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CES la vie - Consumer Electronics Show 2015 (Jan 6-9)

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Raistlin

Post Count: 9999
Who is giving the Monday keynote? I tried going to the Web page but link for Monday's keynote doesn't work.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/4/7490537/ces-2015-schedule-best-keynotes-liveblogs


8:00AM PT: LG
Every year, LG does the too-early press conference. And every year, it announces All The Things: new TVs, new washing machines, new phones, new everything. We’ve already heard a lot about what LG’s up to (even a few things that were supposed to be a secret), but the press conference is our first chance to see everything up close. Especially the washing machines. This is definitely the year washing machines get awesome.

11:00AM PT: Asus
Asus’ press conferences are always worth watching, even when nothing happens, because CEO Jonney Shih is a maniac. He loves phones, and tablets, and PCs, and basically everything that has a button and a screen. He’s also never one to pull punches about how much better Asus is than its competitors, and he loves having weird ideas about how gadgets should work. Asus always has something new and different to show, and no matter what the company announces this year, the event itself will be a party.

12:00PM PT: Qualcomm
Two years ago, Qualcomm flawlessly executed what remains the most insane press conference of all time. Big Bird was there, along with Maroon 5 and some cars and a lot of people who were trying to make "Born Mobile" a thing. (It’s not going to happen.) Steve Ballmer even showed up! Most of Qualcomm’s actual announcements tend to be of the chip-and-processing-speeds variety, but the event itself is not — I repeat, NOT — to be missed.

2:00PM PT: Samsung
Everything we’re hearing (and seeing, from small jaunts onto the show floor) indicates that Samsung’s focus at CES this year is on the internet of things. After it spent $200 million to acquire SmartThings, we’re expecting to hear a lot from SmartThings CEO Alex Hawkinson about how Samsung plans to connect every single device in our lives. And, to be sure, Samsung will announce new models of every single device in our lives; we’ll be hearing a lot about 4K TVs, PCs, "seductive TVs," and washing machines with sinks in them. Oh, and yes — Samsung has its own propensity for getting pretty weird at press conferences.

5:00PM PT: Sony
Sony’s CES keynotes tend to flip between straightforward product announcements — "here are 40 new 4K TVs" — and amazing glances at the future of technology. Last year, we got a look at Sony’s long-term plan for Life Space UX, which turns windows into screens and screens into windows; we’re expecting something equally wild from Kaz Hirai when he takes the stage this year.

6:30PM PT: Samsung Keynote
Its announcements out of the way, Samsung’s CES keynote is a chance for the company to talk about the future. Boo-Keun Yoon, Samsung Electronics’ CEO, will certainly have a lot to say about what's next for the company that makes everything.

8:00PM PT: Mercedes-Benz
While we were looking at smartphones and tablets, CES was quietly becoming a car show. That’s why Dieter Zetsche, the Chairman of the Board at Mercedes-Benz, is given prime billing at CES. He’ll be talking about self-driving cars, mostly — but we’re hearing there’s an insane new concept car coming too. We’ll try and steal it, I promise.
 
AGITΩ;145353529 said:
I'm hoping to see a Samsung 4k Quantum Dot TV, Gimme dat Curve on it too.
Some Keynotes Start on Monday though, right? I believe Samsungs and Sonys are Monday.
Samsung's & HTC's are on Monday.
 

Raistlin

Post Count: 9999
I thought Sony as basically done with TVs?
There has been plenty of rumors of either selling the line, or spinning it off to a subsidiary, but nothing has been decided apparently.


The main change currently, and this seems to be across most of their A/V and CE products, is that they're moving away from the Samsung approach and paring offerings down. No more half dozen lines with ten models each for a given product type.
 
I'm hoping for a new Roomba actually from iRobot. In the market for a robot vacuum cleaner.
4K OLEDs

Anything else that's exciting.

I'd love to go to a CES one day.

The Dyson 360 Eye may make an appearance.

I just want a robot vacuum smart enough to avoid cat puke.............
 

