Original Link: https://www.anandtech.com/show/412
Introduction
Another year, another Comdex. After putting more miles on my shoes than the average radial tire does, I think Dr. Sholls should set a booth up at the show. Compared to last year, attendance seems to be down; some companies that had booths last year didn't this year. Why? Well for one thing, the cost in getting a booth is not cheap - you are looking in around the six-figure range. Besides the cost, companies don't seem to get the return necessary to justify spending that kind of cash.
AnandTech had a good presence there with me, Sam Mayes, Mike Andrawes, and of course, Anand in attendance. Surprisingly, we rarely saw each other as we were quite busy walking around, checking out the goods, and establishing some contacts so we can keep bringing you more variety in product reviews. I personally focused on the multimedia area, as well as a "show 'n tell" with Videologic, where we talked about their speakers, and about the Neon 250 (which we will be reviewing soon). Aureal will also have some new speakers coming out early next year. The Aureal XL series will put out around 210 Watts RMS and feature a head phone connector. We tried to speak with someone to get a little more indepth information, but no one was available.
WebCam Go Specifications: (Courtesy Creative Labs)
When used as a desktop PC camera:
Capable of 16.7 million colors, live video capture at up to 30 frames per second at a resolution of 352x288, and up to 15 frames per second at 640x480 Supports still image capture at 160x120, 176x144, 320x240, 352x288, and 640x480 Focusable lens with a range of 6 inches to infinity Snapshot button on top of the camera captures an image and automatically displays it on your screen Connects to your PC's USB port. 6' USB cable included. Includes drivers for Video for Windows, WDM, and TWAIN When used on the go:
Capture still images in 16.7 million colors at 320x240 or 640x480 Four image capture modes: standard, multi-frame, time delay, and time delay multi-exposure 4MB of internal memory stores approximately 200 images at 320x240 resolution or 90 images at 640x480 resolution - no diskettes or memory cards to lose Two AAA alkaline batteries (included) last for approximately 300 snapshots Three-position fixed focus lens with settings for 10 feet to infinity, 3 to 5 feet, and 6-8 inches Optical viewfinder Configurable auto shut-off saves battery life Black and white LCD displays number of frames left, mode indicator and low-battery warning Audio confirmation of image capture
Linksys
Linksys was showing off their two new products. The EtherFast Cable/DSL Router, and their 10/100 4 port switch, which includes a print server. The EtherFast Cable/DSL Router includes a 4 port 10/100 switch. The router also includes a DHCP server, and has IP blocking. The product comes in a rugged plastic enclosure with a slick blue front face. A full LED read out is on the face of the router, including read-outs for link and activity for the WAN and LAN ports along with Partition and Collision for the LAN ports. We will have a full review on this product soon.
EtherFast Cable/DSL Router |
EtherFast 4 Port 10/100 Switch & Print Server |
VideoLogic
On Wednesday, I trucked on up to the Riviera to meet up with the VideoLogic fellas, and checked out their goods.
VideoLogic is just starting to enter the U.S. market after a success in Europe. We took a look at their various
speaker lines, and their Neon 250 video card, and finally their DVD card. They have a few different lines of
speakers coming into the U.S. from 2 channels right up to 5.1, which includes a Dolby Digital decoder with a remote control unit. We did
a bit of testing on the PowerVR Neon 250. It did 32 FPS at 1024 in Quake3 (normal settings),
at 32bit color, and 40 FPS at 16bit color. The clock on the Neon 250, according to their PR guy, is 125/125 core/memory.
They also have the PowerVR3 up their sleeves; more details will follow on this soon.
Sirocco Crossfire |
DigiTheatre Receiver |
DigiThretre 5.1 |
Neon 250 |
Sirocco Spirit |
Sirocco PRO |
Altec Lansing
Altec Lansing had some nifty new products at the show as well, including their slimline 3 channel system
named "ATP3", which sounds quite nice. The unit puts out 25 watts, and features a solid wood cabinet, more
than likely made from MDF (medium density fiberboard). They also had a new microphone called the "Intellimic".
The selling feature of this mic is its special noise reduction technology. What this does is allow the user to
speak into the mic, and only what the user is saying will be heard. So all background noise is filtered out, and
it works VERY well. This technology is going to be most beneficial for internet telephony and anything where
feedback and background noise is a problem. The mic's construction quality seemed awesome, very solid, and
sturdy, which is hard to find in a PC mic. It will retail at or around $99.00.
Conclusion
In terms of multimedia, as you can see, there really wasn't all that much to see this year. The biggest announcement, of course, was the 3Dfx
V4/V5 technology. The new year will probably bring a few new products, along with the much anticipated Windows 2000.
Well, that's a wrap on my short summary of Comdex '99.