Consumer Electronics Show 2005: AT's Coverage
by Anand Lal Shimpi on January 10, 2005 3:49 AM EST- Posted in
- Trade Shows
Going into CES this year I didn't really know what to expect. Last year's CES was what CES had always been, a Consumer Electronics Show with a few motherboard manufacturers scattered throughout the show. But also remember that last year saw the nail in the coffin for Comdex and most of the companies in the tech industry said that they would instead be at CES, showing off their "convergence" devices as well as some of their conventional PC technology products.
Well, walking the show floor I get the feeling that while some companies do get a clear impression of where we're headed, the vast majority are simply in a confused state of mind. For example, historically I've never found Microsoft's booths at any tradeshow interesting, but for the first time ever at this year's CES, I'd say that the Microsoft booth was by far one of the most interesting. Then I look at other more consumer electronics based companies and I see that they're here at CES promoting the same unintelligent CE devices that they have been for the past several years, maybe with the addition of "HD" to their name.
For years Intel and Microsoft have been talking about this "convergence" between PC technology and consumer electronics and for the first time ever you can actually truly see it happening on a much larger scale than just being able to play your MP3s over your home stereo. At the same time, despite the huge movements forward in this idea of convergence, walking the halls of CES tells me plain and simple that the road to convergence is still a very long one. There are far too many companies that still don't get it and there's still a lot of network infrastructure that needs to be in place before companies can really begin to offer some cooler convergence products.
So this year's CES ends up being far from a smoothly integrated show featuring consumer electronics, PC technology and the futures of both. Very few showcases and demos actually presented the convergence of all three, with far more displaying segregated products falling into each individual category. Not that this is a bad thing, it's just more of a wake up call that there's still a lot of work to be done.
That being said, the CES show itself this year is absolutely massive. Transportation to and from the show and meetings is basically impossible unless you have a car or are close to a monorail station. The upwards of 120,000 CES attendees have put a full strain on the Las Vegas taxicab system, making waiting for a cab during CES show hours a 1.5 - 2 hour ordeal. The organizers of CES will make things even more difficult next year as they revisit the Comdex legacy and add a third location to CES - the Sands Expo Center connected to the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas (which always proved to make scheduling meetings and covering the show fun).
With the show over and the AnandTech team out of Vegas, we can finally bring you coverage of the highlights of this year's Consumer Electronics Show.
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dderidex - Monday, January 10, 2005 - link
About that SN25P....nice Envy24 chip on it - but do we know anything about the DAC used?24/192 internal precision is useless if they pair it with a 16/48 DAC. If their was a Wolfson chip on that motherboard by the Envy24 chip...I would be *drooling*.
Reflex - Monday, January 10, 2005 - link
#36: I am not debating that. I am saying that you need to pay attention to his statement about 'a way that you won't expect'. For one, it won't be a nVidia developed solution. That I can guarantee you since there is NO DESIGN TEAM anymore. But you can choose to believe what you wish I suppose....shinotenshi - Monday, January 10, 2005 - link
SAN JOSE — Here at NVIDIA's Editor's Day event today, NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang addressed questions about the company's plans for a possible second spin of its popular but ill-fated SoundStorm audio solution. Apparently, a reprise of SoundStorm will happen. Huang told the assembled press types, "We're gonna build SoundStorm 2. It's gonna be awesome." He was less clear on what form the next SoundStorm would take, saying that NVIDIA was still trying to figure out how to deliver SoundStorm as a product. Huang said, cryptically, that the new SoundStorm "will come in a way that you won't expectshabby - Monday, January 10, 2005 - link
14: the way our living room is arranged we needed a display that allowed viewing from an angle and needed to be thin, and this is where the dlp fell flat on its face. It was too dark and too thick, at least compared to a plasma.While plasma's do wear out over time, thraxes just proved that it takes a long long time.
Reflex - Monday, January 10, 2005 - link
SoundStorm is completely dead. The group is disbanded and its members have found jobs in other parts of the company. This is a fact.Sound in nVidia's chipset solutions is not dead, however. From what I have heard though its just a license of Intel's Azalia spec. In other words: No different than the integrated sound that you get on any Intel chipset board nowadays.
The SoundStorm solution that you all know from the NF/NF2 days is completely gone however, and it will NOT be making a comeback.
shinotenshi - Monday, January 10, 2005 - link
Well As i said, as being part of chipset its dead. but nvidia knows it can make a killing makeing add in sound boards. creative makes weak products let get real. The orginal soundstorm needed too much bandwidth to be done on pci. with PCI-E they have enough bandwidth to produce the card. Nvidia will be able to fund SS2 development becuase of its deal with the Ps3. The PS3 will need a high end sound chip because im sure sony is going to use it as means of spreading blu-ray introduction.bob661 - Monday, January 10, 2005 - link
I think the CEO of Nvidia is just trying to keep customers. He would lose a few by announcing that SS is totally dead. I would string you guys along until it didn't make a difference whether you bailed or not.bob661 - Monday, January 10, 2005 - link
The Inq isn't lying. They are reporting what's been told to them. That's they're job. Sometimes it's bum info.knitecrow - Monday, January 10, 2005 - link
On the soundstorm issue, I personally wouldn't believe AMD, Intel, Nvidia, or ATI... they have been known to lie when it suits their interests.**cough** 6800GT/ultra hardware mpeg2/WMV decoding **cough**
There are conflicting reports to be sure, but I am more likey to believe those from close partners. I am sure the next soundstorm is going to be an intel azilla rehash to appease the masses.
shinotenshi - Monday, January 10, 2005 - link
Soundstorm is not dead, the chairman of nvidia confirm this himself. however i think its dead as far as being apart of a chipset. the chairman remarked that it would return in a suprising form.this has to the belief that either it will return as a seperate chip sutitable for add in sound boards, or interagrated in graphics cards. my bet is that it will return as a PCI-e card capable of encoding some the advance audio codecs that are apart of the blu-ray spec. I don't think it was a coincidence that the chairman of nvidia made the announcement shortly after it was revealed that nvidia would be doing the PS3's GPU.