CES preview..........................................
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CES PREVIEW: BIG NEWS IN DVD
DVD/SACD player and high-def DVD prototype expected 12/27/1999
By Brent Butterworth
December 27, 1999 -- Since the biggest announcements in DVD have virtually all come from Panasonic, Pioneer, Toshiba and Sony, we thought we'd call up those companies and beg for a little advance info. We weren't optimistic -- actually, we didn't expect to get anything at all -- but one company came through with some juicy stuff.
For the average guy, who's not yet equipped with an HDTV set that can display progressive-scan images, the hottest new players at CES will be Pioneer's new 300-disc DVD/CD changers -- one in the Elite series, one in the regular line.
Pioneer spokesman Chris Walker says these players won't exhibit the maddening operational quirks that had etown.com's Larry Ullman pulling his hair out when he reviewed Sony's DVP-CX850D 200-disc DVD/CD changer. According to Walker, when you place a new DVD in one of the Pioneer changers, it waits to ID the discs until you tell it to. Sony's changer, on the other hand, IDs every disc in the changer each time you change discs -- and at about 30 seconds per disc, that's a long, tedious process.
Walker reports that the Elite model comes equipped with an RS-232 port that's compatible with Escient control systems, a high-end, custom-installed, computer-controlled DVD/CD library management system.
And of course, the Elite model comes with those fabulous woodgrain side panels and that deep, lustrous Urushi finish that's made the whole Elite line such a hit with the Architectural Digest set. (We're just kidding, really. C'mon -- would anyone who reads Architectural Digest buy anything useful or fun?)
High definition in DVD's future
We also got a hot tip from Walker about a demo Pioneer's planning for the show: a lab prototype high-definition DVD player. According to Walker, the player uses a violet laser to achieve a narrower track pitch and smaller pit size than standard DVD, so it can hold more than 27 GB of data on one side, as compared to a maximum of 9 GB for standard DVD. That means it can hold four hours of 1080i HDTV pictures.
You won't see this one at Circuit City anytime soon. "A real product is at least a couple of years away," Walker told us, "because lasers at such short wavelengths are still very expensive and unstable."
Sony PR spokesman Marc Finer wouldn't breathe a word of Sony's plans in DVD, but given that the company's current top-of-the-line DVP-S7700 is looking a little long in the tooth, we have to expect a new reference player. Obviously, we've got to think that Sony -- never content to be bested by the likes of Toshiba and Matsushita -- will come out with its own progressive-scan DVD player as an answer to Toshiba's SD-9100 and SD-5109, and Panasonic's DVD-H1000D.
However, Sony always likes to remain a cut above, and what could distinguish a new reference player more than SACD capability? After all, SACD does work off a DVD transport. So that's our bet -- a new progressive-scan reference DVD player with SACD. Plus lots of nice mid- and budget-priced players, too.
Toshiba held a conference for the trade press last week, but all information about specific DVD player models was embargoed (meaning we can't print it or Toshiba will get really mad and never talk to us again) until CES. Desperate begging and pleading with the company's public relations firm got us nowhere. Panasonic's PR people didn't return our call, at least not in time for this report.
High-def personal video recorders
Samsung's Mark Knox gave us a great -- and unexpected -- tip when he told us his company planned to demonstrate a high-definition personal video recorder at CES. As you'd expect, the device uses a huge hard drive -- in the 30- to 40-gigabyte range.
Knox told us the prototype PVR will have a FireWire (IEEE-1394) input and output, for compatibility with next-generation digital cable boxes and planned Samsung HDTVs with FireWire inputs. We won't see such a product under the Samsung brand for quite a while: "Maybe 2001," Knox said. Apparently, Samsung's trying mainly to drum up some OEM business on the product right now.
Replay Networks' hardware hasn't changed all that much -- the company's latest product is just a higher-capacity model at the same price as last year's entry-level unit. But the company has improved its software substantially. We're still under NDA (non-disclosure agreement) on that one until just before the show, but we'll give you a complete preview then.
Unfortunately, there is a press embargo regarding TiVo news as well. Currently Philips is selling a TiVo-enhanced PVR and offering a $100 rebate. You can expect major announcements at CES regarding TiVo and new manufacturers who will announce support for the system. Look for a TiVo announcement from etown.com on Monday January 3, 2000.
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