Starting with the TVs, Panasonic announced two new connected TVs this year, as well as new direct-to-TV content agreements with Amazon movies, YouTube and others.
Similarly, LG announced direct-to-TV content arrangements with Netflix Watch Instantly, CinemaNow and YouTube. (A Netflix person I spoke to here at the show says his company intents to pipe its Watch Instantly movie service directly to every device "from toaster ovens to ham radios." LG also announced before the CES show that those same net video services could be accesses and viewed through their new connected Blu-Ray Disc players.
Sony's new XBR9 and Z-series televisions are both Ethernet-ready and will be able to stream video from the likes of YouTube, Amazon, and music from Slacker.
On the content side, Yahoo is leading the way with its new Yahoo ConnectedTV product, a platform allowing a series of "web widgets" to appear in a "dock" at the bottom of the screen of your Internet-connected TV. So while you're watching your favorite TV show, these "mini-applications" let you pop out to the Web and watch YouTube videos, social network on News Corp's MySpace.com, track stocks and sports teams using Yahoo's services, buy and sell on eBay, micro-blog on Twitter, or look at photos at Flickr.
Expect many other websites to develop widgets for Yahoo's ConnectedTV platform. I spoke casually with a Skype executive who wondered why his company did not already have one on display - a Skype widget would be a natural for Yahoo's platform.
Yahoo says that new connected TVs from Samsung, Sony, LG and Vizio will support its ConnectedTV widgets. Samsung will likely be the first TV maker to hit the market with Internet content on the TV this summer. Toshiba is said to have a separate agreement to provide Yahoo content on its new connected sets later this year.
HDTV makers and Net-based
Power Supply to DreamBox 500 Series
Westinghouse TX-42F430S
The TX-42F430S is a great basic 42-inch HDTV, but it lacks the good looks and extra ports that higher-end models offer.
Westinghouse has established a niche for itself by producing inexpensive HDTVs that produce good-quality images but omit the advanced features and sophisticated style common to high-end models. The company's TX-42F430S ($1200 as of November 4, 2008) is no exception.Test Center lab tests, the set displayed actual nice images, earning a account of Good. In fact, this Westinghouse garnered the aforementioned achievement account as the LG 42LG60. We did notice, however, that the TX-42F430S tends to skew against red in beef tones.
Also noteworthy were the set's speakers, which produced acceptable complete even if the aggregate was maxed out. In contrast, the aggressive Vizio VO42LF delivered acceptable but hardly addled complete at abstinent levels and more addled complete as the ambience approached 11.
The limited ascendancy fabricated abyssal the card and award advantageous settings (such as angel and complete adjustment) a breeze. The limited feels a cheaply made, as abounding remotes on low-price HDTVs do, and it sports a amount of buttons that serve no apparent purpose. I did acknowledge its committed buttons for bound alteration inputs, however. The Westinghouse TX-42F430S performs able-bodied as an entry-level HDTV. If you aren't a stickler for style, personality, and added appearance such as a anatomic USB port, you'll acquisition that this bargain 42-incher delivers the basics absolutely well.
HDTVs and Internet Tie Knot in Vegas
There is no Elvis wedding chapel hosting the ceremony here in Las Vegas this week, but two technologies tied the knot: The Internet and HDTVs.
The marriage of TV and Internet content on one big screen in the living room has been a dream in the tech and telecom industries for years now. At this year's CES, a number of tech companies are taking the first major steps toward making that dream a reality.
Some of the most promising of those steps are being made by TV manufacturers introducing Internet-connected TVs, and media companies like Yahoo designing ways to get Web content onto those TVs.
A spate of new Internet-connected TVs were announced here at CES, including ones from Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, Toshiba and Vizio. Connected TVs come with an ethernet port on the back so that you can plug your DSL directly into the TV and watch YouTube videos, rent Internet movies from services like Netflix or view your Flickr photos from the comfort of your couch. You don't need a PC, a keyboard or a mouse, just a remote control.
Sony Handycam HDR-SR11 60GB Hard Drive Camcorder
Strengths: Video recording is solid. Face apprehension actual cool
Weaknesses: There is an cyberbanking bang over the lens. If it gets stuck, its a affliction to unstick.
Overall Evaluation: I don't accept why they put an cyberbanking bang on the camera. Its just addition affair that can break. In my case, it did and so did my camera afterwards assorted times accepting it get stuck. Some accept appear banging the foreground allotment removes the problem. Did not plan for me. The focus engine does not plan now forth with the shutter. I accept to forward it in for repair. Is there any way of disabling the shutter?Its traveling to amount over $400 to repair.