Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/987065
62 S P R I N G 2 0 1 8 C A S Q U A R T E R L Y by David Bondelevitch CAS MPSE CES The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is the first of the year, held in early January in Las Vegas. It is not a film or video show, but it does deal with home electronics, which are becoming increasingly relevant to us, as so much content is being delivered by streaming methods, and sales trends in home usage drive deliverables for us. Certain trends are not applicable to us (such as home automation), but other areas of home audio and video can be a bellwether of what is coming. However, sometimes companies miss the mark on what consumers want. For several years, the big push of the show was to get people to upgrade their TVs to 3D. Consumers made it clear that they did not want to upgrade their sets, as many people had just bought their first HDTV. 3D was officially placed on life support when ESPN discontinued broadcast of their 3D network, ESPN3. For the last couple of years, the push seems to be on UHD (4K monitors). Last year, companies were still dipping their toes in the water, but this year, everyone was showing 4K. In fact, several companies were showing prototypes of 8K monitors, with LG's 88-inch model looking the sharpest. There is no timeline for release of 8K though, and I suspect that if 4K is successful in market penetration, then we will not see 8K anytime soon. (Many would argue that on normal-size screens, the difference between 4K and 8K is not visible from a normal viewing distance.) However, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics are expected to have an 8K broadcast, and the Samsung Q9S 85-inch 8K TV is expected to be released later this year. WRAP-UP TRADE SHOW always find it beneficial to attend trade shows and conventions, as it allows me to see what is going on in our field. Here are a couple I went to over the past couple of months. I The Consumer Electronics Show CES Eric Toline (left) at NAB CILECT North America Conference CES