Steven has always wanted to attend CES and wants to know if he could get in if he started a blog. Leo says that CES does allow "qualified press" into the conference, and attendees have to prove it. Here's CES official media requirements - https://www.ces.tech/Logistics/Registration-Information.aspx
Scott is back from CES and this week he wants to talk about the audio gadgets he saw. A lot of the high end audio was at the Venetian Hotel. But Scott says that audio had a much smaller presence at CES this year, and Scott thinks that audio companies are going to be going to regional shows to offer their goods rather than spend a ton of money at CES. And it's difficult to rise above the noise at a larger convention. Smaller, regional shows offer a big fish in a small pond kind of vibe.
Sam is back from CES and he says that while more companies are featuring technology for cars, it is by no means a huge car show. That's the domain of the Detroit Auto Show. But Sam says that doesn't mean that there wasn't some cool car tech there. Alexa for Auto is becominng a thing. Sam says that cars are becoming far more computerized. Chips have been in cars since the 70s, but most cars now have about 75-100 separate computers built into them. We're starting to see a trend towards fewer, more powerful computers that will run your car for you.
This week was the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and there was a lot of 8K TVs being showed off. Samsung also showed off a new microLED 75" TV. The price is $50,000! Short throw Projector TVs were also popular at CES. LG's Optima is under $2,000.
There were also self driving cars using artificial intelligence and LIDAR. There was also an electric helicopter and self-driving flying cars. There were also Amazon Dash Buttons, which are designed to instantly order a product at the touch of a button.
Scott put in his customary 28 miles of walking during CES and he saw some really cool TVs. One thing he saw was a TV with Dual Layer Modulation LEDs, which uses two LED screens to deepen color and dynamic range. The one behind is black and white only, which is used to dim each pixel separately. The contrast ratios are approaching 1 million to one! HiSense had one with 3000 nits of brightness and a black level of .0003. MicroLEDs were also huge. Samsung showed off a 75" 4K microLED that was huge.
Sam Abuelsamid is a former auto engineer and he joins the Tech Guy show for a regularly weekly feature. Welcome Aboard, Sam!
AI controlled Air Conditioning, a voice operated toilet, and blazingly fast mobile internet should highlight this year's annual CES. Scott Wilkinson says that there will also be a huge presence for 8K television, even though there's no content for it, and they're going to cost five to six figures.
Scott says that next week is the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and he expects a ton of 8K TVs will be showcased. But they'll be extremely expensive and there's no real 8K content. So it'll be a while before it's worth investing in an 8K TV. The real improvement will be the new HDMI 2.1 standard. So any new TV should have that component architecture to it, and it will offer an increased bitrate of 48MBps. There will be improved low latency and variable frame rate as well. HMDI 2.1 will require new cables as well, but it will be fully backward compatible.
Dickie D just got back from CES and he pretty much saw a lot of silly ideas that didn't really have much use. Leo says they've run out of ideas and are now mashing them together to create something new. But one thing he did see came from Kodak. The Kodak Super8 camera looks like a retro model, but it was a brand new camera that will go on sale soon. And yes, it uses Super 8mm film! Film that you shoot and mail off to Kodak just the way you did 40 or 50 years ago! Unlike the old super 8 camera, this one has a large flip-out 4-inch LCD screen.
Scott joins Leo to talk about how January is the big time to buy a new TV because the NFL playoffs are in full swing and people want their new TV before the Super Bowl. It's also the time that TVs get discounted because TVs we see announced at CES will begin selling in the Spring. Is there any upgrade we'll see in 2018 worth waiting for? Scott says maybe not, but CES always has something new coming and Scott has heard of something that is really exciting. But on the whole, Scott only expects incremental improvements, or what Leo calls "fins" this year.
