CES has cool stuff, but few celebrities

Friday, Jan. 9, 1998 | 10:10 a.m.

While high-definition television languishes in a twilight zone brought on by manufacturers waiting for standards and standard-setters waiting for manufacturers to build the TVs, Panasonic is going through with plans to introduce a portable digital video disc player.

DVD players have been on the market since last spring, but retailers have said the quality benefits of the units won't be fully realized until a player is hooked up to an HDTV.

Movies presented in the DVD format have unmistakable clarity and concert-hall sound, thanks to digital technology. Coupling that with a television set built to receive digital signals will produce the most lifelike pictures possible -- and entire movies can be stored in multiple languages on a standard-size compact disc.

So can DVD movies be played on a portable unit and become as popular as music on a portable compact disc player? Panasonic, which is among the companies with the largest presence at the 1998 Winter Consumer Electronics Show currently in Las Vegas, thinks so.

The Secaucus, N.J.-based company is showing the DVD-L10 portable player at this year's show. The unit, expected to be delivered to retailers by spring, will go for about $1,300 when they're introduced.

The world's smallest DVD player has a built-in 5.8-inch screen with the standard horizontal format and Panasonic is promising it will deliver an entire feature-length film viewing on a single battery charge.

Imagine how long kids in the back seat during a long car ride can stay occupied ...

PCs unplugged

A New York-based peripherals company is extending the reach of the home computer with a wireless hub system called UnWired that turns television sets into additional monitors.

The system will be available next summer for $350 from Laral Group and is being shown for the first time at CES.

Here's how it works: A three-piece system installed in the PC essentially broadcasts the screen image at 2.4 gigahertz to any receiving television. The system has a range of about 150 feet and a transmitter receiver hooks to three peripherals, a keyboard, a joystick and a mouse.

That allows PC users to compute from anywhere a TV is set up -- a family room, a bedroom or a den. The system also could allow parents to monitor where their kids are Web surfing from house TVs.

Pleasant good morning

Tired of waking up to rock music, bad talk radio or, worse, a blaring buzzer?

Timex unveiled at CES a new line of alarm clocks that greets each new day with an alternative to AM-FM roulette.

The Timex T234 W/B alarm clock has a nature sounds setting that offers a choice between ocean surf, a babbling brook and birds of paradise to wake up to.

The new clock is due to be on shelves by spring and will retail for about $25.

Energy savers

Energy Star, a joint awareness program from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy, is adding products to its list of consumer electronics that already have received its seal of approval.

Energy Star labeled televisions and VCRs from 11 companies with its designation indicating they use up to 70 percent less energy when switched off.

Products from JVC, Goldstar, Matsushita, Philips, Samsung, Sanyo, Sharp, Sony, Thomson, Toshiba and Zenith were cited by Energy Star, which has initiated an awareness program stating that air pollution would be cut if more electronic products had sleep modes, additional insulation and other energy-saving features.

Energy Star set up a booth at the Sands to pass out lists of new products that made the grade.

Celebrity lightweights

Companies exhibiting at CES often use celebrity guests to hype their products, but the 1998 show is a big bust.

The announced celebrity appearances: former Miami Dolphin strong safety Richard Anderson; "Eight is Enough" actor Grant Goodeve; Jeff Cook, guitarist-vocalist for Alabama; and porn stars Jenna Jameson and Serenity.

Nick goes click

Nickelodeon, the Farmingdale, N.Y.-based kid-friendly television network, has unveiled a camera for children that puts four images on a single 35mm frame.

Debuting at CES Thursday was Nickelodeon's PhotoBlaster Quad Shot camera, which will retail for $40 in most outlets.

The camera breaks one negative into four rectangular parts producing four pocket-size photos per frame. That means a 24-exposure roll of film can produce 96 pictures.

The PhotoBlaster is 50 percent thicker than most cameras, making it more durable and its plastic shell is in typical Nickelodeon colors -- including a slime-green handle.

Pint-sized delegates

The smallest visitors to this year's CES were fifth and sixth graders from Julie Gautreau's gifted and talented class from Landell Elementary School in Cypress, Calif.

Nathan Brown, Cory Campbell, Courtney La Haie and Ashley Adams spent Thursday wandering the floor in search of products of interest to youngsters as part of the Kids Witness News program, sponsored by Panasonic.

Equipped with videotape and cameras from the sponsor, the junior journalists were nosing around for news for a documentary that probably will wind up on some Southern California local-access cable channel.

These kids were on the same track as most reporters covering the show: "I enjoy it because I'm the first one that gets to see all this neat stuff," Ashley said with microphone in hand.