The depth of the recession in the US consumer electronics market was highlighted today by CEA data which confirmed a decline in dollar revenues in 2009 of 12%. The outlook for 2010 improves but only in the sense that the rate of decline falls to 3%. In the meantime we're hearing news of new 3D TV channels already, with both ESPN and Discovery throwing their hats into the ring. This is great, if expected, news for the many 3D-ready TVs we expect to see over the next few days. At this evening's CES Unveiled event Sensio were showing their passive 3DTV, even though the company today announced its partnership with Visio to launch an active 3DTV later this year. Mitsubishi was also showing its laser 3DTV with the adaptor which will be necessary for compatibility with Blu-ray 3D players when they are lauinched. Logitech was showing its new Lapdesk N700, a laptop “cushion” with in-built speakers designed for enhanced laptop usage in the comfort of the armchair. The peripheral retails at $89.99 and also features an in-built cooling fan to prevent over-hearing, a familiar problem for those many TV viewers who now sit with a laptop on their knees. Logitech have thoughtfully added a grip to help keep the laptop steady, but unfortunately in my case it failed to prevent the Macpro falling to the floor. No damage done, luckily, but perhaps evidence of a need for further improvement in design. Logitech was also demonstrating the fruits of its recently closed acquisition of Lifesize Communications, a videoconferencing specialist. On display was its Passport set-top videoconferencing device. This retails at $2500 and allows anyone with a minimum 2-way 1Mbps broadband connection to communicate using HD video (720p). The service downscales to lower resolutions for slower bandwidth connections. Logitech claims that this device is a third of the price of any other similar product on the market. That may be true today but is unlikely to remain so for much longer. Videoconferencing and telepresence are shaping up to be one of the emerging trends of this CES and we will hear a lot more over the next few days, in addition to the Skype/Panasonic/LG announcement today. Yet another OTT video set-top box was being demonstrated by Syabas with its Popbox product. This grew out of the company’s Popcorn Hour device. The Popbox has been designed to be especially user-friendly, and the user interface does appear attractive and accessible. The service integrates currently 20 “content application channels”, which means things like Netflix, and is working with 200 application developers. It will launch in March 2010 and retail at $129, plus $20 for the optional WiFi module. The Popbox is 1080p-capable, although the only 1080p content was demonstration material. If Syabas manages to sign 1080p deals with content providers it will certainly be a step ahead of most competitors. ProVision CEO Steve Cliffe was confident enough in his company’s wireless HD technology to carry a laptop across the show floor while it streamed 1080i HD content, and there was no loss or deterioration in signal. This UK firm was founded by professors at Bristol University, and uses proprietary error correction and RF management techniques to improve HD video streaming over 802.11n. The company is talking to set-top box and TV manufacturers looking to support HD distribution to multiple home devices. Another UK firm, Imagination Technologies, was launching its Pure digital radio products for the US market. Pure is the leader in the UK but virtually unknown overseas. It will, rightly, tread carefully as it enters the notoriously challenging US market, and will obviously (since the standard is not used) drop DAB from its US product line-up, instead concentrating purely (sorry) on internet radio. Its Sensia product is the highlight of the range and features a full-colour touch screen LCD display as well as additional interactive capabilities like Twitter and Facebook. Pure confirmed to us that video-capable devices are a natural step forward and can be expected in the next year or so. Client Reading: HDTV: Standards Muddle Clouds Outlook For Wireless Displays

As promised, on Monday night Mitsubishi announced its new TV technology to great fanfare and accompanied by a very loud soundtrack. It was presented in a rear projection 50" configuration, and incorporates a Real-D 3D processor so that viewers with the appropriate glasses see a 3-D effect. This was quite impressive relative to other 3D approaches we have seen, although we still have reservations that many viewers will be happy with wearing glasses. Video quality seemed impressive, and Mitsubishi claims that the laser TV reproduces nearly twice the colour gamut as the best LCDs available today. However, market trends suggest that, however good the picture, demand for TVs that is likely to remain in decline. Mitsubishi is trying to position the product as a new category to de-emphasise the competition, but few customers will be fooled. Laser will help Mitsubishi sustain its market share in a decling segment, but it is unlikely to do more that stall the long-term decline in rear-projection formats. Digital Home Entertainment Devices: Global Market Forecast Q407

Sony in the US has confirmed that it will stop selling rear projection TVs (RPTV) based on LCoS and LCD technology once its current inventory is exhausted. Given that the company still has a quarter of the 1.5 million unit market, this would seem to be a significant sacrifice in revenues, but in fact it is a useful indication of the sales volume (~400,000 units) below which major vendors cannot afford to participate in consumer electronics markets. Sony's decision, which is justified by the need to focus on flat panel technologies, seems to confirm the inevitable eventual disappearance of projection-based TVs from the consumer market. For the last couple of decades, RPTVs had been selling relatively well in the US, with sales typically above the 2 million a year level (sales in Europe and elsewhere have never approached these levels). Only in the last couple of years has the decline accelerated, just as flat panels - both plasma and LCD - have begun to provide serious competition in the largest display sizes. Year after year at CES we are presented with new approaches that could save projection technology. Given that Hitachi also withdrew from RPTV earlier this year, one of the last major suppliers is Mitsubishi, and, sure enough, this company is planning a major announcement in Las Vegas. The new approach is based on lasers, and we are sure to be blown away by very big displays and even bigger sound (any demo of a new video technology is always accompanied by sound systems that would put most sports arenas to shame, never mind the average home - cynics might wonder if our attention is being drawn deliberately to the sound rather than the picture). The best Mitsubishi can hope for is that lasers will give RPTVs a short-term lifeline. At 60" and below the battle is over for any display technology that is not flat and thin, and before long this will apply to 70" and 80" as well (we also expect the usual, meaningless race to claim the biggest flat panel at CES). Even in US homes, that is likely to be big enough for most people. Client Reading: Digital Home Entertainment Devices: Quarterly Report Q307