Darknight

Member
Is this when Sony is expected to reveal Xperia Z4? Im gonna buy a Z3 soonish but I dont want to if they will drop in price soon.
 

Linius

Member
Is this when Sony is expected to reveal Xperia Z4? Im gonna buy a Z3 soonish but I dont want to if they will drop in price soon.

It's expected that the Z4 will release around april. So before that I don't see the Z3 drop in price. Or at least, it wouldn't make sense.
 

Oersted

Member
I get phones for 'free' on contract. So that's not a problem :p

Currently Huawei is the only phone I know of that is supported by Dutch carriers. The other two I'd have to import.

Ah, that makes more sense. Saying "I'm poor" and then "therefore I'm looking forward only to Sony" made little to no sense since Sony is going High-End only as in high prices.

What else is on your carrier?
 
The "Internet of Things" is obnoxious to me, both as a phrase and as a concept. I'll try to remain open-minded but I suspect I will find it terribly meddlesome. The emphasis on internet functionality in TVs is already exasperating but there it at least makes sense in a way.
 
The out-and-out disdain for this show seems high in the tech blog press this year.

Try the last three - four years, and it's fully warranted. The show used to be a place where you found some truly interesting stuff. Now it's nothing more then a place for companies to just show off their upcoming product lines. In 2004/5/6 it was exciting to follow blogs and see this stuff because leaks and trends were so much harder to follow. But now? Stuff leaks every other day and it's super easy for anyone to have basic ideas and read trends. We know Intel, Nvidia, ATI will have new chips news. We know laptop OEMs will have new laptops with specs that are moderate upgrades. We know phone and tablet OEMs will have new devices with expected spec points (5+ inches, 3-4GB ram, high res displays).

We, as consumers, went through a really awesome period of tech grown and innovation from 2004-2011. But lately it's just been a lot of me too and catch up kind of product releases mixed with stuff that is too far off from being widely available for consumers (Oculus, Glass, etc).

The really interesting and crazy stuff just gets glossed over by publications. Take for example the discussion happening earlier in this thread about 4K and LG. I am willing to bet very few popular sites (not talking Anand or AVS, I'm speaking to the Gizmodo's and Re/Codes) will touch on that kind of in-depth detail.

My feelings aren't exclusive to CES, but press events in general. CES, E3, IFA, MWC, Apple, Google, etc.

The "Internet of Things" is obnoxious to me, both as a phrase and as a concept. I'll try to remain open-minded but I suspect I will find it terribly meddlesome. The emphasis on internet functionality in TVs is already exasperating but there it at least makes sense in a way.

It's because it's such a broad term applied to everything from fitness trackers to home automation kits like SmartThings. It's a catch all term to apply to anything to connects multiple services together. The key to this is to pinpoint the ones of interest to you and only follow those parts. For example the company Littlebits very much falls into the IoT lump, but they're actually friggin cool with what they're doing.
 

Oersted

Member
Oh ok. This blows though because I need a new phone now but not willing to wait so long.

Sony releases a new flagship smartphone every 7 months, the rest every year. So theoretically, when LG reveals LG G5 at the next CES, Sony will present Z6. More or less, mind you.

Have that in mind when you purchase a phone.
 
Oh ok. This blows though because I need a new phone now but not willing to wait so long.

Gunna be honest, whatever you buy now will be more than fine. You're going to likely have the "OH MAN THAT NEW ONE HAS FASTER OCTA CORES" but the reality is phones have reached the point where laptops are at. Specs have reached a point of being nothing more than numbers. 2-3 years ago there was a need to wait, but now? Nope.
 

Oersted

Member
Gunna be honest, whatever you buy now will be more than fine. You're going to likely have the "OH MAN THAT NEW ONE HAS FASTER OCTA CORES" but the reality is phones have reached the point where laptops are at. Specs have reached a point of being nothing more than numbers. 2-3 years ago there was a need to wait, but now? Nope.

We can say that when 64 bit and Gorilla Glass are standard.
 

