware for the masses. Let’s take a look at the major news so far.

Warner Brothers goes Blu-ray
In the current muddled world of highdef entertainment, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray have been waging a format war similar to Beta and VHS. The WB has remained on the fence until this week announcing they will stop producing their films on HD-DVD this May and focus solely on Blu-Ray. This makes the Blu discs of Sony the only carriers of Disney, WB, Sony Pictures and Fox. The only holdouts left are NBC Universal, Paramount and Dreamworks. Shortly after the announcement, the HD-DVD group canceled their press conference and rumors came out that a clause in the HD-DVD deal with Paramount suggests that they too will switch to Blu Ray.

Well this format war seems shorter than expected which is good for consumers and a pain for early adopters (like me). We’ll see in the coming months the impact on hardware sales for both formats.

JVC shows off world’s thinnest LCD screen

At just 9mm thick, it is the world thinnest LCD display. Currently just for show and no signs yet of it being commercially available. Looks like it may work it’s way to outdoor advertising.

Next week will be a very exciting week in San Francisco where the mac faithful will converge at the Moscone Center for Macworld. Apple just announced upgrades for their Xserve and Mac Pro product line which may suggest that Steve Jobs’ keynote is really packed with stuff. Will the iPhone make it to Asia as he announced last year? Or will the much rumored “ultra-portable” make it’s debut? We’ll all know on January 15.