By Terence Huynh / 11 January 2009 / No Comments
CES 2009 : CES’s ending is nearly upon us, and we have some final things to post. Memorex has announced that a brand new Blu-Ray Player, MVBD-2520, that will have the new Blu-Ray Profile 2.0; which includes BD-Live, allowing owners to access additional content on the internet from the player via the player’s Ethernet port
It also has the functionality that upconverts standard-definition material to several HD resolutions, including 720p and 1080p; and it can play a multitude of formats:
Audio playback features include Dolby Digital, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS, DTS-HD High Resolution Audio decoding and bit stream output, as well as Master Audio bit stream output. The player is compatible with a wide range of audio and video formats including Blu-ray Disc (AV format), DVD-Video, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 AVC (H.264), VC-1, VCD, SVCD, JPEG, BD-ROM,DVD-ROM, DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+RW, CD-ROM, and CD-R/-RW, as well as WMA and MP3 files. This player also supports SD Card and USB 2.0.
It will ship in early summer of 2009, with a retail price of $199.99.
By Terence Huynh / 11 January 2009 / No Comments
CES 2009 : Panasonic is bringing some new additions to its line of massage chairs, known as the Urban Collection. The EP1285KL/TL and EP1082KL/TL-Combo come with four pre-set modes and eight manual modes that gives you a total of 44 massage combination.
Included in the pre-set programs are the Swedish and Shiatsu massages; and a Quick Mode, which will give you all 8 manual modes in a five minute program. The chair can recline to 170 degrees; and the EP1285KL/TL comes with an adjustable ottoman with a 14-airbag circulation system, while the EP1082KL/TL-Combo comes with a separate ottoman with an 8-airbag system.
These are available now; with the EP1082KL selling at $1699.99, the EP1082TL-Combo selling at $2699.99 and the EP1285KL/TL also selling at $2699.99.
By Terence Huynh / 11 January 2009 / No Comments

CES 2009 : Sennheiser has now announced that it will bring out a brand new, top-of-the-range headphones that are aimed for those who, described in the press release, are “highly discerning audiophiles” who are looking for the ultimate sound reproduction.
The HD 800 has a transducer that is 56mm, and that is the largest that can be found on any dynamic headphone. And the new design is to give it a more open design. The design of the headphones is said to be in the highest quality of workmanship, with a black and silver finish giving it a “look of exclusive elegance”.
The headphones offer an outstanding frequency response of 6 to 51,000 Hz, and is made of out high-quality plastic. There is also no covering for the ear cups, saying that “less material means that there is less opportunity for partial vibrations to occur”; and for that same reason, they had to put in a special headband.
The ear pads are made from high-quality Japanese Alcantra, and it uses a 1/4-inch (or a 6.3mm) stereo jack to plug into your audio source. So basically, it is the must have headphones for those who love to listen to music or watch movies with their headphones.
And you might as well start saving money now, if you want this. While there might not be an availability date, nor pricing – expect this to be in the very high end pricing for headphones because of the quality and materials to build it.
Image Gallery is below, and the press release is after the jump.
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By Terence Huynh / 10 January 2009 / No Comments
CES 2009 : And you thought ViewSonic was the only one? Samsung has added the 2233RZ, it’s first 3D monitor, to its monitor lineup, and similar to the ViewSonic, it will be compatible with the new GeForce 3D Vision from NVIDIA. It will also have the same frame rate, at 120Hz, as the ViewSonic’s one.
The only downside to the 3D graphics, like almost every other 3D viewing experience, is that you have to wear the glasses to get this effect to work. While this may be a bit geeky, it will give you the ultimate 3D experience for your game, depending if you have the graphics card and the game is compatible with it.
It will have a 20,000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio, a 1680 x 1050 native resolution, and will have a 3ms response time when in 3D (for 2D graphics, it is only 5ms). This is expected to be out in April 2009 with a price tag of US$349.
By Terence Huynh / 10 January 2009 / No Comments
CES 2009 : So, apparently the latest thing for LCD monitors is to try making a 3D monitor for gamers who would like to see their graphics literally pop out of the monitor with the 3D glasses. And ViewSonic is no different, as it has announced the VX2265wm.
