CES is over. The nearly week-long orgy of electronic goodness has come and gone, and we’re here to talk about what piqued our interest, and there’s a lot of it.

What better place to start CES 2010 talk than with 3D. It was hands down the news of the show. HDTVs, Blu-ray, gaming. Everyone got in on the action. Lots to talk about, and too many articles to link to. We remain skeptical. New equipment for everyone is a big ask in an era where HDTV penetration has jumped due to things like the DTV transition. However, Ars Technica has it right when they say you soon won’t have a choice but to buy 3D capable sets.

The other sticking point is the active shutter glasses that will be used in most cases. They require a connection between the set and the glasses, which means the glasses are powered and require a battery, for the 3D effect to work, introducing more potential issues into the chain. Personally, I’m going to wait and see how glasses-less technology comes around, as some of it was shown at CES, before I think about getting into the 3D game. Not to mention that content will hard to come by in the early days.

LG had a lot of great things to show, including a Blu-ray with a 250GB hard drive in it, the BD590. Don’t get excited, there’s no ripping to the drive, and no mention of managed copy (like at all, over all of CES??), but things like VUDU and CD-ripping are part of the picture. LG also went ahead and shoved a Blu-ray drive into a NAS device. No ripping here either, but a picture of things to come… maybe.

Oppo showed up and joined forces with Dreamer Corp. and it’s BluTV service, bringing widgets to the high-quality BDP-83 deck. Disney made some waves by saying its KeyChest service would work on top of existing DRM, including the one the DECE is working on, but we still don’t see the business model behind it. We also get off the HD topic a bit to talk about the other cool stuff we saw at CES like the Skiff e-reader and mobile TV.

Finally, we take a look at the CableCard news, and why despite our excitement Adam and I will likely wait before jumping into the pool. We also look at Microsoft’s MediaRoom 2.0 announcement, and what that could mean for the future.

Our Blu-ray review looks at Adventureland, a good movie with an uneven presentation on Blu-ray. Color issues throughout the film, especially in skin-tones, along with a generally inconsistent video presentation put this disc smack in the middle of the road. On the audio side, things are a bit better, with a great 80′s-inspired soundtrack but nothing that jumps off the page. A bit more ambiance from the theme park scenes could have gone a long way to helping this soundtrack. Watch it for the movie, it’s sweeter and more introspective than it was positioned to be (it’s not Superbad 2), but I’d give it a rental recommendation only.

Geek Tonic’s guide to the 2010 Winter TV schedule tells us even more shows come back this week, highlighted by American Idol Tuesday night, and 24 Sunday and Monday. The HD Sportsman features the last of the bowl games.

Finally, the Blu-ray releases for Jan. 19, featuring the Bourne movies going on sale individually and Gamer. WWII in HD, which was originally slated for the 19th, may be pushed back to the 26th.

Click here to download Episode 19!

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For those of you wondering why we’d be releasing a CES and 2010 prediction show after the Microsoft CES keynote, well, we recorded right before Mr. Ballmer took the stage and snuck in our final predictions for you.  We didn’t just talk CES though.  We walk our way all the way through 2010 so for the next year you’ll have plenty of chances to write or call us and let us know how wrong we are…maybe.

Thanks again to DrFlick for joining us and thanks to our listeners.  Hopefully 2010 will be even better than 2009 was for Entertainment 2.0 and Media Center!

Click Here to download episode 59!

Don’t forget to follow The DMZ, Adam and Josh on Twitter.  As well, call and leave us your messages:  1-877- 856-4933

Help us support the best commercial skipping solution for Windows 7 Media Center!  Show Analyzer from Dragon Global makes it possible.

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With having a network based tuner the great thing about that is, you can have a small form factor pc, like the current craze of the Nettops such as the Ion based pc’s from Acer and Asus. Having a network based tuner allows you to locate your coax and tuners and other hardware away from the PC make the install much cleaner and simpler.

For now we don’t know when it will be released, but my guess is it won’t be until some time Q3 at the earliest.

Via: Engadget HD

Show 18 comes just as the CES news started to trickle out, and we’re talking about it.

