The Best Buzz awards are given by Insight Media at CES, and other trade shows each year.  You can't petition to win - you win by showing a product or technology that gets people talking - something that creates buzz because of its uniqueness, innovation, styling, boldness or is just plain cool.

Following CES, we asked our crew to comment on what they saw and heard at CES, and what they thought deserved Best Buzz awards.  Contributors to this year's award include Ken Werner, Steve Sechrist, Pete Putman, Chris Chinnock, Matt Brennesholtz, Dave Wares, Art Berman, Aldo Cugnini, Robert Brown, Mike Kalmanash and Paul Beatty.

Here are our Best Buzz Awards for the 2008 CES show.

 

Best Mobile Phone

Motorola E-8

The Motorola E-8 mobile phone gets the nod for making the most "buzz" in this category.  The unit has a slick new display that reconfigures the icons based on the mode of use of the phone, a process Motorola calls "ModeShift".  The display screen will switch from phone, to music, to camera mode as the use of the phone changes, all within the embedded touch display.

The first image here shows the multimedia controls on the display in the music mode.  Notice, no confusing keypad or other icons to clutter up the display.  The second image shows the same display with the number pad and phone menu controls in telephone mode.  Pretty slick.

 

Best New Product

  Ostendo and Alienware Curved Display

Gaming specialist Alienware, working with technology partner, Ostendo, used CES to introduce a new type of display - a 42-inch continuous curved screen display with a resolution of 2,880 x 900 pixels.  They do this by carefully tiling and blending four LED-based DLP projection engines.  The result is an immersive display experience that can be achieved on a desktop.  We've seen multi-panel displays demonstrated already, but creating a continuous image has tremendous advantages, and at CES this was a true crowd pleaser.  At the show the display was connected to a race car driving platform creating huge interest and lots of buzz.  This is cutting-edge technology innovation that hits the mark with the gaming segment, and the reason we choose these two companies for a Best New Product award. 

 

Best Image of the Show

 Samsung 14-inch FHD OLED-TV

Samsung takes the Best Buzz for Best Image at CES with its Full HD (1920 x 1080) display from a 14-inch AM OLED and persistent crowds in the massive Samsung booth agreed.  The whopping 1920 x 1080 pixels in a super slim 14-inch OLED display rendered images in a photograph like quality as yet unmatched by any other. 

Pixels were virtually nonexistent on the super thin (2cm) screen and the emissive pedigree of this OLED image gives the soft subtle hues and crisp bright tones that rival a mirror image of reality.  The image quality question, "are we there yet?", gets a resounding YES - now all Samsung has to do is find a way to replicate it in mass quantities - and oh yes...at an affordable price.

 

Best PDP Display

 Panasonic 150" PDP TV

It's almost too easy but we can't avoid it.  The PDP Best Buzz goes to Panasonic's good-looking, crowd-pleasing 150-inch Plasma Display.  Introduced at CES, the 150-inch is now the largest unitary (no tiling) flat-screen display in the world, taking the title from Sharp's 108-inch LCD-TV.

The Panasonic's image quality, as well as size, was impressive.  Full HD on a screen this size wouldn't have been quite good enough, so Panasonic built a panel with 4000x2000 pixels - that's 8 million pixels instead of the approximately 2 million pixels in a Full HD display.

The 150-inch panel is made on a full sheet of glass from Panasonic's current fab, the same-sized glass that Panasonic normally uses to make eight 50-inch PDPs.  Volume production is scheduled for 2009 from the new Amagasaki manufacturing line.

 

Best PDP Technology Demo

 Panasonic High Efficiency PDP

Panasonic wins for its demonstration of a 42-inch prototype PDP with double the efficiency of current products.  Panasonic developed new phosphors and cell design technology for improved discharge, along with a new circuit and drive technology to significantly reduce power consumption.  As a result, the 42-inch prototype has twice the luminance efficiency and provides the same brightness as the existing 42-inch 1080p full HD PDP, while cutting the power consumption by half.  That's impressive, and got the show buzzing.

The double-efficiency technology forms the basis for next-generation PDPs, enabling even thinner profiles, larger screens, brighter images, higher definition and lower power consumption.

