PCMag.Com - CES is right around the corner, and that means plenty of news in the home entertainment area. All the major electronics manufacturers will be showing off new HDTVs and home theater devices, and we’re sure to see some interesting new technologies that will make their way into your living room this year.
The Near Future of HDTVs
Last year, companies focused on 3D HDTVs, and despite a relatively slow rate of adoption they will likely continue to highlight their 3D sets. Larger and less expensive 3D screens will be on display, and many HDTV manufacturers will likely show off cheaper and lighter active shutter 3D glasses (except for Vizio, LG, and other companies that already use passive glasses, which are already very light and inexpensive). Besides those evolutionary steps in the 3D HDTV market, not much will change, and there likely won’t be any major, game-changing 3D technology announcements. Screens, of course, will get bigger, they always do. Last year Sharp unveiled an 80-inch 3D HDTV. We’re willing to bet the bank that we’ll see even-larger flat-panel sets this year. LG has already confirmed that it will unveil an 84-inch 3D HDTV at the show, and 90-inchers aren’t out of the question.
Wireless HDTV technology will see incremental advances, with LG showing the first HDTVs with built-in WiDi, Intel’s technology to stream video from computers to HDTVs. Besides WiDi, we might see new Wireless HD products and other devices that send video wirelessly from Blu-ray players, game systems, tablets, smartphones, and computers to HDTVs.
Connected HDTVs and Blu-ray players will be one of the big thrusts of the show, with more models getting online features and built-in Wi-Fi, and more devices letting users connect their unconnected HDTVs to the Internet. Google recently released version 3.1 of its Google TV software, a now-Honeycomb-based Android variant for use with HDTVs and set-top boxes. So far, Sony and Logitech are the only ones to use the new Google TV release. That will likely change at CES, when other companies are expected to announce new Google TV products, now that the first version of the software is out of the way and the interface has been streamlined. Beyond Google TV, Android could show up on HDTVs in unexpected ways, putting the smartphone and tablet operating system on large screens. More
