Conclusion: Don't buy it - yet

We absolutely agree that CES is the place to be to inquire about new products and trends in the consumer electronics industry. But quite frankly, if you didn't make it to Vegas this year, you didn't miss much at all. Here's why.

CES 2006 was very much a Disneyland for geeks. A considerable portion of our time we spent waiting in line, the size of the convention and distances between exhibit floors have grown into a city of its own, service provided by the organizers was not quite up to what one would expect, there were lots of nice products but not the killer app we were looking for. And despite all these shortcomings, somehow it appeared to be still the happiest place on earth.

As you may expect and conclude from our coverage HD was the topic pretty much every vendor focused on in one way or the other. There is no doubt those pictures looked bright. Especially the Philips Ambient light systems convinced us immediately that one of those TVs needs to be placed strategically right on our next Christmas wish list. But HD is very much part of a dreamland right now and far from reality.

Philips Ambient Light LCD TV</h6

There are stunning prices on the one side. $20,000 isn't the limit, if you are a movie enthusiast and you are looking for a true upgrade from an existing rear projection TV or a LCD. There are many consumer electronics products that advertise HD support, but consumers will have to understand that there is no single HD standard and one HDTV may not offer the same quality as another. Mainstream consumers should not be too exited about HDTV just yet and wait another year or two until those 1080p TVs - the TVs you really want to buy - become available in a more realistic price range.

The same goes for Blu-ray and HD DVD. We are talking about first generation devices that appeal to early adopters only. Players will be expensive, available content will be limited - especially the interactive content vendors are promising. Internet connections will not be available in the first generation devices at all.

Well, and then there is the topic about DRM. We have written much about our concerns to lock down content. Just as much the original Napster offered too much of free access to digital content, content owners are now restricting access and justify their ideas by whining about piracy. We do not know much about the DRM ideas right now, but the fact that neither hardware manufacturers nor content owners want to talk about their DRM implementations, somehow sounds fishy in our ears. Hoping that customers do not care about access restrictions and will simply accept whatever the industry comes up with is a very risky strategy.

There was no indication at CES how far the usage restrictions in those new services for Blu-ray and HD DVD discs or online services for Intel's Viiv computers will reach. As long as the industry refuses to reveal more details, consumers should buy these new products and services only if they are absolutely sure what they are buying. If in doubt, our advice is to stay away from the new generation of audio and video entertainment, even if they come with shiny new labels and the promise of an out-of-this-world-entertainment experience.