LAS VEGAS -- The glitter of the Vegas Strip competes with the dazzlement of digital TV when a four-day technological extravaganza spotlighting the latest high-tech gadgets from around the world opens Thursday.
The Consumer Electronics Show brings together 1,800 exhibitors from over 100 countries to show over 90,000 attendees the newest in everything from digital camcorders to microwave ovens. Since its launch in 1967, the show has exploded into the world's largest annual trade event.
Much of the pre-show buzz centers around products heralding the spread of digital technology. Virtually every major electronics company is introducing some kind of digital TV, audio system, or other ubiquitous entertainment appliance. The death of analog appears imminent.
"The digital revolution is here, and everyone is rushing to the front lines to arm themselves," says CES spokesman Jeff Joseph.
Foremost among the products you didn't realize you needed but soon won't be able to live without are various permutations of digital television (DTV), which promises super-clear pictures and CD-quality sound.
High-definition television (HDTV) is the best known version, but the category also includes lower-end digital variants that still provide better pictures than analog systems.
Though the first sets only hit the market late last year and are still stratospherically priced, DTV is guaranteed to be big: 42 stations nationwide are already sending out digital broadcasts, and the FCC has set 2006 as a target date for the complete phasing out of analog broadcasting.
Philips, Sharp, Samsung, and others will be showcasing their new DTVs as well as set-top boxes that will enable you to receive digital broadcasts on your soon-to-be antiquated analog machine. Sony, which introduced the first direct-view HDTV last year, will be premiering the first giant-screen HDTV. Direct-view HDTVs do not require set-top decoder boxes.
On a related note, digital video disks (DVD) are en route to sending VCRs the way of the Betamax. Helped along by an aggressive rental program at Blockbuster and under-$300 price tags, DVD player sales topped 1 million last year.
Among many other new DVD products, Samsung will be introducing one of the first recordable DVD systems, and Panasonic is rolling out a car-based DVD system for backseat movie viewing.
Digital camcorders and cameras, countless incarnations of which will be on display, are likewise encroaching on older visual technologies. On the aural front, Panasonic will premiere a Dolby-sound equipped DVD audio system. Sony and other companies are responding with new, improved CD formats.
All of which is spurring a heated competition in home networking systems that allow you to integrate those digital appliances. Sony is pushing a new high-bandwidth cable known as a Firewire that will allow you to link your TV, PC, stereo and home security system together. All you will have to do is flick a single remote control at a screen to get music, movies, or a Web site.
Other techno-widgets sure to attract attention are the handheld email/pager devices and tiny personal computer-type gizmos trying to emulate the runaway success of 3Com's PalmPilot. Also, the satellite-linked car navigational systems that Ford, Daimler-Chrysler, and GM are working on are sure to be a hit.
Videogames and console systems will be noticeably absent from the show, as many gaming software companies have switched to the E3 trade show.
Sony chairman Howard Stringer will give the CES keynote address. The show will also feature more than 100 seminars on topics from Internet commerce to home automation to the convergence of technology and entertainment.