Zutroy

Member
Anyone that can offer me a sub £200 aftermarket double din car stereo with CarPlay has my money. I'll be waiting...
 
Every person I know who has gone to CES, from a reporting stand point, loathes it.

As a reporter, you'd have meetings to go to and places you have to be so the throngs of people standing around would be an annoyance. As someone who has been there as a fan, if you can walk around at your leisure and check out all the cool stuff, it's a blast.
 
Well, not everyone has been stating that only LCD 4K is simply a 1080p panel at a higher res. OLED has likely slipped through the cracks in such references because as yet, there isn't a mainstream 4K OLED available worldwide. I for one have been very adamant that current 4K ... in general ... is just a higher res 1080p, and is missing the features that truly makes UHD a worthy upgrade.

What I did say about OLED however is that while full Rec 2020 has not been demonstrated, it can (including current LG) display a much wider gamut than Rec 709. So even if initially it doesn't handle full spec, there is an obvious improvement over conventional LCD.


That said, you seem confused on how the LG implementation works. If anything, it's very similar to QD already. The reason conventional LCD's have a small gamut is because of the crappiness of the light source. Using a traditional 'white' LED (which is actually a blue LED doped with a yellow coating), they simply cannot get the correct white color temperature. Enter quantum dots. A blue LED is used as a backlight, with a red and green QD layer in order to generate the needed white color temperature. Combined with a high quality color filter, they can generate a wide color gamut. Granted I haven't seen the research on where they're at now, so I can't say whether the full Rec 2020 is immediately tenable, but the point is we get a gamut far in excess of traditional TV.

For the LG OLED design, we actually have a very similar mechanism. As with traditional LED's, at this point we do not actually have a true white OLED in mass production. LG's 'white' OLED subpixels are actually created by layering red, green, and blue OLED's in order to generate white light. The resulting subpixels then have a color filter (red, green, blue, and clear) in order to create the final pixel. Assuming in the long run they can tune the OLED layers to generate the same frequencies of red, green, and blue as what a QD TV does, and then use the same high quality filter layer, there's no reason to assume they can't produce the same gamut. It's essentially the same mechanism.

One possible issue (and I can't confirm whether it is one) is the 4 subpixel layout they use - red, green, blue, white. Current OLED has issues with aging, and in order to lengthen the lifespan it behooves the manufacturers to keep the voltage down. LG's trick of using a white subpixel not only compensates for light loss from the color filtering process, but actually gives them headroom beyond. In order to generate the correct colors however, they need to map the traditional RGB values in a CLUT that incorporates RGBW. It's possible that color conversion may limit the gamut or create inaccuracies? I don't know.


The point it, even LG's design should be capable of competing or at least coming close to QD in terms of gamut. Or at worst, is still well in excess of current standards. It should be a visible improvement.

Right now though, they are still using 8-bit color depths though. So gradations is arguably the biggest hurdle they need to overcome in the short-term. Otherwise they're going to have obvious artifacts/crush once HDR content starts rolling in. Of course that also brings into question whether they can currently even run bright enough without premature aging? Granted that's a different argument.

Ah okay, I wasn't aware of some of the specifics of LG's WOLED design. I knew about the RGBW subpixels but I didn't know the about the details of how their color filters worked. I guess it remains to be seen just how much of a gamut they can really produce, although LG's image processors have generally been worse than Sony and Samsung's. Sony has been on 10-bit panels and 10/12-bit color depths since forever and they have an implementation of wider color gamut that no one uses, I'm not actually sure if Samsung uses 10-bit panels on their top-shelf sets but I would be surprised if they didn't.

There are other methods of trying to improve the quality of the light source on LCD TVs besides QD, Sony has apparently been using a 2-phase LED backlight in the 2014 models which dropped QD. That's what you're seeing in that chart I linked in the X900B. However it seems like QD is really the best of the available options as far as LCD is concerned. QD-Vision have claimed that their research has produced a QD + LCD display which covers 100% of NTSC but I don't know how the old NTSC gamut relates to Rec.2020.