Tivo accidentally leaked news about a new product by slipping the wrong instructions sheet into one of its products. One problem, it went to a tech blogger who posted it to his Web site. Nothing too exciting, looks to be a new form factor, but funny nonetheless.

Something that could be a big deal, using a bunch of science and math terms, it looks like Sony and Panasonic have come up with a way to increase Blu-ray storage capacity by about 37% on a single-layer disc, bringing total capacity up to 33.5 GB. This could mean that studios who still refuse to use dual-layer discs could have more room to play with in the future, opening the door for more features, better transfers and more audio options.

And the last non-CES news is that High Def Digest is reporting that current Blu-ray players might be able to handle the new 3D Blu-ray after all with a firmware update, with the trade off being you would get only 1080i instead of 1080p. We say no big deal there.

As for CES, there’s a lot to talk about already. We take a stab at what big things we’ll see in the home theater world from this year’s show. Phil thinks Blu-ray players will make a major push to become the center of your connected home, Adam talks about mobile TV. We’ll certainly check back in next week’s show with the big news.

Using Geek Tonic’s guide to the 2010 Winter TV schedule we see that a lot of our favorite shows are coming back this week, so make sure your DVR is warmed up. Chuck leads the parade of season premiers with a two-hour show Sunday, followed by it’s normal Monday timeslot. The HD Sportsman features the last of the bowl games.

Finally, the Blu-ray releases for Jan. 12 are highlighted by some people’s pick for best picture, the Gulf War drama The Hurt Locker.

Click here to download Episode 18!

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Vizio XVTPRO720SV

These two models fit into Vizio’s new line, the XVT Pro Series. The first is the massive, and feature packed, 72″ XVTPRO720SV LED TV. It is a back-lit LCD also sporting wireless HDMI, a total of 5 HDMI inputs,Smart Dimming technology, Internet Apps, and Full HD3d that matches the Blu-ray 3D specification. If your spouse won’t go for hanging a 72″ screen in your house Vizio is also releasing 55″ (XVTPRO550SV) and 47″ XVTPRO470SV) variants, but you’ll have to do without the “Advanced True Wide Polarizer.” These sets will be available in August.

Vizio XVTPRO720SV

Vizio is also entering another new market as they unveil their new XVTPRO580CD which is a cinema wide screen display. That means thats its rocking a 2560 x 1080p resolution at an aspect ratio of 21 x 9, all within a 58″ brushed-aluminum case. While this set doesn’t include 3D it does have 1 million to 1 Mega Dynamic Contrast Ratio, Smart Dimming, and 120 Hz with Smooth Motion technology. You can nab the cinema wide screen display later this year.

Via TheHDRoom

[tags]3D, CES 2010, HDTV, Vizio[/tags]

Samsung IceTouch

The IceTouch appears to be the higher end model with a 2″ AMOLED transparent touchscreen. Yes, transparent. What this means is that when you are looking at the back of the device you can still see the screen, its just reversed. It’s an interesting feature, I’m just not sure how useful it actually is.

The 16GB IceTouch will handle just about any format you choose to throw at it though. It supports MP3, WMA, OGG, FLAC, AAC, , WAV and MP3HD for your audio needs, and MPEG4, WMV, H.264, Xvid and Divx for video. Although with a two inch screen you have to wonder how much video you’ll actually want to watch on this device. It also has a built in FM tuner, and Samsung’s DNSe 5.1 channel sound enhancement technology. Also, if you are familiar with the TouchWiz user interface found on many of Samsung’s smart phones you may feel right at home with the version of it used on this PMP named Sweep.

Samsung MyFit

If you can frequently be found at the gym then the MyFit might be right up your alley. It is loaded with all sorts of “wellness-promoting” features that have yet to be detailed. Included in those are fat and stress sensors, and a tool to help you quit smoking. There is also a calorie burning tracker that uses the built-in accelerometer.

Both devices will be available in the first half of 2010.

Boxee has struck a deal which will see D-link pushing out a hardware version of the popular media streaming and aggregating software turning any TV or monitor into an instant content outlet.  With access to Pandora, Youtube, Last.fm as well as Revision 3 and other online content, the Boxee Box by D-link will instantly open up a load of content for people who decide that it’s worth $200.

