• by Ross Fadner , January 12, 2004

Last week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas had more than 110,000 attendees, 1.3 million square feet of booth space, and thousands of new gizmos and gadgets to choose from. Spanning categories like video, wireless, gaming, home technologies, digital mobile electronics, home theater, and of course, emerging technologies, it proved a tough task indeed for the editors at MediaDailyNews to select the CES best bets for 2004. Here are some highlights from the week-long event:

Sharp's LC-45GD1U, with its 45-inch diagonal screen size, will be the world's largest LCD flat screen once Sharp releases it later this year. The LC-45GD1U also boasts improved image capabilities no other plasma screen can match. Its 1,920x1,080 pixels will present HDTV content at its native resolution for supreme image quality.

DirecTV unveiled its new TiVo-powered High-Definition DVR. The unit is a 250G drive that can hold up to 30 hours of HD content and 200 hours of standard TV. Also, with this DVR users will be able to record two high-def programs at once, leveraging the system's two built-in satellite tuners and adding two terrestrial ATSC tuners. This one should be available by June.

Panasonic's D-Snap line showcased one of the coolest and most innovative new devices in the burgeoning mobile electronics market. The D-Snap is listed as a two-megapixel digital still and video camera, but it defies classification in more ways than one. It is also: a portable digital audio player that plays both MP3 and AAC files, a voice recorder, and a TV/digital video player with a two-inch foldout LCD screen. No matter what you call this multi-channel, four-ounce, pocketsize gadget, note that this little guy could be the next big thing.

There were several portable DVD/video players unveiled at this year's CES, but the one that holds the most promise is Creative's Zen Portable Media Center. The device utilizes the Microsoft Operating System and allows you to rent or purchase movies formatted directly for the Zen Portable Media Center. It also formats photos and music content. None of the new PVP devices this year have inputs for recording DVDs, as Microsoft and other content providers have decided upon certain usage rules for PVPs, although enterprising tech-minded individuals will surely figure out a way.

Apple made noise this year with its recently announced iPod Mini, which they expect to reign supreme in the compact audio player realm on the strength of previous iPod sales and widespread adoption of its new online music service, iTunes. The Mini will face competition, however, and the fiercest is expected to be from Archos Gmini 220. The $349 device boasts a large 20GB hard drive, rivals the iPod Mini in size, and even features a CompactFlash slot to archive digital images without needing the PC.

Sony's new VAIO Extreme (X505) was the best new notebook at this year's CES. It weighs a mere 1.7 pounds, making it the lightest notebook on the planet. it's also only an inch thick. The VAIO Extreme will come with a Pentium M 1GHz processor, 512MB of RAM, and a 10.4-inch screen. Currently sold in Japan, Sony has not yet announced its plans to bring the VAIO Extreme to the States. Those interested in the Japanese version can go to Dynamism.com to purchase it.

Mobile phone gaming was a surprisingly crowded field at this year's CES. Sprint PCS announced an agreement for the distribution of Gameloft's full library of games. Gameloft, who develops and publishes mobile games, unveiled a suite of new games they're developing for Sprint. The first game to be released will be Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, a popular series on several console platforms. Once downloaded to select JAVA-enabled wireless phones, the games can be played anywhere, anytime on Sprint's enhanced nationwide PCS Network.