CES 2012
how CEA president Gary Shapiro described the 2012 International CES. He also added, as if an afterthought, that this was the largest CES in the show’s 44-year history. He was undoubtedly right on both counts. CES 2012 was, in no short measure, a foot-punishingly huge show: 3,100 exhibitors, 1.861 million net square feet of exhibit space and over 153,000 visitors.
Thankfully, we didn’t need to cover every
corner to realise that one story alone was dominant this year: screens. Although mobile products made some noise, and both eco tech and appliances strived for significance, it was the big TV makers who monopolised the headlines with numerous innovatory technologies. Super-large screen LCD, OLED, 3D, 4K. In one guise or another, screen technology stole the headlines.
LG’s scene-stealing OLED LG enjoyed widespread acclaim for its 55- inch 3D OLED debutant. The striking 55EM9600 offered subterranean black levels and vibrant colours. And with a contrast ratio said to be fifty times greater than the best LCD, it was no surprise to see
New dawn for next-generation displays A
Tablets gave way to TVs at this year’s International CES, as new screen technologies were fast-tracked to the show floor. Steve May reports
“ glorious apex of innovation.” That’s
the set hailed Best in Show by CNET before the event was done. LG’s CE marketing director Stephen Gater told IER: “We were aware that our Korean competitors were going down a similar TV route, but we think our product speaks for itself. We’ve been talking about OLED for a number of years, but to finally see it in a very big screen size really makes you appreciate the picture quality you can get.” Gater was keen to stress that the 55EM9600 is not a prototype. Samsung’s OLED proposition may not have been as advanced as that from LG, but its next generation high-end LED LCDs stole a march with their dual-core multi- tasking processors. Smart Interaction functionality with integrated camera and microphone should open the door to voice and gesture control, as well as facial recognition applications. Smart TV? It seems we haven’t even started. The brand also previewed a Dual View
display, which allows two viewers to watch different channels simultaneously on the same screen; a pair of Active Shutter glasses with attached ear buds allow the images to be seen separately. Is this really a consumer proposition with any appeal beyond two- player gaming? Only time will tell.
Meanwhile Haier displayed its
Transparent Organic TV which can be viewed from either side, lending itself to applications such as in-store and window displays, or as an office device. The transparent panel is achieved through application of OLED technology.
Sony’s Crystal vision Rather than back OLED, a technology it once pioneered, Sony has decided to forge its own path with Crystal LED. The brand says the proprietary self-emissive technology has the edge on OLED, boasting 3.5x the contrast, a wider colour gamut and a faster response time. Quite how far behind the competition Sony is remains to be seen. Perhaps surprisingly, only two TV brands flew the autostereocopic (no-glasses) 3D flag at the CES: Sony (whose proposition was confined to 24- and 46in displays) and Toshiba, and neither appeared to wave it with much enthusiasm. Toshiba’s new 55in ZL2 is its most advanced TV to date. A forward-looking development from
Toshiba was its home energy management system (HEMS). Built around the home gateway server – the life design box – HEMS integrates and manages a smart
14 The Independent Electrical Retailer February 2012
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