What really grabbed me though was the local content the box will support.  Online stuff is great but if I can’t get the stuff on my PC over to the TV then what’s the point.  Here’s the list:

Video:

• Flash 10.1
• H.264 (MKV, MOV)
• VC-1
• WMV
• MPEG-1
• MPEG-2
• MPEG-4
• AVI
• XVID
• Dvix
• PCM/LPCM
• VOB

Audio:

• MP3
• WMA
• WAV
• AIFF
• FLAC
• AAC
• DTS
• AC-3
• Ogg Vorbis

Picture:

• JPeg
• TIFF
• BMP
• PNG

Add a tuner and I’m in!  Between net content as well as your own collection, The Boxee Box by D-link might very well make it worth it to clear space for just one more box next to your HDTV.

"We are pleased to partner with Boxee and to be the first with such a ground-breaking device," said Nick Tidd, vice president of sales for D-Link Pan America and vice president of marketing for D-Link North America. "This powerful device with its unique form factor truly leverages Boxee’s service and is the best way for consumers to quickly access the growing volume of Internet content, organize it and stream it to their TVs and home entertainment centers."

"D-Link’s successful track record in bringing to market, award-winning digital home networking products, and its global marketing, distribution and channel sales capabilities made them a great fit for our first hardware vendor," stated Andrew Kippen, vice president of marketing for Boxee. "The Boxee Box by D-Link gives consumers what they want — an easy way to watch Internet or personal entertainment in their living rooms with a simple set-top box that costs under $200 and has no monthly fees."

via MarketWire

Mobile TV is making a big push at CES this year, and unlike a lot of other technology being touted, I get the feeling this one could actually work.

The issue with ATSC is that things like doppler shift and multi-path interference make it basically impossible to receive a transmission while moving.  The fact is that ATSC was designed to carry digital HD content, not deal with movement in the signal reception.  In comes ATSC-M/H.  (ATSC-Mobile/Handheld)  This was developed to meet a few requirements paramount of which is the ability to have portable, moving tuners that would still receive a clear signal.

The standard itself is a combination of two systems; one proposed by LG (MPH) and another by Samsung(A-VSB).  After testing by the Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC) it was decided to bring the two standards together.  The final spec was signed off on in October of 2009.  I’m not an engineer and if you’d like to delve into how ATSC-M/H works, be my guest.

While we’d normally see a “chicken and egg” scenario with technology like this, ATSC-M/H has been in candidate status since December of 2008.  This has allowed manufacturers to begin producing products even before the spec was finalized.  This means that while we’ll be seeing products demoed at CES 2010, broadcasters are already starting to transmit in ATSC-M/H in major metro areas.  I’ve been told over 30 so far with hundreds getting ready.  The cost for stations to start supplying ATSC-M/H feeds is almost nothing compared to the cost incurred to move to digital transmissions.  This means that broadcasters can quickly and cheaply open up new ad revenue streams as others are drying up.

Most of this will be announced at CES later this week at the OMVC’s Techzone display.  Included in the booth are LG DP570MH Mobile Digital Television and DVD player as well as the Tivit which receives Mobile TV broadcasts and pushes them out over Wi-fi to your other devices.  Apparently this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to devices that will be launched this year however.  Consumers can expect to find not only stand alone players but cell phones and other handhelds with Mobile DTV tuners built in.

• Prototype phones with integrated Mobile DTV tuners
• Netbook computers with integrated Mobile DTV reception electronics for the new Mobile DTV standard;
• Mobile DTV WiFi Access Point, designed to enable reception of Mobile DTV signals on existing iPhone,
  BlackBerry, Android, and Windows Mobile devices equipped with Wi‐Fi capability;
• USB Receivers for Laptop Computers to turn a laptop or desktop computer into a display for the new
  Mobile

I know the big story this year is supposed to be 3D, but unlike 3D, Mobile DTV isn’t going to require people to make a huge investment in a new HDTV in their living room.  Even if consumers don’t see a need for another device to carry around, most mobile phone users change handsets at most, every two years.  This means that there are a lot of change outs every year, and I’d be willing to bet that by the end of 2011 it’ll be hard to find a handset without a Mobile DTV tuner in it.

