The 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show

The Consumer Electronics Association produced its annual International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week.  The four day show allowed exhibitors to showcase their latest innovations in technology to the industry.

It is critically to Recluse AV to learn about the upcoming technologies at CES.  As a leader in the AV and Home Automation  market we strive to provide our clients with the most advanced systems available.

Here are some of the highlights of CES that we found interesting.

Control4 MyHome

Control4 last week introduced the MyHome family of software applications.  These applications allow consumers to access and control lighting, temperature, music, movies, energy, security and more from a wide range of devices in Control4 enabled homes.  Consumers need only purchase a Control4 MyHome licence and download the application to their iPhone, iPad, PC or Mac laptop, desktop computer or tablet to enjoy all the features of their Control4 system.

By turning existing smart phones, tablets and PC's into additional interfaces, Control4 MyHome offers homeowners an affordable way to access and manage their system. Control4 MyHome is an affordable and flexible choice for the office, den and even garage.

The application will require a one-time persistent family licence or single licence and a Control4 System.  The Control4 MyHome family licence will allow consumers to download multiple applications for multiple devices in the home.

Motorola Xoom Tablet

At CES this year there were over 40 tablets showcased.  In the crowd of tablets the Motorolla Xoom was the tablet that stood out the most.  With its 1280 x 800 resolution on a 10.1 inch display, 1GHz Tegra 2 processor and 5 megapixel camera it brilliantly showcased Google's new Android 3.0 Homecomb OS

Sony Bloggie 3d Handycam

The Bloggie is Sony's entry into affordable home 3D recording technology.  The $250us msrp camera packs two lenses and two image sensors to capture the world in 1920x1080 3D resolution. The Bloggie will show 3D without the need for glasses on its digital viewfinder.  This device is due for launch in April in the US with 8GB of storage.

Nox Audio Admiral Touch Preview: The wireless noise-cancelling surround headset with Android 2.1

The Nox Audio Admiral is a device which turned our heads.  Although it has mediocre aesthetics this headset features almost every geeky feature you can imagine.  With a 2.4 inch touchscreen LCD embedded in the right earcup it runs an Android 2.1 OS on an ARM11 chipset with 1GB flash storage and 256MB of RAM.  It features a set of noise cancelling 7.1 virtual surround sound wireless headphones that connect via bluetooth and 2.4ghz simultaneously.

Glasses Free 3D TV's

There has been no shortage of glasses free 3D TV's at CES this year however how do they work.  In a 'normal' 3D screen, the screen displays one image for the left eye and then a seperate image for the right eye.  Shutter glasses then show the correct image to the left and right eye by blocking every other image.

Most of the current 'Glasses Free 3D TV's' (also named Autostereoscopy) utiliise lenticular lenses or parallax barriers that redirect incoming imagery to several viewing regions at a lower resolution.  When the viewer's head is in a certain position, a different image is seen with each eye giving a convincing illusion of 3D.

The only drawback on this technology is that these displays have special viewing zones which allow users to view the image in 3D which limits the number of viewers and placement of furniture.