I remain suspicious of LG's OLED panels as long as they continue to implement the extremely aggressive plasma-style ABL on their sets. It makes me think they are still not confident about the pixel lifespan of their OLEDs and at that price I'm not that excited about beta testing the technology for them. I'm still wondering if and when Samsung will re-enter the market with their RGB OLED design TVs, it seems like that will not happen in 2015 and Samsung has been making noises to the effect that it may not happen for at least a few years. Either way, it's a lot safer to buy an QD + LCD TV than an OLED TV if you're concerned about it's lifespan, assuming that both technologies will be supporting Rec.2020 in 2015. Depending on how certain manufacturers are about the Blu-ray 4K spec, and maybe BDA will officially announce it tomorrow, they might get Rec.2020 in this year's models.

I'm also not happy that LG continues to use their IPS panel tech in their LCD TVs. QD are nice for widening the color gamut but that doesn't change the fact that on TV panels, VA technologies offer deeper blacks than IPS does. I hope that Sony and Samsung will also use QD on their top-shelf sets, well in the case of Sony, I would like them to resume using QD in 2015 after dropping them in 2014.
 

terrisus

Member
Never forget:

3Rq4SUd.jpg


CDsEnb6.jpg
 

Raistlin

Post Count: 9999
Ah okay, I wasn't aware of some of the specifics of LG's WOLED design. I knew about the RGBW subpixels but I didn't know the about the details of how their color filters worked. I guess it remains to be seen just how much of a gamut they can really produce, although LG's image processors have generally been worse than Sony and Samsung's. Sony has been on 10-bit panels and 10/12-bit color depths since forever and they have an implementation of wider color gamut that no one uses, I'm not actually sure if Samsung uses 10-bit panels on their top-shelf sets but I would be surprised if they didn't.
Yup got the same reservations regarding LG's image processing. More than once I've told CrankyJay that I'm really hoping LG's new OLED fab line means they'll be OEMing panels to people like Sony so we can get better processing.

There are other methods of trying to improve the quality of the light source on LCD TVs besides QD, Sony has apparently been using a 2-phase LED backlight in the 2014 models which dropped QD. That's what you're seeing in that chart I linked in the X900B. However it seems like QD is really the best of the available options as far as LCD is concerned. QD-Vision have claimed that their research has produced a QD + LCD display which covers 100% of NTSC but I don't know how the old NTSC gamut relates to Rec.2020.
I'm kind of curious how the original Sony Triluminos set stacks up (XBR8), as I've never seen the color charts for it. It actually uses RGB LED's to generate its white. That's another method that I suspect could work, but it's damn expensive as it requires full array backlighting with a fair number of clusters in order to get even white generation. Not to mention this makes the display thicker than most buyers currently expect. Granted that comes with local dimming though which is obviously a plus.

I remain suspicious of LG's OLED panels as long as they continue to implement the extremely aggressive plasma-style ABL on their sets. It makes me think they are still not confident about the pixel lifespan of their OLEDs and at that price I'm not that excited about beta testing the technology for them. I'm still wondering if and when Samsung will re-enter the market with their RGB OLED design TVs, it seems like that will not happen in 2015 and Samsung has been making noises to the effect that it may not happen for at least a few years. Either way, it's a lot safer to buy an QD + LCD TV than an OLED TV if you're concerned about it's lifespan, assuming that both technologies will be supporting Rec.2020 in 2015. Depending on how certain manufacturers are about the Blu-ray 4K spec, and maybe BDA will officially announce it tomorrow, they might get Rec.2020 in this year's models.
Yeah the ABL implementation worries me for the same reasons. While it is possible that power consumption is a concern of theirs, I suspect aging is at least part of the reason too. And I agree, the real-world lifespan and/or burn-in data just isn't there just yet. Once the prices come down more people will consider the risk, but as of now it's a hard pill to swallow.

