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ipodnn: One of the final components of Sony’s CES 2009 launches includes sweeping changes to its digital audio offerings, starting with its headphones.

The MDR-XB series is the company’s first to stress bass and contain drivers skewed towards dance and urban music.

Three earcup models, the XB300, XB500 and XB700, have drivers between 30mm and 50mm in size and are cushioned for long listening sessions.

The XB20EX and XB40EX are in-ear models and contain drivers between 9mm and 13.5mm.

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TWICE: JVC used its CES showroom to formally kick off its entry into the Blu-ray Disc market this year by offering its first stand-alone BD-Live-ready model and an LCD TV/Blu-ray Disc combo player.

The company is also showing a revamped 2009 television line, which will be highlighted by a 360-degree-designed, 42-inch, second-generation, super-slim LCD monitor, and an expansion into combo LCD/video players and smaller screen size LCD TVs for greater placement options.

The new stand-alone Blu-ray Disc player, model XV-BP1, is BD-Live compatible, but will require additional memory (1GB minimum) to perform most BD-Live functions. The flash memory can be added using a USB thumb drive connected to the player’s USB port. An Ethernet port is added to connect with an in-home broadband network.

JVC also unveiled the LT-42B300 combination LCD TV/Blu-ray player, offering a 42-inch screen size with Full 1080p resolution and a built-in Blu-ray Disc player with BD-Live support.

In total, JVC’s 2009 TV line announced to date includes 18 models across five series. Screen sizes include: 19, 32, 42, 46 and 52 inches. Among the highlights is a 42-inch super-thin LCD monitor with 1080p resolution, 120Hz Clear Motion III technology and enhanced black-level performance using JVC’s specially developed CCFL backlighting system.

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Electronista: Samsung has launched a multi-tier approach to CES that includes the third generation of its Blu-ray players. The BD-P4600 is the company’s first player to show the “touch of color” design trait and is designed primarily for thinness: at 1.5 inches thick, the player can not only better fit into some AV racks but can be wall-mounted or placed on an angled stand.

It also offers subtler touch-sensitive controls and the full Blu-ray Profile 2.0 feature set with Internet access through either Ethernet or a bundled 802.11n Wi-Fi adapter.

The BD-P3600 supports all these same features in a more conservative casing but with the addition of putting its 7.1-channel bitstream surround sound through either analog or uncompressed PCM signals.

Those seeking integrated home theaters also have two choices from the expo. The HT-BD8200 is billed as the first Blu-ray sound bar and hides a full movie player inside the main bar, which generates virtual 5.1-channel surround and gets bass through a wireless subwoofer. A conventional setup, the HT-BD7200, uses discrete half-height satellites and a subwoofer to output 400W and virtual 5.1 alongside its Blu-ray reader. It too handles 802.11n Wi-Fi and Profile 2.0 playback.

One DVD player is joining Samsung’s lineup. The DVD-H1080 consciously recalls the look of a pebble and is only just larger than the DVD disc itself.

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DVICE: Korean hardware manufacturer iRiver stormed this year’s CES conference with a slew of new products, but the standout among all their announcements was the WAVE-HOME device.

This exquisitely designed work of art functions as an all-in-one multimedia device offering Internet access, a VoIP phone, video conferencing, gaming, music, video, FM radio, a built-in camera, and a set of slick widgets to keep you abreast of the latest news and weather.

All this and it even features USB and SD card ports, and a beautiful 7-inch color LCD touchscreen interface.

Pricing and release date have yet to be announced.

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Tech Digest: Do you like jigging your leg when you watch the TV? Then Sony have the perfect TV for you.

Their new Eco Bravia line has a 40% reduction of power usage compared to standard models, through a number of environmentally happy features, the most bizarre of which is undoubtedly the Presence Sensor.

When the sensor fails to identify movement in the room, it will automatically switch itself off. How long does it wait? How sensitive is it? They’re not telling, but for maximum amusement, I’m hoping the answer is two minutes and not very, respectively.

The Eco range will come in the form of the 52-inch KDL-52VE5, the 46-inch KDL-46VE5, and the 40-inch KDL-40VE5.

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DVICE: After the full day of press conferences preceding the opening of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), there’s one big trend that keeps coming up from every electronics company hawking their wares to the press corps. They all are cranking out TVs that can easily link up to the web.

While we’ve seen a trickle of attempts, plans and half-hearted hookups to the internet in the past couple of years, this year at CES, that trickle has turned into a torrent. Web connectivity is at the top of the hype list for Samsung, LG, Sony, Panasonic, Sharp, and Toshiba. Why are they all so eager to make it easy for TV viewers to access online content from their living rooms?

That’s easy: because viewers want it. A Toshiba executive told that of all the consumers able to connect to RSS services using Toshiba’s Internet-connected TVs, an astonishing 25% of them connected and began receiving feeds. That’s a remarkable acceptance rate for technology that didn’t even exist a couple of years ago. Because of such heightened interest, we think in a matter of two to three years, it’ll be hard to find a TV that doesn’t have these web-enabled features.

