editor’s couch CES Preface devices are the same ones urg - with a Magneplanar CCR center value true performance, would ing you to replace it every year, channel ($3,000), all powered by be far more appreciative. At the 2011 International if not every quarter. Few compa - Bryston electronics –– four SST 2 The dimension of depth once Consumer Electronics Show nies embrace innovation, which Amplifiers and the SP 2 again was the main focus of just (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, adds value over the long term. Surround Processor –– and a about every major electronics reportedly over 20,000 new As I passed through the miles of Denon universal disc player. At company. The major consumer products were introduced by hallways and exhibits the sense $5,500 and $1,995 per pair, electronics companies continue over 2,700 technology compa - of useless product clutter was respectively, these are without to bet that 3-D displays and nies across global industries! apparent everywhere. question the best performance associated electronics will gen - Reportedly, more than 140,000 This is not to say that there value in loudspeakers that I have erate tens of billions of dollars in industry professionals attended. were no companies who strived experienced. American-made the next couple or three years. The product offerings were stag - to add value, address true prob - throughout, these high-resolution Most have plans in place to sell gering and incomprehensible to lems, and serve a need. One of full-range ribbon, planar loud - second-generation 3D-capable grasp and digest during a four- those was Magnepan, a small speakers set a new benchmark devices this year and next in a day trade show. Major technolo - loudspeaker company based in for high-fidelity performance in marketing effort to secure a gy trends emerged from the CES White Bear Lake, Minnesota. The loudspeaker design. No other leading share in 3-D deliverabili - show floor, including the launch company demonstrated at The demonstration at the CES came ty. The marketing strategy car - of more than 80 tablets, wireless Home Entertainment Show close to the sonic and spatial ried over from 2010 extends to 4G LTE, connected TV technolo - (T.H.E. Show) at the Flamingo realism, and seamless response 2011 to provide a significant gies, smart appliances, and Hotel, concurrent with the CES and time coherence delivered by impact in determining who’s electric vehicles. The 2011 venues at the Las Vegas the Magneplanars! Unlike box going to be the leader of the International CES conference Convention Center and other loudspeakers, the Magnepan new market, which now includes program consisted of 250 ses - hotels. Jim Winey, the founder, panels disappear sonically, yet 3-D digital cameras and video sions featuring 900 speakers. along with his son Mark, who the resulting sound sounds cameras. The CES is far too overwhelming serves as President, and the astonishingly lifelike and real , Stereoscopic imaging is the for anyone to fully experience face of the company Wendell with natural-sounding low-fre - final frontier to viewing entertain - and comprehend. Diller, who has served for years quency extension and power. ment and all other content in the Much of the products on dis - as the company’s Sales and Uniquely, the center channel sig - future. We are at the early stages play were simply useless “me- Marketing Manager, put on the nal was derived from the two of the technology, and while at too” China-manufactured knock- most realistic demonstration of front stereo channels in the 4.0 present the technology is beset offs, which together result in an surround music that I have heard configuration. This is an with problems, as time passes, environmental disaster under - at a trade show in years! I visit - American company that knows perfection will be the aim, result - way. Virtually lost on our collec - ed Magnepan’s suite the last day how to design loudspeakers and ing in a “lifelike” three-dimen - tive conscience is the fact that of the CES, after having experi - deliver true performance value sional viewing and listening few products are made from enced numerous other company and long-term utility through experience. Already, the technol - renewal resources or produced product demonstrations. innovative engineering and cost- ogy has proven to far surpass with sustainable energy sources. Showcased was the company’s conscious manufacturing exe - the poor picture quality associat - Most products are designed to new Magneplanar 3.7s, the lat - cuted by American workers. I ed with the anaglyph process be disposable rather than long- est Magnepan loudspeaker to wish more companies would pat - seen through cardboard green term utility, instead of reparable, undergo a major revision after tern themselves in the same way and red glasses. The impact of even upgradeable. This is the more than a decade