CES 2019

[Ari Altman]

Check out our coverage of PC product releases right here!
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TBG is again attending CES this year, for the fourth year in a row (woo-hoo!). Luckily, at this point, when we knock, companies are more than happy to "let us in". Here are all the companies we'll be meeting with one-on-one during the show:

1. Alphacool - high-end liquid cooling
2. AMD - next-gen Ryzen CPUs
3. Audio-Technica - high-end headphones
4. Cleer - high-end headphones
5. Corsair - cases, coolers, and power supplies
6. Cooler Master - cases and coolers
7. Coral Robots - smart vacuums
8. Creative - PC audio
9. D-Link - wireless networking and Smart Home
10. Ecovacs - smart vacuums
11. Edifier - high-end speakers
12. Hubitat - Smart Home hubs
13. Kwikset - Smart Home locks
14. LG - high-end monitors and Gram laptops
15. Logitech - gaming peripherals
16. Lutron - Smart Home lighting
17. MSI - motherboard and video card innovations
18. Netgear - wireless networking
19. Phanteks - PC cases
20. HyperX - headphones and peripherals
21. Ring - Smart Home doorbells, cameras, and alarms
22. Samsung - SSDs, laptops, high-end monitors, and Smart Home
23. SilverStone - cases and small form factor components
24. TP-Link - wireless networking and Smart Home
25. Thermaltake - cases, coolers, and power supplies
26. Western Digital/SanDisk - solid-state drives
27. Zotac - video cards and pre-built small form factor PCs

We'll also be swinging by the Intel booth (which may have some interesting announcements) and the Nvidia booth (which likely won't have anything PC related, sadly), as well as networking pioneers TP-Link and D-Link, where we'll find out the latest on next-gen 802.11ax!

Do you have questions for any or all of these manufacturers that you've always wanted answered? Post them here and we'll do our best to get you the answers!

[LongJon]

Awesome!  Check on Samsung's 2019 TV's if they are there!!  I didn't buy a 2018 and I've been holding out lol.  Also let me know if any new SSD's or other relatable products get revealed that have to do with my new build I'm planning on putting together in 2019 lol.

[Ari Altman]

Awesome!  Check on Samsung's 2019 TV's if they are there!!  I didn't buy a 2018 and I've been holding out lol.  Also let me know if any new SSD's or other relatable products get revealed that have to do with my new build I'm planning on putting together in 2019 lol.

Oh, I'll definitely be seeing Samsung's latest TVs. In fact, I have a private showing in their innovation room, which only about a dozen or so members of the media will see at CES. It'll be close to a full hour of demoing their next-gen sets and talking to their engineers.

[LongJon]

Awesome!  Check on Samsung's 2019 TV's if they are there!!  I didn't buy a 2018 and I've been holding out lol.  Also let me know if any new SSD's or other relatable products get revealed that have to do with my new build I'm planning on putting together in 2019 lol.

Oh, I'll definitely be seeing Samsung's latest TVs. In fact, I have a private showing in their innovation room, which only about a dozen or so members of the media will see at CES. It'll be close to a full hour of demoing their next-gen sets and talking to their engineers.

I hate you.  JK haha.  Definitely jealous!  Try and get something out of them about HDMI 2.1 and what their plans are for it with their 2019 sets or whenever they plan to release it in 2020.  I've heard that they may do something through the one connect box and update it to 2.1 standards via firmware or something.  Either way, I'm curious what they do because a lot of consumers are wanting to know.  I've heard the above and/or they may release a high end model way in Q3 or Q4 (closer to the mainstream roll out of HDMI 2.1 products) that is true HDMI 2.1 but at this point it's all conjecture and rumors.

[LongJon]

I'm curious if they make any strides in the gaming area with the new QLED's.  I know they introduced some features that were supposed to come with HDMI 2.1 last year ala FreeSync and VRR.  I'm curious if they build on that or make those any better this go around.  I also wonder if their top of the line main stream TV's will continue to be QLED's (or atleast use that moniker again) for the 3rd year in a row.  Will Micro LED be more of a factor in 2019?  So many questions I can't wait for answers to.  I've been holding out and I'm ready to buy a new TV lol. 

[Ari Altman]

I'm curious if they make any strides in the gaming area with the new QLED's.  I know they introduced some features that were supposed to come with HDMI 2.1 last year ala FreeSync and VRR.  I'm curious if they build on that or make those any better this go around.  I also wonder if their top of the line main stream TV's will continue to be QLED's (or atleast use that moniker again) for the 3rd year in a row.  Will Micro LED be more of a factor in 2019?  So many questions I can't wait for answers to.  I've been holding out and I'm ready to buy a new TV lol.

Last year was a bit of a tease when it came to HDMI 2.1 and MicroLEDs, so I will definitely be pressing Samsung on each and every one of your questions!

