CES 2000 Picture Gallery!

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Site created 12/15/97.

page created: 1/8/00
(updated 1/13/00)

CES 2000 Picture Gallery

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Shinco apparently makes set-top DVD players too, like this 5-disc changer.

Shinco, which is based in Hong Kong, has a wide array of DVD products available in Asia, including multi-disc changers.

Esonic's apparently a player in the Asian DVD portable market - here are 2 portables w/o screens.

Another Asian manufacturer present at CES was Esonic, which seems to focus almost exclusively on the portable market. The company had portables on display with and without LCD screens. They even had a unit capable of playing video games, via a gamepad (see image below).

Esonic also makes portables with LCD screens... and game playing capability.

I was really surprised at just how many manufacturers were exhibiting at CES that I had never heard of, and it was interesting to see their offerings - clearly a sign on DVD's growing worldwide popularity. But we wanted to see what the industry heavy-weights were up to. So it was on to Panasonic, which should get the award for the biggest booth at the show. It was massive. And they had a LOT to show off, as you'll see.

Panasonic's Mobile DVD Theater...

Let's say that you're taking a long car trip, and you want to find a new way to entertain your passengers. How about letting them watch a DVD? Yes indeed, Panasonic had on display a minivan loaded with their latest and greatest gear - a "mobile DVD theater".

... is pretty damn cool...

As you can see in these images, it was quite a hit with the show attendees - everyone took turns in the passenger seats to catch a glimpse of Saving Private Ryan. This particular minivan featured a flip-down screen in the ceiling (which could be driven from a DVD deck in the dash), as well as a flip up screen in the back of the center console, with the deck and controls hidden underneath it. This theater on wheels also boasts full surround sound speakers, and strategically-located ear-phone jacks... for you parents just in case the kids are watching Barney on DVD. Our big question is this - aren't there enough distractions on the road already?

... but who's driving? ;-)

Naturally, Panasonic also had on display a full line of rear projection, and direct view DTVs, some of which are available now, and some of which will be out by mid-year. One interesting thing that I overheard at the show, is that Panasonic plans to team up with Texas Instruments to produce rear projection DTVs that use Digital Light Processing (DLP) technology. That's the same stuff we've seen Star Wars: Episode I, Toy Story 2 and Tarzan shown in at select theaters around the country. I can only imagine how impressive it might look in a rear-screen projection TV. Personally, I'm VERY interested in seeing this first-hand.

Rear-projection HDTV by Panasonic.

A Panasonic direct-view HDTV set (coming this spring).

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