3 Products from 2009 CES We Recommend
February 5, 2009

Last month Julie Jacobson of CEPro previewed the PSX2 from Universal Remote Control (URC). This iPod Dock is truly the "magical iPod Server" for those wanting features unavailable in any other dock. “Favorites” menu? One button press is all it takes. All albums that start with the letter “J”? Just press a single button. Shuffle the “Kids’ Playlist” with one touch. These are just a small sample of this dock's features.

The PSX2 may look like another video-capable iPod dock, but it’s much more. URC created 250 discrete IR codes for virtually any iPod function imaginable – not just the functions that iPod gives you, but ones like those mentioned above. Then URC built the smart docking station that connects to the TV for on-screen navigation. What makes the dock smart are the “hooks” that enable users to do the unthinkable: like add the current song to a playlist – on the fly.

Any iPod or iPhone user who has wished for these convenient controls can have them after this product debuts for real at the Electronic House Expo Spring, March 11-14, 2009 in Orlando, Fla.

In addition we like the coming Samsung BDP-4600 Wall-Mountable Blu-ray Player. For those who liked the HDTV/DVD combo units previously available from Toshiba, this player can be mounted on the wall next to your favorite HDTV flat panel for easy access.

The Profile 2.0 BDP-4600 (above) is the world’s first wall-mountable Blu-ray player. It offers DVD upscaling, total HD soundtrack support and is 1.5-inches thick. It also features Samsung’s Touch of Color (ToC) design and instant streaming of Netflix and Pandora with 1GB internal flash memory. The BDP-4600 also has an integrated stand that allows it to sit on a table at a 25-degree angle.

Other features include: 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi dongle, two USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet, and decoding of Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD HR/MA. Pricing and availability weren’t announced at the 2009 CES.

Our other product to watch for resulted in a collabration between LG Electronics and Control4. At CES 2009 LG displayed their integrated automation system for HDTV sets that will allow hotel guests to control lighting, room temperature, draperies and entertainment systems through the television with a single remote control.

Control4 and LG jointly designed a card, based on the proven Control4® Operating System, which will be integrated with LG Electronics’ hospitality HDTVs via their unique interface port – eliminating the need for a separate controller box.

LG is the first to incorporate the Control4 operating system into TV sets. The pictured TV for hotels and boardrooms comes from LG’s commercial division. “They haven’t announced anything on residential,” says Control4 CEO Will West, “but they tell us that most of their consumer products start with commercial.”

This likely future residential product will be more cost effective and space-saving, as well as eliminate one required point of external interface normally handled via an IR emitter that can lengthen the install time, especially when the Control4 IR Driver has to be developed from scratch by the Dealer.