Unless Samsung (or should I say, Universal Display Corp's host material) has some sort of breakthrough, I don't really have confidence in their panels being less prone to aging. If anything, the extra headroom LG's WRGB implementation makes it less prone. I suspect they are using less voltage to get similar luminosities?

And while I agree a QD probably makes more sense right now, it's hard to not covet OLED's blacks. Especially if you're coming from a Plasma.

Regardless, I'm definitely looking forward to the BDA conference.

I'm also not happy that LG continues to use their IPS panel tech in their LCD TVs. QD are nice for widening the color gamut but that doesn't change the fact that on TV panels, VA technologies offer deeper blacks than IPS does. I hope that Sony and Samsung will also use QD on their top-shelf sets, well in the case of Sony, I would like them to resume using QD in 2015 after dropping them in 2014.
Lol yeah, like I was just saying ... it's hard to look past LCD black levels :\
 

Raistlin

Post Count: 9999
I can't imagine the AV nerd excitement if Panasonic or Pioneer came back with a 4K plasma.
If only. Unfortunately that's one of the things the finally killed Plasma actually. Word on the street was 4K fabrication wasn't really tenable unfortunately.

It's sad. At least for TV and movie usage, Plasma takes a giant shit all over LCD :\
 
If only. Unfortunately that's one of the things the finally killed Plasma actually. Word on the street was 4K fabrication wasn't really tenable unfortunately.

It's sad. At least for TV and movie usage, Plasma takes a giant shit all over LCD :\

I had a TH50-PZ80U (think that was the model number circa 2007ish) that I got after my Vizio blew (lucky recipient of the pop of death for first gen Vizio plasmas). When I saw the news last year Panasonic was def. getting out I sent the link to my wife. She, to my surprise, said "oh crap we should get a new one". Now I have a ST60. I'll be holding on to this thing for as long as possible.
 

CrankyJay

Banned
Yup got the same reservations regarding LG's image processing. More than once I've told CrankyJay that I'm really hoping LG's new OLED fab line means they'll be OEMing panels to people like Sony so we can get better processing.

Right now the LG TV looks like garbage in my opinion. What they gained in color accuracy, black levels, and contrast they lost in motion and graininess. Plus the pixelation is evident from further away than even current LCDs.

Unless Samsung (or should I say, Universal Display Corp's host material) has some sort of breakthrough, I don't really have confidence in their panels being less prone to aging. If anything, the extra headroom LG's WRGB implementation makes it less prone. I suspect they are using less voltage to get similar luminosities?

Do you mean host or emitter materials? Because there is evidence that Samsung is going with their own host materials (I think through Cheil) and stepping away from UDCs. Their contract with Universal Display is only for emitters. Though, in their last conference call UDCS mgmt did say they are always working on next generation host materials.
 

Raistlin

Post Count: 9999
I had a TH50-PZ80U (think that was the model number circa 2007ish) that I got after my Vizio blew (lucky recipient of the pop of death for first gen Vizio plasmas). When I saw the news last year Panasonic was def. getting out I sent the link to my wife. She, to my surprise, said "oh crap we should get a new one". Now I have a ST60. I'll be holding on to this thing for as long as possible.
Heh nice!

I missed out getting one of the ZT60's last year before they ran out, but made sure I was ready when the Samsung F8500's were on close out. Glad I waited. Similar overall image quality (but can go much brighter) plus more features. Best thing though is it ended up a fair amount cheaper than what the Panasonics were hitting in the end.
 

Furyous

Member
All I want is a Z4 announcement to kick off the year. Some OEMs should spread their announcements out to give themselves time to market their products. It sucks for other vendors to have one full quarter to market their products. Either a Z4/Z4C, LG reveal or stealth M9 announcement would wreck shit.
 

Raistlin

Post Count: 9999
Right now the LG TV looks like garbage in my opinion. What they gained in color accuracy, black levels, and contrast they lost in motion and graininess. Plus the pixelation is evident from further away than even current LCDs.
Well you know how I feel about the current iteration :p

But yeah, I was implying the 4K line. Pixel fillrate shouldn't matter at that resolution.

