by , 5:00 PM EST, January 5th, 2007
Predictions for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) were made by HDTV Magazine on Friday. The predictions, not actual announcements, reflected a wide range of initiatives that all relate to Apple's initial foray into living room electronics. This is a high energy business and has oodles of competition. In most cases, Apple must follow instead of lead.
Here they are.
1. The HD DVD camp will announce the addition of a supporting studio. This will put HD DVD on a better footing against Blu-ray - which Apple supports.
2. An HD DVD/Blu-ray combo player. Just when it appeared that Blu-ray might pull ahead thanks to the PS3, a player that plays all the formats, while very expensive, will make a decision on a next generation optical drive for a Mac Pro a lot tougher.3. HDMI 1.3 Support. Perhaps Apple has been waiting for that standard themselves before they introduce new displays and ship the iTV. Apple must follow here instead of lead.
4. 1080p TVs. The Holy Grail of HDTV, HDTVs with 1080p input and 1080p displays will be everywhere. This will come to bear in the war of Internet-TV vs. the broadcast carriers as customers will come to expect high quality delivered content, as good as their HD players.
5. Wireless HDTV. The author of the predictions believes more and more people will want this. Apple believes it. Hewlett-Packard believes it. The race is on.
6. A New HDTV package from DirecTV. Oh, wait. Maybe DirecTV isn't out of the game after all. iTunes ... DirecTV ... iTunes ... DirecTV. I can't decide.
Next week, with CES and Macworld concurrent, is going to be very, very exciting.