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Electricpig: No sooner has Sharp slagged off Blu-ray recorders than it’s sticking the knife into another bit of next gen HDTV tech, saying that OLED TVs are simply “not ready for prime time”. Sharp won’t be bringing out an OLED TV anytime soon, so what’s it going to concentrate on instead?

Sharp CEO Doug Koshima was on hand at CES in Las Vegas at the company’s keynote, where he was quizzed on the future of flatscreen HDTV. Koshima said that while OLED (organic light emitting diode) technology is interesting, it’s “not ready for prime time”.

Instead, Koshima says Sharp plans to concentrate on LED backlighting for LCD TVs, opening a brand new factory in Japan by 2010 to churn them all out, and while we were slightly disappointed by the news, he did unveil several brand sparkling new TVs to make up for it, including the world’s first TV with Blu-ray built in.

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ITProPortal: Samsung Electronics on Wednesday presented an all new range of ultra-slim, energy-efficient high-definition televisions at the Consumer Electronics Show. 

Codenamed “Samsung Luxia”, the new range is said to be extremely energy-efficient, as it sports LED as the chief light source, instead of the conventional Cold Cathode Fluoroscent Lamps (CCFLs). 

The company unveiled three distinct models of Luxia range, namely 6000, 7000, and 8000 series, with all these models having Samsung’s exclusive ‘Touch of Colour’ image display, which offers high-contrast ratios, ultra clear image details, and a wide range of colours. 

The LNXXB8000 series of the range integrates advanced ‘Auto Motion Plus’ 240Hz frame processing feature that can deliver speedier 240 Hz refresh-rate. On the other hand, the LNXX7000 model sports Auto Motion Plus 120Hz frame interpolation capability, along with 120HZ refresh rate, which is twice the capability of the erstwhile LCD TVs.

The LNXXB6000 series includes a power indicator menu and consumes 40 percent less power than the other LCD TVs.

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NetworkWorld: Samsung Electronics plans to unveil a flat-panel TV that’s as thin as just 6.5-millimeters at this week’s International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The TV set, few details of which were immediately available, is between 6.5mm and 7mm across its width and has an LED (light emitting diode) backlight.

The Samsung TV stands at present to be the thinnest LCD TV yet demonstrated.

Until now that record was held by Philips, which unveiled an 8mm prototype LCD television at the IFA electronics show in Berlin last year. At the same event Sony took the wraps off a 9.9mm set that has already gone on sale and is the thinnest LCD TV available in retail stores.

CES begins on Thursday. Samsung has scheduled a news conference for Wednesday at which the TV set is expected to be first shown.

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CrunchGear: Samsung has shown off some incredible OLED advancements over the last few months but the best might soon be revealed at CES.

The company might bring a 50-inch display to next year’s Consumer Electronics Show.

Previously, the largest OLED screen shown to the general public was a 40-inch with a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio so this 50-inch would be a good step forward.

The display technology still has a ways to go before it hits a cost-friendly alternative to LCD or plasma.

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Electronics Weekly: The power sensitive Philips 42PFL5603D Eco TV has scooped the Best in Show award at CES 2008. Majoring on power-saving features, the eco-friendly Eco TV is a 42-inch, 1080p resolution, flat-panel LCD.

The “Best of CES” Award Winners were announced yesterday evening at the major electronics trade show in Las Vegas.

According to Philips, features such as dimming the backlight in darker scenes have a dual benefit – not only is power consumption reduced but the black-level performance is improved. Also, there is a room lighting sensor, which can also dim the backlight in darker rooms…

A People’s Voice award went to Motorola for its Rokr E8 mobile phone. It is Motorola’s response to the iPhone and its touch interface – the Rokr E8 highlighted touch-pad controls change depending on how the unit is used.

Ten companies were also recognized for having the best products in their respective categories. The full list can be found on CNet.

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PC Pro: The Consumer Electronics Show is now just over a night away. It’s the most important event of the year for hardware manufacturers, who tend to save the major product announcements for the show; previous releases at CES have included landmark products such as DVD, HDTV, and the Xbox. Although most of these announcements are shrouded in secrecy until the event itself, details and rumours are beginning to emerge.

Intel will have a typically large presence at this year’s show, with its new 45nm processors serving as the main attraction. Various manufacturers will be invited on to the stand to demonstrate technology that makes use of the new chips, including Commodore Gaming, who will be releasing a new range of gaming PCs. A selection of new mobile devices based on Intel technology is also expected, the company told.

Phillips has told us to expect a handful of new monitors in the new year, although the company remains tight-lipped on exact model details. Logitech says it will have a range of new products pitched at the living room, while Pioneer says it will have both business and home products on display.

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