[Ari Altman]

Just FYI, LG has already come out swinging, saying all its high end OLEDs (everything other than the B9) will have HDMI 2.1, enabling 120Hz at 4K, as well as variable refresh rate. This is huge and sets the benchmark for 2019 TVs, but alas there's no GPU that supports this standard. It would seem shocking that Nvidia didn't include HDMI 2.1 on Turing but for the fact that HDMI 2.1 is a competitor to gsync anda the Nvidia BFGDs, and nvidia makes huge licensing fees from gsync that it seems unwilling to give up even if that means gimping its own products.

[LongJon]

Just FYI, LG has already come out swinging, saying all its high end OLEDs (everything other than the B9) will have HDMI 2.1, enabling 120Hz at 4K, as well as variable refresh rate. This is huge and sets the benchmark for 2019 TVs, but alas there's no GPU that supports this standard. It would seem shocking that Nvidia didn't include HDMI 2.1 on Turing but for the fact that HDMI 2.1 is a competitor to gsync seems the Nvidia BFGDs, and nvidia makes huge licensing fees from gsync that it seems unwilling to give up even if that means gimping its own products.

I came here to post what you did because I just read their press release!  Wow.  I'm a Samsung fan and I'd be shocked if LG's new high end OLED's REALLY do have true HDMI 2.1 if Samsung's won't as well.  They usually step up at the high end and take a back seat to no one. 

Please Samsung pleaseeeee.. 

Props to LG though for doing this.  Major boon for them for sure.

Nvidia's pride may end up hurting them in the long run.

[Ari Altman]

List of companies TBG is visiting has been updated - it's a packed schedule, folks! Post your questions for these companies here!

[LongJon]

List of companies TBG is visiting has been updated - it's a packed schedule, folks! Post your questions for these companies here!

Did you see this? 

https://www.cnet.com/news/lg-confirms-full-hdmi-2-1-support-in-2019-tvs/

In that article above posted yesterday this stuck out to me:

"For its part LG's rival Samsung told CNET it would also support HDMI 2.1 in its 2019 TVs, but wouldn't provide further details -- such as whether it would support the full spec, as LG claims, or just certain parts of it -- by press time."

[Ari Altman]

List of companies TBG is visiting has been updated - it's a packed schedule, folks! Post your questions for these companies here!

Did you see this? 

https://www.cnet.com/news/lg-confirms-full-hdmi-2-1-support-in-2019-tvs/

In that article above posted yesterday this stuck out to me:

"For its part LG's rival Samsung told CNET it would also support HDMI 2.1 in its 2019 TVs, but wouldn't provide further details -- such as whether it would support the full spec, as LG claims, or just certain parts of it -- by press time."

Good catch - it would be crazy at this point for Samsung to not match LG, but do keep in mind that when TV companies cater to "hard-core gamers," it isn't PC gamers. There is no PC graphics card with HDMI 2.1 available now or likely to come this year. The gamers TV manufacturers have in mind are the XBox One X who can already use such TVs.

By the way, the article is wrong about one thing: this isn't the first time new HDMI cables have been required to meet a new spec. HDMI 1.2 and earlier cables don't support HDMI 2.0, for example, and the fact that the HDMI consortium never allowed cable manufacturers to actually label their cables with an HDMI version number is just lunacy. In their hysterical attempt to convince consumers that any cable would work, the HDMI consortium simply decimated the value of their standard. And frankly, HDMI 2.1 is such an enormous jump from HDMI 2.0 that I simply can't understand why they haven't adopted the HDMI 3.0 nomenclature, especially given that they are finally acknowledging that a new cable is required. There's so much stupidity in the way HDMI is administered that I honestly can't believe it anyone is running the show.

[Ari Altman]

LongJon - now for some interesting news...

HP's Nvidia-powered BFGD that I demo'd at CES last year is now a real product...
...and it's arriving in February for $5,000.

Sure, it has G-Sync up to 144Hz at 4K, but that price just doesn't make sense for a PC gaming display.

What do you think? Is there a potential market for it?

[TekHed]

Well...now that I have my SDM rig coming up, and I have some minor burn in on my 2017 LG OLED 60Hz I am definitely in the market for a new 65" screen, preferably one that has at least 120 Hz possible and that won't have burn in and perhaps most important to me...won't pixelate the f--- out of dark scenes... seriously what's the point of OLED "perfect inky blacks" when any time there is a dark scene of "near blacks" it looks like a smudgy mess???

[dpluigi]

Hi Ari,

Can you check on VR headset motion tracking offerings and new development?  I am interested what are the big players will be doing (HTC, Oculus, Samsung (Odyssey +) but also PIMAX).  I am on the market for my first home use VR headset besides my Samsung VR Gear from my Galaxy cellphone and after a hiatus of 15 years from the field of VR, when I did a three years stint when it was mostly research work and almost no consumer electronics?!
HTC is supposed to make an announcement this afternoon.

Thank you,
Donat

[LongJon]

Just got done watching Samsung’s CES briefing... They didn’t reveal much.  When will we know all the good details about their entire tv lineup?