 Pioneer's Super Black and Super Thin PDP Demos

Pioneer has shown there is plenty of life in the old dog with an amazing demo of low black levels on a next-gen KURO plasma monitor.  During the demo in a darkened room, you could see the faint glow of two Plasma monitors - and when the video came on, you realized there were three monitors in the room.   The blacks on this new KURO were so good that objects on the screen appeared to be floating in mid-air, while the colors had plenty of pop.  If SED technology wasn't officially buried yet, this demo did the trick.

Outside the booth, Pioneer also showed a 9mm thick 50-inch 1080p plasma monitor.  That's about 1/3 of an inch!  It was so thin we had trouble getting a clean photo of it.  Image quality was as good as any current-model KURO display, and the carpet around this demo was soaked from all the drooling over this Best Buzz winning display.

 

Best Wireless HD Technology

 SiBEAM's OmniLink 60 Technology

To anyone attending CES this year, there was no doubt that wireless delivery of HD content was a major theme and the technology was featured in almost all the tier-one CE brand press conferences the day before the show opened.  Under the theme of digital living (what we like to call "D-2") many of the top-brand TV products were shown with full-HD streaming to the latest, thinnest, and largest flat panel displays on the show floor.

SiBEAM, a member of the WirelessHD consortium, used its millimeter wave (mmWave) solution in most of the above-mentioned tier-one product demos.  The company develops high-speed wireless communications platforms, and just prior to the show, announced availability of its transmitter and receiver chipsets they call OmniLink60 technology.  Thanks to SiBEAM for allowing TV brands to cut the cord, picking up a Best Buzz in the process. 

 

Best Personal Eyewear

 Myvu's Big Push on Personal Eyewear

Personal eyewear, sometimes called head-mounted displays, are used to deliver a semi-immersive video experience when connected to iPods, mobile phones, portable DVD or multi-media players.  The category has had a steady niche following for years, but the visibility of the category rose to new heights at CES this year - thanks in large part to Myvu.  Personal eyewear from Myvu and many others, now offer better viewing quality, improved ergonomics and consumer-friendly price points.  Myvu stood out in the crowd not so much because their products were head and shoulders above the competition, but because of their marketing expertise. 

 At the show, you couldn't help seeing and / or being offered a chance to try the headset on, and there were crowds of takers.  The company and its advertising were everywhere.  This raised awareness for the entire personal eyewear category, creating extremely good buzz about the company in the process.  Kudos to Myvu for demonstrating category leadership with the confidence (and courage) to do what it takes in raising consumer awareness. 

 

Best 3D Displays

CES created a new awareness of the possibilities for 3D TVs.  Long thought to be many years off, the possibility of creating a real 3D TV market soon, has now dawned on many players.  Of significance at CES was the demonstration of 3D TVs using projection, PDP and LCD technology.  Our congratulations go out to all three of these pioneering trendsetters.

3D Enabled Laser TV - Mitsubishi

We choose Mitsubishi for their demonstration of a Laser TV that can operate in 3D mode.  It is based upon DLP technology and active shutter glasses and was demonstrated for the media at a special event for the unveiling of the Laser TV.  Image quality was superb - perhaps the best we have seen, period. 

Mitsubishi has not only created a very compelling 3D TV, but it is also trying to create a new TV category - Laser TV.  We think this summer the company will come to market with a 65-inch model that will have an impressive color gamut and great contrast.  For the 3D mode, it uses the same "SmoothPicture" technology on Mitsubishi's other DLP-TVs, which can be easily adapted to display stereoscopic images - once the content is properly formatted over an HDMI input. 

 3D PDP-TV - Samsung

In an effort to differentiate their PDP-TV products from those offered by other companies, Samsung has turned to stereoscopic 3D.  Most of Samsungs' DLP-RPTVs are already 3D enabled, but now, it has extending 3D to PDPs.  This is the first time a major CE company has said it would commercialize a glasses-based stereoscopic PDP-TV. 

To produce the 3D effect, Samsung borrows the same checkerboard pattern it uses on DLP-TVs and runs the PDP at 120 frames/sec.  For the left eye image, a checkerboard-sampled version of the image is displayed on the PDP.  This is synchronized with the shutter glasses to allow this image to be seen by the user.  The same is done for the right eye image in the second half of the frame.  Samsung undoubtedly modified the phosphors somewhat to speed up their response, especially in the green so as to lower crosstalk or ghosting between the two images.  This crosstalk is still not as good as its RPTV sets, but acceptable.  Users can buy a $150 3D kit when the sets go on sale in March. 

