Inside CES: TV Talk
By Mike Agerbo
January 10, 2014
Product Discovery
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There seems to be a lot of TV technology on display at CES every year. Being a big lover of TVs (the bigger the better, of course!), I’m like a kid in a candy store here and this year’s show has not disappointed me. I talked a bit about LG’s curved Ultra HD televisions, so I’ll let you read about that here and I’ll just jump into what the other players had to offer.
SONY
This year’s TV offering from SONY brought wearable tech into the mix with SONY Smart Eyeglass, which will work with BRAVIA televisions. This technology is still in the prototype phase but it’s designed to overlay information about the TV show you’re watching in front of your eyes when you’re wearing the glasses. This is a phenomenal feature for sports—instead of frantically searching stats on your phone or computer while you’re watching a game, player profiles and stats would be displayed right in front of you. Or, imagine watching a news story on TV and being able to view the Tweets pertaining to the story as it unravels. Pretty cool, right?
Eventually, Smart Eyeglass would also have gaming features to compete with devices such as Microsoft’s SmartGlass. Based on what I saw at the show though, I’d say it’s going to be a little while before we see this product polished and ready for the market—good thing there were plenty of other delights at CES to keep me satisfied until then.
I addition to Smart Eyeglass, SONY announced PlayStation Now, a service that would give users access to PlayStation games on all PlayStation platforms and BRAVIA televisions—no console necessary! This service will allow gamers to choose to either subscribe to the services and access all the content or rent by title. This service is scheduled to launch on PlayStation platforms and 2014 BRAVIA televisions in the summer. Eventually, SONY plans to extend the service to other devices that are connected to the Internet, essentially creating a Netflix model for gamers.
Samsung
Not to be outdone, Samsung also brought its A-game to the show this year with a flexible TV that goes from curved to flat, and vice versa. The tech giant demonstrated this feature on a 85" Ultra HD LED-backlit LCD. With a quick press of a button the remote control, the TV went from the familiar flat HDTV screen you see in most living rooms to a curved shape. With a large screen, the curve allows you to feel more immersed in what you’re watching and gives you a more cinematic experience. It’s also a nice feature if your TV is in a bright room, as you can curve the TV to diminish or eliminate glare.
All in all, not a bad year for TVs. I can’t wait to see some of these new technologies on the market … Too bad I just bought a brand new 60” TV.
SONY
This year’s TV offering from SONY brought wearable tech into the mix with SONY Smart Eyeglass, which will work with BRAVIA televisions. This technology is still in the prototype phase but it’s designed to overlay information about the TV show you’re watching in front of your eyes when you’re wearing the glasses. This is a phenomenal feature for sports—instead of frantically searching stats on your phone or computer while you’re watching a game, player profiles and stats would be displayed right in front of you. Or, imagine watching a news story on TV and being able to view the Tweets pertaining to the story as it unravels. Pretty cool, right?
Eventually, Smart Eyeglass would also have gaming features to compete with devices such as Microsoft’s SmartGlass. Based on what I saw at the show though, I’d say it’s going to be a little while before we see this product polished and ready for the market—good thing there were plenty of other delights at CES to keep me satisfied until then.
I addition to Smart Eyeglass, SONY announced PlayStation Now, a service that would give users access to PlayStation games on all PlayStation platforms and BRAVIA televisions—no console necessary! This service will allow gamers to choose to either subscribe to the services and access all the content or rent by title. This service is scheduled to launch on PlayStation platforms and 2014 BRAVIA televisions in the summer. Eventually, SONY plans to extend the service to other devices that are connected to the Internet, essentially creating a Netflix model for gamers.
Samsung
Not to be outdone, Samsung also brought its A-game to the show this year with a flexible TV that goes from curved to flat, and vice versa. The tech giant demonstrated this feature on a 85" Ultra HD LED-backlit LCD. With a quick press of a button the remote control, the TV went from the familiar flat HDTV screen you see in most living rooms to a curved shape. With a large screen, the curve allows you to feel more immersed in what you’re watching and gives you a more cinematic experience. It’s also a nice feature if your TV is in a bright room, as you can curve the TV to diminish or eliminate glare.
All in all, not a bad year for TVs. I can’t wait to see some of these new technologies on the market … Too bad I just bought a brand new 60” TV.