The 22-inch monitor has a frame rate of 120Hz, which is essentially similar to “flicker-free” televisions, and more than the usual rates of 50Hz or 60Hz (depending on your location) on traditional monitors. And while it most likely to produce 2D gaming and graphic applications, it can also produce 3D graphics on more than 350 existing game titles if you have the new NVIDIA GeForce 3D Vision glasses.
According to ViewSonic, the monitor is said to have a HD resolution of 1680 x 1050, a 2ms video response time, built-in HDCP support, and also has been certified to work with Windows Vista. It also has SRS WOW HD sound technology, with speakers invisible to the eye.
It is expected to arrive sometime this month at a cost of US$399.
By Terence Huynh / 10 January 2009 / 1 Comment
CES 2009 : D-Link has brought out at CES this year a brand new router that claims to have the fastest data speeds for an 802.11n wireless router. It will also have wide and local area network gigabit ports, SharePort technology and “simultaneous dual-band 2.4 and 5 gigahertz performance”.
It’s data speed is theoretically 450 megabits per second – and compare that to the new 802.11n technology, which operate at 300 megabits per second – it’s pretty fast, theoretically.
It also has three antennas and is supposed to be green since it uses its in-house technology to save power through “innovative” cable and port detection technology and wireless scheduling.
By Terence Huynh / 10 January 2009 / No Comments
CES 2009 : Sandisk and Sony have announced two new expanded formats for the Memory Stick series. Called the “Extended High Capacity”, this expands the Memory Stick PRO series to achieve a maximum storage capacity of 2TB, and the new Memory Stick HG Micro, which is the extended version of the Micro format, to have data transfer speeds of 60MBps.
Licensing for the new formats is set to be “scheduled to start” in 2009.
By Terence Huynh / 9 January 2009 / No Comments
CES 2009 : If you think we are kidding, we are not. This is the Cell-Mate, and this is a “hands-free” device – or so its says to get pass the laws that 13 states have introduced that forbid you to use your phone without a hands-free device while driving your car.
While it may look like a giant headband that just holds your phone on your face – it’s claim to never have bad reception on Bluetooth is true, since it never had it in the first place. And it really doesn’t help the company’s image when the site is hosted on GoDaddy’s free hosting service.
But if you are seriously getting one, then you should not use it if you have an iPhone – your dirty skin touching the iPhone’s glass screen doesn’t look that good, especially when you are sweating. Also, you won’t be able to answer when the button is on the screen, where your face is.
And if you are at CES, you can find their booth at IP-214.
By Terence Huynh / 9 January 2009 / No Comments
CES 2009 : AMD has brought out a new series of graphics processors for notebooks, the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4000, that is said to “redefine” gaming with advanced capabilities on notebooks. Along with the new features, it is set to deliver up to one teraFLOP of performance power, with support for its CrossFireX technology.
It supports DirectX 10.1 and will be the first to support the GDDR5 memory technology, which is said to be nearly twice the memory bandwidth of GDDR3 and GDDR4. It is also said to be energy-efficient, with several power-saving features, and can support 1080p HD resolution when viewing on HD-capable panels, televisions or monitors.
There will be three in the series at launch, the Radeon HD 4600, the Radeon HD 4300 and the Radeon HD 4500 – all of them are for notebooks. This is said to be available starting in Q1 2009 with several notebook manufacturers like ASUS and MSI.
By Terence Huynh / 9 January 2009 / No Comments

CES 2009 : Panasonic has announced a huge line of new Plasmas and LCD TVs to be released during 2009. One of them, and being claimed as the “flagship VIERA plasma” for this year is the Z1 series of plasmas. It, along with the other line of plasmas from Panasonic, will have the new VIERA CAST service.
The plasma is only one-inch thin, and is a THX Certified Display. It also has support for 1080p, 4 HDMI ports, an Infinite Black panel, a 600Hz Sub-field Drive, the new VIERA Link and VIERA Image Viewer. It’s “Neo PDP design” also gives it a brighter picture, deeper blacks and improved contrast resolution of 40,000:1.
It will be available in stores at the summer of 2009 with the TC-54Z1, its 54-inch plasma. No pricing is available as of this date.