 3D LCD-TV - SpectronIQ 3D

There was also big news and lots of buzz around the SpectronIQ 3D demonstration of its 3D LCD-TV product - a 46-inch model that will ship this summer.  This is the first time we expect to see a 3D LCD-TV sold in the US through major Big Box stores, which is why this is a big deal.  In addition, it is the first set to include a decoding chip that will allow the display of 3D content from an ordinary DVD, HD DVD or Blu-ray player.  The only rub is that studios will need to press special disks with this encoded 3D version, but it is a big step in creating an easy-to-use consumer 3D TV.

Spectron IQ will use a 3D technology called micro-pol.  It is a line interlaced technique whereby alternate lines contain the left and right eye images that can be seen in each eye using passive polarized glasses (cheaper than active glasses).  Sensio Technologies Inc., of Montreal, Canada, will provide the 3D codec.

 

Best LCD Technology Demo

 Luminus, GLT and Jabil for Edge-Lit LCD-TV

The majority of developers making LED backlights for TV pursue a direct approach, meaning they create an array of LEDs over the area of the LCD panel and diffuse the light to create even illumination.  The alternative approach is to extend the edge-lit concept used in notebooks to TV-sized displays.  This approach requires fewer, but much higher brightness LEDs and it requires very even illumination over the lightguide.  At CES, three companies came together to demonstrate a 46" LCD-TV with an edge-lit backlight that was indeed impressive.

Luminus Devices, the supplier of the high brightness LEDs, teamed up with Global Lighting Technology (GLT), a developer of backlight units and Jabil, the fourth largest LCD-TV module maker, to demonstrate the technology.  The backlight consists of backlight modules called "blades" that are assembled side by side to create the backlight (perhaps 8 in the 46" demo).   But to help with thermal management, the LEDs were placed on opposite sides for alternative blades.  This creates a difficult problem in color mixing in a short distance (it uses RGB LEDs) and for uniformity along the blade and from blade to blade.  The reason the team deserves a Best Buzz award is that they achieved these difficult design goals.  Don't be surprised to see growing interest in this approach.

 

Best OLED Display

 31-inch OLED TV from Samsung

At the massive Samsung CES booth, the company validated the OLED-TV category with a (now you're talking) 31-inch AM OLED display.  The crowds came in droves to see the future of emissive TV with a bright, colorful image that rivals any flat screen TV currently being shipped. 

Samsung did a wonderful job of showcasing both the 31-inch and it's smaller 14-inch cousin for the CES crowds.  It was one of the "must-see" exhibits at CES and the reason why we give it the OLED Best Buzz of the show award.

 

Best LCD Display

Hitachi Super Thin LCD

Hitachi marshaled the skills of several Hitachi companies to produce what will probably be the first commercially available LCD-TV in North America with a cabinet that is 1.5 inches thick or less, and the company was spending a lot of energy to promote it.  The acrylic front panel came from the automotive division and the fanless convective cooling system was designed by the mainframe computer group.  The thin power supply is a custom Hitachi creation.

But these technologies were put to much more startling use in a technology demonstration Hitachi had tucked a way in a sheltered area to one side of the exhibit area:  a 32-inch LCD-TV only 0.75 inch thick - a stunning achievement not yet matched by any other manufacturer, and one that was highly appreciated by the relatively few people who found their way to this corner of Hitachi's booth.

 LGL Tri-View LCD

LG Philips LCD showed a 42-inch "tri-view" LCD monitor. Using a specially designed front lens assembly, one could see three different static images as the monitor slowly rotated through 180 degrees.  This demo should appeal to markets where space is very tight, but multiple rotations of images for end-of-aisle displays (EADS) are needed.

 

Best Pico/Pocket Projector Demo

 Microvision for its Laser-based Pico Projector

At CES there were a lot of pico-projectors, but almost all featured LED illumination.  Microvision has stuck with laser illumination for their two-axis scanning mirror approach, but image quality has always been under whelming.  At CES, this changed.  In the demo we saw, the electronics have been markedly reduced and the entire pico projector packaged into a hand held form.  In addition, image quality has improved with a noticeable reduction in speckle.  And, with a new light-rejecting and speckle-reducing screen, we finally see a path to nearly speckle free laser imaging from a pico projector.  This is a big milestone in our opinion and the reason the company deserves a Best Buzz award.