Do you mean host or emitter materials? Because there is evidence that Samsung is going with their own host materials (I think through Cheil) and stepping away from UDCs. Their contract with Universal Display is only for emitters. Though, in their last conference call UDCS mgmt did say they are always working on next generation host materials.
Oh boy. That kind of makes me even more skeptical then lol. Also confirms I should have dumped the stock long ago. Fuck me.
 

CrankyJay

Banned
Well you know how I feel about the current iteration :p

But yeah, I was implying the 4K line. Pixel fillrate shouldn't matter at that resolution.


Oh boy. That kind of makes me even more skeptical then lol. Also confirms I should have dumped the stock long ago. Fuck me.

Naw. The host materials sector is a competitive field, so it's pretty much a commodity.

They can always regain host business of they come up with some breakthrough, but I doubt it. From what I remember UDC works pretty closely with the companies they are contracted with in terms of emitter development. I'm hoping OLED lighting is still the ace in the hole. TVs didn't work on the timeframe everyone thought it would, but that's on Samsung for painting themselves in a corner with their RGB design, it's just not cost effective right now, even with their purported yield increases. Unless those were misreported.

Hopefully BB Magnolia or Stereo Advantage gets one of the 65" 4k OLED in soon.
 

Raistlin

Post Count: 9999
Naw. The host materials sector is a competitive field, so it's pretty much a commodity.

They can always regain host business of they come up with some breakthrough, but I doubt it. From what I remember UDC works pretty closely with the companies they are contracted with in terms of emitter development. I'm hoping OLED lighting is still the ace in the hole. TVs didn't work on the timeframe everyone thought it would, but that's on Samsung for painting themselves in a corner with their RGB design, it's just not cost effective right now, even with their purported yield increases. Unless those were misreported.

Hopefully BB Magnolia or Stereo Advantage gets one of the 65" 4k OLED in soon.
Speaking of Samsung ... wow are they ever overcompensating at CES :(

Looks like they're seriously betting on QD

http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/3/7487209/samsung-tizen-tv-seductive-advertisement-at-ces-2015

verge-007.0.jpg
 

Dead

well not really...yet
"y'all have any of them seductive teevees? heard they're better than that there 4D TV"
 
D

Deleted member 22576

Unconfirmed Member
Hahah, I can't wait to see that TV! That crazy Dlink router that looks like a Drone is pretty cool too.
 

Raistlin

Post Count: 9999
Can't believe they're betting on curved still too.

Like it wasn't bad enough all the OLED's were curved ... now many or maybe all QD's will be too?



MAKE IT STOP
 
D

Deleted member 22576

Unconfirmed Member
I've never actually seen a curved display in person. I feel like I would be the type of person who would like it. *my purposes fall squarely under PC monitor usage which is more conducive to viewing a display perfectly head on like curved screens are meant for.



Do the big expensive OLED panels have the moira effect (thats not what it was called, was it?) or whatever that PLAGUED the Playstation Vita? I could not make peace with that. It was so noticeable.
 

Dead

well not really...yet
I've never actually seen a curved display in person. I feel like I would be the type of person who would like it. *my purposes fall squarely under PC monitor usage which is more conducive to viewing a display perfectly head on like curved screens are meant for.
Ive been using one for the past few months, and honestly don't mind it at all. Though I dont think it adds any value at all.
 
D

Deleted member 22576

Unconfirmed Member
Ive been using one for the past few months, and honestly don't mind it at all. Though I dont think it adds any value at all.

Isn't it supposed to offer the illusion that your screen/FOV is bigger if you sit in the "sweet spot?" I swear I read that somewhere.
 

Dead

well not really...yet
Isn't it supposed to offer the illusion that your screen/FOV is bigger if you sit in the "sweet spot?" I swear I read that somewhere.
I'm sure that's what Samsung would like people to believe. But ive sat close and farther away and it's contributed nothing imo.

Ill be going back to a flat TV this year once the flat OLEDs are out, granting they deliver and and priced too outrageously.
 
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