CES 2014 Review and Update: 4K TVs and Curved Displays Are Hot Ticket Items
As CES 2014 in Las Vegas winds down it's an appropriate time to reflect on the most noteworthy product unveilings of the week.
The show began on Jan. 7 and ends today... In that time the consumer video market was inundated with 4K TVs, 4K cameras, and 4K media players. Like always, the TV sets got slimmer and larger all at once. The once common black and silver bezels that lined the edges of LCD and Plasma displays are being reduced to practically nothing. Images now seem to float in space now that they are no longer distractingly framed. OLED, short for Organic Light Emitting Diode, displays have lust favor among the major TV makers. Sure they were some curved OLED displays on the show floor, but the common thread that ran throughout CES 2014 was improving popular existing products like LCD panels.
Wearables were the "IT" category at CES this year. While wearables are not exclusively smart watches, the most popular seem to be. The Pebble Smart Watch and Galaxy Gear have been the most prominent, and, to a point, successful entrants in this category to date. Now wearables are making their way into commonly worn products like shoes and hats. Dogs and cats can even get in on this tech craze by donning a PawsCam (i.e. a GoPro for pets). Fitness trackers like the Sony Core and Razer Nabu band also promise to look stylish and help you get fit. Sound familiar? Well, the Nike Fuel Band got the jump on both these guys. Its has already been on the market for almost two years and does the same things. Will the Core and Nabu be innovative enough in their own right to warrant consumer attention?
Indie filmmakers were likely thrilled by Panasonic's newest "GH" branded camera, the GH 4K. The GH 4K has a laundry list of pro features including professional audio capture via an attachable XLR module and SDI connectivity for color accurate, on set monitoring. Obviously, the most trumpeted part of this camera is its 4K image capture. Recording content at 4x HD resolution in a camera body the size of a DSLR is remarkable. The 4K content is limited to a max frame rate of 30fps. File sizes will be large, but not unmanageable. Unlike other popular 4K cameras, like the Red Scarlet and Canon C500, that record RAW image data the GH 4K makes due with 10-bit compression.
Due to the small Micro 4/3rds sensor size, roughly equivalent to a Super 16mm film strip, low light shooting will continue to be a hindrance without special adaptors. Depth of field also won't be as dramatic as that of a Full Frame 35mm camera like the Nikon D800. Despite its limitations the GH 4K is a pro tool in a easy to grip consumer form factor. The rumored street price is $2,000.
What were your favorite products and moments at CES 2014? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
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