 3M for its LED-based Pico Projector

3M deserves a Best Buzz award for its pico projector too.  Why?  Because like Microvision, it was showing a working untethered, stand-alone pico projection product that finally looks like the kind of companion projector we have been expecting.  The 3M solution includes RGB LEDs illuminating a single LCOS panel with color filters.   It offers VGA resolution with image quality that is average and 5-10 lumens of light output. 

Is this performance good enough to excite consumers?  This is the big unknown, but if offered at price point of $250 to $300, it will be easier for consumers to buy and try.  This is the only way we will really know if this category has legs.  3M says it has a customer ready to go into production early this year.

 

Best Innovations

 Texas Instruments' DualView Mode

Texas Instruments' demonstration of the DualView mode on 3D enabled RPTV sets was truly innovative and captivating.  The idea is to create two independent views on the same TV. 

The idea leverages the active shutter glasses used in normal 3D mode, but instead of flashing the left and right sides of the glasses to see stereoscopic images, both sides of the glasses open and shut at the same time.  The TV updates at 120 frames per second, in alternate frames running at 60Hz are synchronized to one set of glasses - and one image on the TV, while alternate frames can be viewed with the other set of glasses.  And these images can be different.  This means gamers can get two different views while playing the same game.  This is pretty cool and another novel and innovative use of the 3D display technology.  The quality of the active shutter glasses needs to improve before commercialization can begin,  nonetheless we choose Texas Instruments for their DualView display concept.

 WildCharge for Wireless Recharging

Place any small electronic device enabled with the WildCharge technology on the pad and it will instantly begin to recharge, as quickly as wall plug charging.  Enabling a device with WildCharge technology is simple - a WildCharge adapter attaches to (or replaces) the device's back cover.  This adapter has tiny external contact points that make electrical contact with the pad, regardless of the orientation. The geometries of the charging surface and the contact points guarantee that regardless of where the device is placed on the pad's surface, a closed electrical circuit is formed between the surface and the device. Such direct contact allows for a very efficient and safe power transfer without generating harmful radiation or magnetic fields.

 Polaroid Digital Instant Mobile Photo Printer

Polaroid has combined its instant print, digital photography and a zero ink printing process to create a pocket size printer, the size of a deck of cards. With forecasters predicting that consumers will capture over 200 billion images on their cell phones by 2010 this printer is a convenient, portable way to instantly convert the digital images into photographs. 

It weighs only a few ounces, it produces borderless, full-color, 2"x3" prints in a matter of seconds without a drop of ink. The printer connects to digital cameras through a PictBridge USB cable and to camera phones wirelessly through Bluetooth. The Polaroid Digital Instant Mobile Photo Printer is due out in stores in 2008 and was developed with technology partner Zink Imaging.  There's even a concept cell phone with integrated printer product.

 Vudu's HDTV Set Top Box

VUDU used CES to launch a $399 set-top box that can download HD movies and TV shows over the Internet on a purchase or rental basis.  There is no annual subscription fee, and it will play back in the 1080p/24 format. Expansion storage is also available.  If you can get FHD movies from sources on the Internet, why do you need a Blu-ray or HD DVD player where you pay a lot more to buy the movie?  Food for thought.

Toshiba's EMO Floating Panel (UMPC Mobile Interface)

Toshiba gets the Best Buzz nod for a unique, and crowd-pleasing user interface the company created for its UMPC product line based on Intel's new Menlow processor.  Toshiba's new user interface called, "Emo Emotion Feel" floating panel features a direct interface, with a tilt and browse functionality.   It addresses the awkward interface of a full-blown Vista O/S on a device the size of a BlackBerry screen.  

The U-I includes a built-in accelerometer that lets you flip the screen on its side.  Perhaps the most interesting touch is that it allows you to tilt the screen forward and back to scroll up and down Web pages.  Unlike other UMPCs with BlackBerry-style thumb keyboards, Toshiba uses an iPhone-like onscreen keyboard, accessed by flicking your finger up from the bottom of the screen.  A flick from the left or right sides brings out a quick-launch dock of useful apps in a size a human (OK, a man's) finger can actuate.  The technology is application-aware, so different icons appear depending on whether you are on the desktop or in MS Word, Excel or Outlook.  Way cool and crowds at the Toshiba booth stood in line to give it a try.