CES 2017: Master Video and Technology Thread

[amirm]

This was the Canon prototype 250 megapixel camera. It was not that great of a demo though of taking wide shots and then zooming into a small rectangle. There was so much atmospheric haze that the resolution benefit was just not there:

 

[amirm]

A bit about their new coatings/lens technology:

 

[amirm]

Was looking for a pocket camera with good telephoto zoom and this Canon M5 caught my eye:

 

[amirm]

This was the last suite I visited which was the Sony Alpha cameras. Here they were showing portrait shots of a pretty model swinging with that flowing dress, making for gorgeous shots. Photographer was laying on the ground shooting up with two professional flashes:

 

[amirm]

And a grab shot of the static Theil speakers as I was leaving the main hall:

 

[amirm]

One thing I was surprised at the show this year was that there were no projector demos at CES main hall this year. The only one I saw was the JVC RS-4500 and that was in the high-end audio suite in the Venetian hotel!

Sadly they had a small screen with really poor content. They limited themselves to a couple of clips that they could get the rights to and they did not at all show off the projector. An irate guy sitting next to me constantly told them that to boot! In think the privacy of that room they could have played Blu-rays.

For those of you who don't know, the artists in movies can object to their liking being used in movies to sell anything other than the movie itself. The studio does not have the right to allow anyone to use their movies to sell projectors for example. For that reason when we did get permission to use their movies it always had to be some random clip where the top actor/actress was not in it! This made for pretty boring selections. Perils of being big companies and being afraid of getting sued.

I don't think anyone will really sue them as all of this promotes the movie and such. If I were them in any private suite I would use blu-ray UHD discs as demo material.

 

[astr0b0y]

It's been vaporware for a long time; another kickstopper. Automation is very complicated. There are many code databases and many different ways devices can be controlled. Even if it only worked over TCP/IP there would have to be IP converters to other codes like IR/ RS232 etc. There are companies like Global Cache who make such devices. But it's folly to think that everything can be solved with one remote control device.

I have on on pre-order, not a cheap as being a backer but no risk either, I'll do a review if they do ship.

@amirm Thanks for taking the time to have a look. I'm interested in this remote to replace my Harmony elite. I was worried when you wrote that it didn't have IR, which it does along with Wi-fi, BT, IEEE 802.15.4 (Zigbee etc), Z-wave plus other bits and bobs.
I'm most interested in its apparent ability bring a more 2 way experience (pulling and displaying data and device states from apps/devices) but mostly for a significantly better display and touch screen experience than Harmony provides - there's have always been pretty terrible.

 

[amirm]

Clarifying when I say IR, professional equipment has multiple output only serial port that you connect to IR emitters that you then glue to the front of the set. Broadcasting IR from the station requires it to be from line of sight.

On two-way control and such, they said you have to do all the programming. I asked them details of that but the person at the suite could not answer. For example I asked if I can have a pause in a command. He was surprised and said it was not needed. I explained that some AVRs for example need to wait for the TV to come on before turning on the source which forces you to have a delay. I hope they think through all of this and programming is simple.

But yes getting away from Harmony is a good reason to buy something like this.

 

[Deleted member 65]

@amirm,
Thanks for fulfilling my request on covering LG OLED's vs other TV's/Technologies, easy choice for me now (splitting cheque from LG? ... ;-) ).

Take care!

 

[dallasjustice]

If someone is interested in a very robust yet DIY way of home theater control, I'd recommend iRule. It's a pretty complete solution. It just takes a lot of learning to put it all together.

 

[astr0b0y]

Ahh, understood on the IR front.
There's been some videos posted of apps like Spotify and Plex interacting with the remote, pushing content like playlists, new movies/episodes to the remote screen based on who picks up the remote (it's supposed to have automatic user recognition by touch). So if my daughter picks it up it might show the next Inspector Gadget episode she can touch the key frame and start watching, if I pick it up it may show me the next Doctor Who episode or Amir's CES 2017 Playlist that I just added to Roon etc..

Programming the unit for your own system is expected, at least the way I look at it. G they can improve on Logitech's crappy workflow based programming.

 

[amirm]

If someone is interested in a very robust yet DIY way of home theater control, I'd recommend iRule. It's a pretty complete solution. It just takes a lot of learning to put it all together.

Indeed. I mentioned to Neeo folks to go and look at it as their competitor and what they do right. They had never heard of them!

 

[Blumlein 88]

If someone is interested in a very robust yet DIY way of home theater control, I'd recommend iRule. It's a pretty complete solution. It just takes a lot of learning to put it all together.

Was not aware of this. Was talking about this a few days ago that someone needed to make such a thing as all else was in place for it to happen.

For movies I was pretty happy controlling my HTPC via VLC with a smartphone remote, but this looks even better perhaps.

 

[astr0b0y]

Indeed. I mentioned to Neeo folks to go and look at it as their competitor and what they do right. They had never heard of them!

It sounds like whoever you were speaking to was either having a lend (Swiss humour?) or was maybe just a muppet manning the stand.
Could also be that the Neeo team are probably all engineers and have blinkers on to anything outside their codebase.

 

[dallasjustice]

Jriver is trying to do some automation. But it seems limited to Zwave.

 

[dallasjustice]

Amir,
Did you ever get a chance to do the DIRAC room? Here's a article Tyll wrote up about his VR experience in that room:
http://www.innerfidelity.com/conten...3d-audio-rendering-system#e168K70GIm06hFoz.97

 

[dallasjustice]

Just in case anyone wants a close up of Tyll's eyebrows:

 

[amirm]

Amir,
Did you ever get a chance to do the DIRAC room? Here's a article Tyll wrote up about his VR experience in that room:
http://www.innerfidelity.com/conten...3d-audio-rendering-system#e168K70GIm06hFoz.97

I did indeed. I spent nearly half hour there talking about their current technology and where it is going with the same speaker in your video. Unfortunately I was asked to not disclose any of it until their plans gel more over time. Good news is that there will be more happening on the PC as opposed to their past focus of OEM auto business.

I did not pay any attention to their headphone technology but watching the video right now, wish I had! Seems to be a direct competitor to Smythe Research. Will have to listen to it at a future show.

 

[dallasjustice]

That's great news. I've felt that they have neglected the computer customers for a few years now.

I did indeed. I spent nearly half hour there talking about their current technology and where it is going with the same speaker in your video. Unfortunately I was asked to not disclose any of it until their plans gel more over time. Good news is that there will be more happening on the PC as opposed to their past focus of OEM auto business.

I did not pay any attention to their headphone technology but watching the video right now, wish I had! Seems to be a direct competitor to Smythe Research. Will have to listen to it at a future show.

 

[dallasjustice]

In particular, I feel that DIRAC has done nothing with regard to multi-speaker bass management. IOW, no crossovers and no proper subwoofer integration methods. This in spite of all their new development of the Unison technology and subsequent roll out in cars. To me, there's a lot of meat on the bones with DIRAC and I look forward to any new announcements from them.