I spent the past two days at CES. Day 1 was hangin' with Scott and the GREAT staff. Day two was going wild through the aisles on my own.
I'm a quasi-techie, more of an advanced user, not Sat expert like the staff, but here are some overall thoughts on CES:
- 3DTV. It's cool, its interesting, but I'll wait for a couple more generations before buying (investing). Obviously, 3DTV is the next big thing in Televsion. The companies have built everything they can on standard TVs now they need a new reason forus to buy more units. Since most (largest part of the market) bought their flat panels in the past 2-3 years, it will be a while before they are ready to replace them. They need another hook (3DTV) to get us to buy more. I saw active, passive, and glassesless 3DTV at the show. Candidly it was way cool, but in many cases it tended to pop in and out (like the old 3D Art stuff). My wife tried it as well, and said it best. "It looks interesting, but my eyes have to work so much it turns TV watching into a job".......which is what she doesn't want to do.
- Integration of TV and the web. This, of course, is the other big push. Video streaming from various systems is way cool. I think that this part of the market will grow big-time over the coming months/years. However, there is also the push to browse the web through your TV, while still watching the program (eg. watch tv program and surf the web on the TV at the same time). While this initially seems cool and may work for single viewers or home offices, It isn't much value for families. Many times my wife and I compute on our notebooks in the family room while watching TV. Rarely would I see us wanting to look at the same Internet site while watching TV. For us, neat gimick, little real value at this point.
- Dish/Sling: I was really impressed with the Dish/Sling 300 that was the one new product displayed this year. It will be interesting to see how it actually works in the wild. It should be noted that Dish and Sling are truly joined at the hip. That was evident in everything in and around their adjacent booths. Dish is betting a lot on Sling.
-Tablet Computing is the non-video product de-jour. Everyone is gunning to take out the IPad.... I think that some are about ready to do so.
-Accessories: I was surprised at tremendous number of compnies pushing their cases, portfolios, screen protectors and other accessories, primarily for the IPhone. They must all get a big grin on their faces when a new model comes out with a slightly different form-factor. The trick is to not be the guy with a warehouse of stock at change-over time.
- CES Itself: WOW, just WOW. I spent two days there. To give you an idea of the size, I took a pedometer walked 9 miles on Thursday and 11 on Friday. (Thursday was shorter because we spent most of the morning hangin' around the Dish/Sling area.) I only covered the 3 main buldings, and there were parts of those that I didn't see. There were several other venues that I didn't try to get to.
- SatGuys Team: You've got a great team with Scott and the SatGuys staff on-site, with others at home sorting through the press releases and other dribble. Figuring out what is the latest thing happening in the Central building, while being in the South building is about impossible. However, Scott knows all the products and all of the key players in the market. The other staff members work hard to figure out how to capture the information and get it out to you. It's a great team!! I was thrilled to hang with them for a day or so. Scott was an excellent host! I'll be honored to be your Chauffeur, Roadie, and Hand Model (next time I'll get a manicure).
Headin' back to Texas. Safe Travels All!
I'm a quasi-techie, more of an advanced user, not Sat expert like the staff, but here are some overall thoughts on CES:
- 3DTV. It's cool, its interesting, but I'll wait for a couple more generations before buying (investing). Obviously, 3DTV is the next big thing in Televsion. The companies have built everything they can on standard TVs now they need a new reason forus to buy more units. Since most (largest part of the market) bought their flat panels in the past 2-3 years, it will be a while before they are ready to replace them. They need another hook (3DTV) to get us to buy more. I saw active, passive, and glassesless 3DTV at the show. Candidly it was way cool, but in many cases it tended to pop in and out (like the old 3D Art stuff). My wife tried it as well, and said it best. "It looks interesting, but my eyes have to work so much it turns TV watching into a job".......which is what she doesn't want to do.
- Integration of TV and the web. This, of course, is the other big push. Video streaming from various systems is way cool. I think that this part of the market will grow big-time over the coming months/years. However, there is also the push to browse the web through your TV, while still watching the program (eg. watch tv program and surf the web on the TV at the same time). While this initially seems cool and may work for single viewers or home offices, It isn't much value for families. Many times my wife and I compute on our notebooks in the family room while watching TV. Rarely would I see us wanting to look at the same Internet site while watching TV. For us, neat gimick, little real value at this point.
- Dish/Sling: I was really impressed with the Dish/Sling 300 that was the one new product displayed this year. It will be interesting to see how it actually works in the wild. It should be noted that Dish and Sling are truly joined at the hip. That was evident in everything in and around their adjacent booths. Dish is betting a lot on Sling.
-Tablet Computing is the non-video product de-jour. Everyone is gunning to take out the IPad.... I think that some are about ready to do so.
-Accessories: I was surprised at tremendous number of compnies pushing their cases, portfolios, screen protectors and other accessories, primarily for the IPhone. They must all get a big grin on their faces when a new model comes out with a slightly different form-factor. The trick is to not be the guy with a warehouse of stock at change-over time.
- CES Itself: WOW, just WOW. I spent two days there. To give you an idea of the size, I took a pedometer walked 9 miles on Thursday and 11 on Friday. (Thursday was shorter because we spent most of the morning hangin' around the Dish/Sling area.) I only covered the 3 main buldings, and there were parts of those that I didn't see. There were several other venues that I didn't try to get to.
- SatGuys Team: You've got a great team with Scott and the SatGuys staff on-site, with others at home sorting through the press releases and other dribble. Figuring out what is the latest thing happening in the Central building, while being in the South building is about impossible. However, Scott knows all the products and all of the key players in the market. The other staff members work hard to figure out how to capture the information and get it out to you. It's a great team!! I was thrilled to hang with them for a day or so. Scott was an excellent host! I'll be honored to be your Chauffeur, Roadie, and Hand Model (next time I'll get a manicure).
Headin' back to Texas. Safe Travels All!