If you live in the Washington D.C. area you’ll soon have a chance to see what Mobile DTV is all about.  The OVMC is putting on a Mobile TV showcase in the nations capital.  There will be at least seven broadcasters participating.  Hopefully this will give a good idea of how quickly Mobile DTV will take off.

As I wrote the other day, I’m not sure how quickly this tech can take off.  I’m honestly hoping that we see something during 2010 however.  One of the main reasons is that OTA broadcast TV is suffering.  Advertisers are moving online and to cable and satellite systems.  This is killing the free TV many people in the US still get by using an antenna.  This could start disappearing if broadcasters can’t find another revenue stream and Mobile DTV could help fill that gap.  With the number of mobile devices that people carry, a broadcast station could quickly double the number of eyes on their content.  With the ability to fit several Mobile DTV channels into the space of one standard definition channel, there’s plenty of room for broadcasters to take advantage of. The question becomes how quickly tuners are put into devices that people want and how quickly broadcasters start pushing real content on Mobile DTV channels.  Hopefully these developments will run in parallel and we’ll quickly have a way to watch TV while on the go.

ProVision’s AXAR streaming will push HD content to, well, basically anything that supports it.  The tech supports two streams and while ProVision has said that it can support more, at this time they don’t intend to offer it at the consumer level.  Why is beyond me, but hopefully they’ll see the lunacy in that move.  If I have two kids, there’s a good chance I might need at least three, if not all four sets to be in use at the same time.  Limiting people to two is just going to limit your market.

The company is still in talks to get the feature put into upcoming HDTVs and other devices such as Blu-ray players and other STBs.

We’ll be keeping an eye on other wireless HD streaming technology that’ll be coming out at CES.  It’ll be interesting to see how many choices actually make it to market in the next year.

via 901am

The company has worked a lot in the last year to bring Zune and Xbox Live content together and we have to assume they’ll continue to move in this direction.  As well, there have been recent rumors of Xbox Live content coming to Windows Mobile devices.  Of course, being a Media Center user, it’ll be interesting to see if us HTPC users get any news on new extenders or content partner for Microsoft’s Internet TV.

We’ll see what Steve Ballmer and Robbie Bach have to say on Wednesday night at 9:30pm EST.  Click here to watch the keynote live stream and keep up to date on Microsoft’s upcoming news.

While most sets can’t stand the variable temperatures, dirt, bugs and other things that might get in them while in the great outdoors, the 5510HD is a sealed and fan cooled unit that can take temps up to 122 degrees Fahrenheit.  For that it’s not slouch in the HD arena either.  1080p, 120Hz with 4 HDMI, component, VGA, s-video, composite, RF, RS232, and discreet IR control you should be able to get the set to do anything you want and have plenty of inputs to get your content there.

The price is where most people will decide it simply isn’t worth it though.  The set will ship in 2010 at a retail cost of $7,195.

via SlashGear

Brent Evans (the GeekTonic) has details which were posted to the SiliconDust forums recently.  Apparently one of the developers leaked a screenshot.  The company is however keeping quiet, promising more details at CES.

Head over to Geektonic for the afore mentioned screenshot and all the details.

Syabas, makers of the Popcorn Hour, recently unveiled their new Popbox.  The device is intended to make getting internet and local content to your TV easier and more mainstream.  The device ships with an HDMI port as well as USB and SD slots for connecting external drives and cards.  The box also comes with a video processor capable of pushing HD content.

What could be most interesting about the device is the software.  The OS has been built to run apps.  Several have been developed already and there should be at least 20 available at launch.  You can expect to find Netflix, Blip TV and Rev. 3 content.  Developers can also push apps such as Twitter, Facebook or pretty much anything else they can think of.

The Popbox looks to hit in March of 2010 at $129.

via Financial Times

Contest rules are pretty simple.  For a full run down, just head over to Ceton’s website.  They’ve setup a special page just for the contest.  The person who is able to provide a name for their Digital Cable Tuners will win a four tuner Ceton card.

You don’t have much time as the contest ends on the 6th of January, so get your brains crunching.  I’m pretty sure there’ll be some stiff competition.  (I’ll be working on my submission as you read this.)