on the mar - and innovate with true cost-con - high-definition 3-D viewing will new face of the consumer elec - ket. The 3.7s were positioned as scious performance engineering result in a new era of holosonic ® tronics industry. Ironically, the the front stereo pair and and long-term utility value. As a spherical surround ™ sound, to very people who spend millions Magneplanar 1.7s (introduced at result, the industry would be provide the complementary three- on developing all of these new last year’s CES) as the surrounds, healthier and enthusiasts, who dimensional sound dimension 2 Widescreen Review • Issue 154 • February 2011 1/4 editor’s couch necessary to realizing a fully engaging and compelling home theatre new hybrid system for LCD displays based on ReadD’s active- experience. switching RDZ technology. RDZ employs a hybrid active/passive As reported in Issue 153, December, 2010 and continued in this mechanism, with the shutter system placed in the 3DTV instead of issue, the Technology Conference At Sea ™ on the Home Theater the eyewear. The LCD modulator realtime switches between clock - Cruise ™ (November 13 to 20) wise and counter-clockwise circular focused on dimensional imagery and polarization. The technology is said sonics, with seminar topics on the to deliver full 1080p resolution, while ins and outs of optimizing 3-D home maintaining compatibility with 2-D entertainment, HDMI v1.4 connectivi - imagery, along with a brighter pic - ty, mixing and reproducing aggres - ture than passive glasses systems. sive surround sound soundtracks, The same eyewear used in RealD and guidance on how to address the equipped commercial theatres can challenges of the home theatre envi - be used. The technology avoids the ronment. problems associated with synching Why 3D? Why now? Motion pic - active glasses to the display emitter, ture companies and content produc - which reduce the viewing angle. ers are eager to produce more 3-D Passive polarized systems content. Three-dimensional video is use a screen-integrated patterned set to become a mainstream motion retarder film technology that cuts picture technology. 3net, the 3DTV HD resolution in half in order to joint venture between Discovery maintain compatibility with passive Communications, Sony Corp., and IMAX is scheduled to launch early 3-D eyewear and are said to introduce crosstalk interference with this year. This will be the first 24/7 fully programmed, general enter - black-and-white imagery, in addition to reduced image brightness. tainment 3D television network in the U.S. It has been developed to VIZIO’s new line of Theater 3D comprises 21 1080p LCD 3DTVs be a 100 percent native 3-D channel, with the goal of producing ranging from 22 to 71 inches diagonally and use the passive polar - everything in stereoscopic 3D, even 3-D commercial spots. 3net will ized 3-D glasses system. VIZIO said at the CES that the new passive feature what the partners boasted will be the world's largest library of 3DTVs will offer up to a two-times-brighter picture with significantly native 3-D television content. The announcement was made during less crosstalk and flicker than current active-shutter 3DTVs. Sony's press event at the CES. In other 3-D developments, iPONT International, a Hungarian spe - Now is the time for professional production and consumer elec - cialist in 3D technology, showed a fully functioning set-top box that tronics companies to engage in the process of research and devel - can handle live 3DTV feeds (3D YouTube), real-time streaming 3-D opment to perfect three-dimensional imagery exhibited in movie the - Internet content (ESPN, DirecTV, Sky3D), and non-HDCP protected 3- atres and in home theatres. This is the future of television. D Blu-ray for autostereoscopic displays. The 3D1 will be packaged Still, as 3D is still in the early stages, the technology didn’t sell well with a yet-to-be-named autostereoscopic display by the end of the in its first year, and it still seems years away from being a mature first quarter of 2011. The company touted Tridelity ™ autostereoscopic product. DisplaySearch found that sales of the required “active shut - LCD displays, which claim multiple viewing angles up to 120 ter” glasses fell behind sales of 3DTVs. The Santa Clara, California, degrees using a parallax-barrier viewed at an optimal distance of research firm predicted that 2014 3DTV sales will soar to 90 million, approximately 11 feet. The company’s widest multi-viewer displays but that assumes “the availability of quality material to watch.” are 42, 55, and 65 inches diagonally. Compared to DisplaySearch’s estimate that more than 40 million Interestingly, many of the biggest players in the 3DTV space are “connected TVs” offering access to Internet media will ship world - attempting to develop autostereoscopic technologies as well. wide this year, 3DTV’s initial introduction has been dismal.