Digital Lifestyles Reference Guide

2006 Consumer Electronics Show Preview

Last updated Jan 5, 2006.

CES 2006 kicked off on January 4, 2006 with the keynote presentation from Bill Gates of Microsoft. In previous years, Gates's CES keynote presented the opportunity to show off cool new Microsoft offerings in the consumer electronics space, like the original Xbox and new portable devices for running Windows Mobile. With the Xbox 360 launch already history as of November 22, 2005, and Windows Vista still many months from launch, major announcements seemed highly unlikely. Microsoft's Chairman and Chief Software Architect still managed to present a few tidbits that should tide over several communities.

HD-DVD and its chief rival Blu-Ray are among the most hotly contested technologies of the moment. Blu-Ray may offer some technical superiority over HD-DVD, the same way Beta offered more than VHS, but better is relative and Microsoft presented some slick features that should make HD-DVD interesting to consumers. With the first HD-DVD players expected in March 2006, a few PC- and network-integrated features will wow consumers as soon as there are DVDs to go with the hardware. HD-DVD movies are expected to be more interactive than existing DVD counterparts, with features for browsing actor details and full interactive commentary tracks baked into the disks. The big win for consumers is support for copying HD-DVD content from the disk to a PC hard drive and compatible portable devices, without fear of the MPAA beating down your door. Microsoft's DRM is powering this "Managed Copies" solution.

Xbox 360 got some of the attention during the keynote, with statistics thrown around about number of Xbox Live subscribers, Xbox Live downloads crossing the 4 million mark, and great excitement about early successes. The big Xbox 360 news is an upcoming external HD-DVD Drive for the console. Presumably adding a HD-DVD drive in place of the existing DVD tray would have delayed the Xbox 360 launch, so an aftermarket solution is the only viable option. No word on whether the unit will be a snap-in like the hard drive or something connected via one of the USB ports. One other interesting point about Xbox 360 is the addition of a third manufacturing partner to help ramp up production to meet the overwhelming demand.

In the portable device arena, we see the first hardware with a Palm logo running Windows Mobile 5.0 in the form of the Treo 700. Verizon will begin shipping Treo 700 devices next week, several months ahead of schedule. Toshiba and LG both announced new Portable Media Center devices. LG is sporting a large 16x9 screen, video in and out for on-device recording and television playback, and an SD slot for browsing photos. For sheer features, the LG PMC is what should have shipped when Microsoft launched the product. Toshiba offers an iPod-sided form factor with smarts to switch the screen from portrait mode to landscape for 4:3 video playback. Jason Dunn of Digital Media Thoughts will be posting pictures of the devices in his coverage of the keynote.

If you need movies for any of these new portable video players (including the Treo 700), Starz is offering a solution with its Vongo service. Vongo offers all the movies you can watch for $9.99 per month, although it currently lacks support for either Sony's PSP or the iPod. Searching for movies is greatly improved over their previous StarzTicket from RealMovies. In addition to StarzTicket being more expensive than Vongo, it limited you to playing movies on your PC while connected to the Internet and lacked a convenient way to search the catalog. Vongo makes finding movies easier, supports a variety of on-the-go options for PMC and other Windows Media DRM compatible devices.

While all these announcements present a useful consumer experience, the highlight for me was watching Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates duke it out on stage as Ali vs. Fraser to show off the new Xbox 360 Fight Night Round 3 game from EA Sports. On the giant screen at CES, the boxing was almost too real. A trial download is available immediately if you have an Xbox 360.