The last dedicated press event of CES is Showstoppers. It is, in fact, the original event, with a format which CES Unveiled and Pepcom follow. However, it is slightly smaller than either, with seating areas and more chances to talk to companies.
E Ink was showing a very interesting flexible display prototype: the Wove Band, by Polyera). It is a chunky wrist-worn device, with a monochrome E Ink display (1024 x 200) covering most of the surface. According to Polyera, this will be touch-enabled in the final version. The product runs ‘Wove OS’ (based on Android 5.1), on a dual-core 1GHz Cortex A7 processor. It will have 4GB of storage, 512MB of RAM and a 230mAh battery.
The HDBaseT Alliance is moving into automotive infrastructure, and was promoting its activities in the area. Specifications for HDBaseT Automotive are now being finalised. The system, for applications such as infotainment, will provide up to 6Gbps bandwidth over 15m of single pair unshield cable, with a claimed latency of sub-10µs for audio, video, ethernet, controls, USB and power.
Lumus had a prototype augmented reality wearable called the DK-50. It was in very early stages – so early that the device was liable to overheat, and a small fan had to be built in! The image is provided by an LCoS projector with an LED light source. In a similar manner to Vuzix’s waveguide technology, the lenses of the device are faceted to bounce the image (1280 x 720) between them and into the wearer’s eye. The image appeared to be very large and bright, directly in my line of sight. The DK-50 has roughly a 40° field of view today, and Lumus is working on a 60° model. The company plans to have a finished prototype by Q2. Suncorporation, a Japanese firm, has announced a partnership to introduce an end product based on Lumus’ design; it will be called AceReal and shown off at Wearable Expo this month, in Tokyo.
Marseille was showing off its mCable (Marseille’s Cable Upscales to 4k), which was launched last year. The company said that a ‘gaming-optimised’ version will be released in a few months, but would not say what would be different.
Select TV Freecast – the name doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue – has a STB that can be used to view more than 350,000 shows, 200,000 films and access 50,000 radio stations. All content is aggregated, and users will be able to access both VoD and live content. There will be two versions of the STB: a premium model (running Windows 10 in the background), which will cost $180, or an Android-based unit for $100. The service will also require a monthly $3 subscription fee (which seems like a bargain compared to existing pay-TV offers).
Select TV’s premium STB features a DVR and screencast functionality, as well as a larger TV guide and home automation. Both boxes will be released in Q1.
A module that composites HDMI sources and displays them on a single screen was on show by Skreens. The module (in two- or four-port versions) does not have a fixed display format; users can scale and reposition sources as desired, as well as setting transparency. Content is transferred at 1920 x 1080 and 60fps, without lag. H.264 encoding is also integrated, enabling streaming directly to YouTube and Twitch. Inputs can be controlled from an app. The module will be launched this year – in March for Kickstarter backers. The two-port unit is on Kickstarter for $250 and the four-port for $450.
