Rebecca Day

LAS VEGAS -- Calling 2011 “the tipping point,” when the number of connected consumer electronics, mobile devices and tablet PCs surpasses the number of PCs in the home, Netgear CEO Patrick Lo said at a CES news conference Wednesday that his company is entering the “second phase” of its tech roadmap that began 15 years ago. Netgear is launching at CES eight consumer products to connect mobile and entertainment devices to the Internet, to deal with the “major shift in how people use the Internet.”

Reaffirming its commitment to active-shutter 3D technology, Xpand introduced new 3D glasses at its CES news conference Wednesday, led by a high-end model called Youniversal that’s upgradeable through an onboard mini USB port. Due in stores in April at $200-$250, Youniversal glasses are said to be customizable to each viewer according to age, viewing distance, preference for “aggressive” or “mild” 3D, ambient light, TV model and other factors, according to Ami Dror, chief strategy officer. Users provide viewing preferences and viewing parameters to the glasses via a smartphone app that will initially be available for iPhones and Android models. The glasses will communicate via infrared, Bluetooth, radio frequency or DLP-Link, the company said. Xpand also showed an entry-level family pack of affordable universal glasses -- “very similar” to the new series but without the programmability” -- that will begin shipping in February. The pack is designed to be an affordable entry point to 3D for a family of four, said CEO Maria Costeira, who said pricing will be set by retailers. Costeira and Dror blasted the wave of passive TVs coming out, for potential ghosting and blurry images due to loss of resolution resulting from passive technology. “We understand there are manufacturers who make low-cost panels and this is the only way for them to get in to 3D,” Dror said. “But 3D must be better or people are not going to buy it.”

"Video will be the next voice,” Cisco CEO John Chambers said at a CES news conference Wednesday introducing his company’s Videoscape connected TV platform. Cisco says that by 2014 more than 90 percent of consumer Internet traffic will be video, and the amount of video will expand sevenfold. The Videoscape architecture -- which Chambers said centers not on boxes and hardware but on software, network and partnerships -- is designed to bring together digital TV and online content with social media and communications “to create a unified, networked entertainment solution.” Chambers spoke of anytime, anywhere content driven by video that will “reinvent the TV experience.” He showed a multitasking TV allowing users to answer phone calls, send and receive video e-mails and watch sports while bringing up related statistics, buying sports gear with the TV remote and communicating about the game with friends on a social networking site. He said the open platform uses the cloud, the network and client devices to deliver new video experiences over the Internet. Devices in the chain include a Videoscape media gateway to integrate voice, linear and online video, high-speed data, Wi-Fi and network traffic routing and an IP set-top box supporting all video formats and delivery methods. Those include pay TV, broadcast, premium channels, VoD and the Web and Videoscape software clients that extend the experience to home and mobile devices including connected TVs, tablet PCs and smartphones. Chambers said Cisco is working with several major global service provider customers, including Telstra in Australia, to enable video experiences through the Videoscape platform.

LAS VEGAS -- Sharp came to CES showing some of its largest and smallest LCD-based devices to date, bowing its first 70-inch LCD TV and a tablet PC that’s currently available in Japan in 5.5- and 10.8-inch screen sizes. Few details were available for the Galapagos tablet PC that will be introduced in the U.S. during second half 2011. The Japanese tablets operate on the Linux operating system but OS, processor, screen size, price and availability haven’t been set for the U.S. market, said Bob Scaglione, chief marketing officer.

ZigBee said Tuesday it’s developing an RF-based 3D sync standard for 3D glasses. The standard will support programmable frame rates and shutter open/close intervals, multiple user experience modes for seamless switching between 2D and 3D modes and gaming, and “frequency agility” to avoid interference with other RF-based devices, the company said. The glasses will resolve interoperability issues among 3D TVs from different manufacturers, interference issues resulting from too many IR signals in a room and the need for line of sight to maintain a 3D signal with IR glasses, Zigbee said.

Independent retailers are coming off an erratic holiday season marked by gains in audio over the previous year but offset by steep discounting on the video side, retailers told Consumer Electronics Daily. “TV was the most challenging category and the most hit and miss business out there,” said David Workman, executive director of PRO Group. Year-over-year numbers experienced a 20 percent decline in ASPs, he said. Citing big box competition with “more aggressive” opening price points than in previous years, combined with unit increases required to offset those ASP declines, “the math didn’t work,” he said.

Shipment growth of 31 percent for LCD TV in 2010 was “lower than expected,” resulting in increased inventory Q3, and that led to “vigorous price erosion” Q4, said DisplaySearch. LCD TV shipments will rise from 190 million in 2010 to 215 million in 2011, according to forecasts, but erosion in average selling prices will lead to the first-ever revenue decline in the LCD TV category, the firm said. Worldwide LCD TV shipments are expected to slow this year to 13 percent, it said.

Sensio will launch two 3D technologies and a 3D content solution at CES this week, Richard LaBerge, the chief marketing officer, told Consumer Electronics Daily, as the company takes on obstacles to widespread adoption of 3D TV. Describing 2010 as “the year for confusion” in 3D, LaBerge said consumers were perplexed and frustrated by the setup required for 3D with set-top boxes and Blu-ray players, along with compatibility, cost and comfort issues of active-shutter glasses. Lack of programming was the other barrier to adoption, he said, noting that Sony subsidized ESPN’s 3D channel, which offered limited content, and Panasonic’s sponsored with Discovery a channel that has yet to roll out. LaBerge also cited TV makers’ exclusive bundling deals for blockbuster titles including Avatar 3D and Alice in Wonderland. “Consumers wanted Avatar,” he said, “but it’s a bit expensive to buy a 3D movie, when you have to buy a TV to get it."

The HES and PRO buying groups have taken their alliance to the next level, formally merging the two organizations to form ProSource, the AV specialty division of BrandSource. The two organizations, which established an alliance in September 2008, said last week they'll merge to boost the power and relevance of the independent retail channel but will remain separate entities. The merger gives the combined group $3.6 billion of buying clout through PRO’s 16 dealer members and 550 HES members, the group said. Total storefronts number 950. The groups plan to maintain independent dealer meetings for PRO and HES and will add combined meetings for the larger organization, according to Jim Ristow, executive vice president of HES.

Colorado vNet, whose assets were purchased by Russound when it ceased operations in October 2009, will shut down operations for a second time, company executives said Wednesday in a conference call with reporters. After “much discussion and evaluation,” CEO Charlie Porritt said, “we've decided to discontinue shipping the Colorado VNet product line and wind down sales operations.” Porritt said the company will reassess the product line “as it relates to the evolving custom install market and focus on R&D for the future."