ALL THAT GLITTERS

Las Vegas, Showgirls, gambling and glitter! Another year, another Consumer Electronics Show! But just what is CES, you may be asking? Let's let the promo blurb explain it: "More than 122,000 industry professionals from 120 countries came to Las Vegas this week to see the cutting edge in digital technology at the 2001 International CES. The world's largest annual technology tradeshow, featuring 1.2 million net square feet of exhibit space, wrapped up today after four days of conference sessions, keynote speeches and exhibits of the latest developments in consumer electronics technology." Pretty scary, huh?

This year, it was twice the terror, as the ailing Video Software Dealers Association convention now moves to a January slot. Usually a summer event, the VSDA has suffered declining attendance in recent years, so the idea of pairing the two events together has been criticized by some as a none-too-obvious ploy to boost the flagging software expo. But with DVD sales booming in a relatively stagnant home video software market, there was hope for a renewed sense of excitement at the VSDA, though by all accounts lackluster efforts on the behalf of the studios led most to simply sigh and look forward to 2002.

But as always, CES was hoppin'. Gadgets, gadgets and more gadgets. And, of course, DVD players! DVD-Recordable made a big splash, as did more and somewhat lower cost HDTV units. There were also plenty of nifty satellite dishes, receivers and audio equipment on display. But, since this is DVDFILE, we stuck to covering mostly DVD-related news at this year's CES and VSDA, but hey, we ain't Electronicsfile!

In any case, for intrepid journalists like your harried bunch here at DVDFILE, two events in one just makes our job all the tougher. We dispatched our trusted correspondents Dan Linzmeier and Jeffrey Kern to assess this year's damage, so following is their look at all that was fit to print at CES and VSDA in 2001. Enjoy, and watch this space for further updates throughout the week...

» VSDA Overview
» DVD Player Wrap-up
» HDTV Wrap-up
» Festival Award winners