CES - Must-see products

Sony takes the Noah's Ark approach in its prosumer 3D camcorder, the Handycam HDR-TD10. There's two of everything: two lenses (naturally), two Exmor R sensors, and two image processors.

Though it lacks the ability to remove the dual lens (like Panasonic's approach), you can still opt to shoot in 2D, using only the left lens, and the unit can play back 3D content in 2D by using only the left-side video.

It can do this because Sony uses a proprietary approach called "frame packing." Rather than save a single file with side-by-side left/right frames--which … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Now here's a new idea...how about a tablet that runs on Windows instead of Android? Samsung's newly announced Sliding PC 7 is a funky hybrid touch-screen device with its own slide-out keyboard. It's a revamp on the idea of a Netbook, and an attempt to finally make a Windows tablet work a little bit better.

The 10.1-inch mini-laptop has a striking design, and has a multitouch screen so it can operate in both tablet and Netbook-esque format.

Specs are Netbook-esque: an Intel Atom Z670 CPU, 2GB DDR2 RAM, 32 or 64GB SSD drive, and … Read more

LAS VEGAS--We're used to seeing AV receivers with integrated Blu-ray players in home-theater-in-a-box systems, but they're pretty rare as standalone products.

Samsung's newly announced HW-D7000 combines a full, component-style AV receiver with a Blu-ray player, packed with features on both counts. The receiver has standard midrange specs, such as 120 watts per channel, four HDMI inputs (each with audio return channel and 3D compatibility), and DTS-HD Master Audio/Dolby TrueHD/Dolby Pro Logic IIz sound processing.

The HW-D7000's Blu-ray features are similar to those of other high-end Blu-ray players Samsung is showing at CES 2011, although … Read more

LAS VEGAS--All-in-one home theater systems are often called home-theater-in-a-box (HTIB) systems, but we've never seen one where the home theater is a box.

Samsung's newly announced HT-D7100 Blu-ray home theater design features a unique cubelike design, shunning separate speakers and components for a single large enclosure. The early press photos aren't clear enough to tell exactly how the HT-D7100 works, but we'll take a hands-on look tomorrow on the show floor and update this story.

The HT-D7100 is a 2.1 system, which means it contains a built-in subwoofer, and it features 110 watts of total … Read more

As flat-panel TVs get flatter and lighter, TV makers look to differentiate themselves among the wall of panels at your local Best Buy in ever more ingenious ways. One of the most impressive we've seen is the ultraslim bezel available on the Samsung UND7000 series, which frames the picture with an edge just 0.2 inch wide.

That razor-thin frame significantly out-slims the 2010 champ, LG's 7/8-inch-bezel LE8500/LX9500, and allows Samsung to make statements like "consumers can enjoy the 55-inch screen in the same space of most 52-inch TVs." It's so thin the … Read more

Editors' Note Jan 8, 2011: The Samsung UND8000 series was one of three nominees for CNET's Best of CES award in the TVs category.

Last year Samsung was the first TV maker to try local dimming of its LED backlight from an edge-lit configuration. The UNC8000 performed well enough in our review, but not up to the standards we've come to expect from the company's best LCD TVs.

Its successor, the UND8000 series, aims to improve upon that performance with a backlight scheme more like that of the full-array local-dimming UNB8500 models from late 2008. The D8000 … Read more

LAS VEGAS--We've seen Blu-ray players get smaller every year, but Samsung just leapfrogged everyone.

The newly announced BD-D7000 Blu-ray player features an ultrasmall design, looking more like an external DVD drive than a home theater disc player. It has a slot-loading disc drive with touch-sensitive buttons along the front.

The rest of its features are similar to other Blu-ray players the company is releasing in 2011. It's 3D compatible and also has built-in 2D-to-3D conversion processing. Of course, most 3D TVs we've reviewed last year can also convert 2D content to 3D, but it will provide buyers … Read more

LAS VEGAS--There's only so much you can do with the design of a point-and-shoot camera, so Casio deserves credit for literally breaking out of the box with the Tryx.

At first glance, it looks like an ultracompact camera/minicamcorder with a bit of flair. Then you flip out the high-resolution 3-inch touch-screen LCD and, well, it's no longer your typical pocket camera. The display can pivot through its frame a full 360 degrees while the screen itself can rotate 270 degrees. And with its built-in orientation sensor you can hold the Tryx in your left or right hand … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Samsung laptops have caught our eye for more than a year now, with an increasingly impressive design aesthetic and fairly good prices to boot. Today, its announcement of a thin, 13-inch laptop aimed squarely at the MacBook Air-loving crowd seems to indicate a direction in higher-end products, too, and we certainly can't complain.

The 9 Series comes with a second-generation Intel Core i5-2537M CPU, 4GB of DD43 RAM, and a 128GB solid-state drive, along with Windows 7 Professional. The design looks great so far: its metal finish has beautiful curved edges, and Samsung boasts it's the thinnest … Read more