The start of a new year always brings with it a new CES trade show where cutting edge companies can show off their latest and greatest innovations and even their tried and true general products. This held true to its billing and although many publications made mention of the record attendance at the show, one thing was abundantly clear to those exhibiting and attending the show, there was a considerable decrease in the number of companies exhibiting at the show. Some of that is due to natural attrition and a good portion is due to economic hardships brought on from the current financial crisis, but a number of previous exhibitors that I spoke to simply felt the show did not have the appeal it once did.

You always can tell when a show is loosing its pull with exhibitors when the show floor begins to shrink (as was the case in the south hall where nearly a quarter of the 1st floor was curtained off and a far greater than before amount of space was dedicated to dining and rest stations where booths normally occupied). In fact just 2 short years ago, CES not only filled up the entire LV convention center (there were no curtained off or dining/relaxing space on the show floor), but also took up about 3 quarters of the Sands Expo Convention Center as well. There was a glaring difference in the feel and size of this years exhibitors, not so much with the major fortune 500 companies but from the small to medium business which count on these trade shows to get the attention of both the general public and corporate movers and shakers to grow their businesses.

Even with the reduction is attendees, we managed to have a very productive show and had numerous quality meetings and discussions with potential customers and venders. So our commitment to exhibiting at CES is unchanged, but I merely hope that it can regain its luster and appeal as the worlds most prominent electronics show.

As a surprise early birthday celebration, my wife took me to the Los Angeles Clippers vs. Portland Trailblazers basketball game last night. As a basketball fan, it’s exciting to see any professional teams play in person. But these tickets were exceptionally good and it made the night even more exciting as you can see from these photos taken during the game:

One thing that I realized is that HD broadcasts are so clear, it’s almost like being at the game. In fact, even though I was in the front row, the clarity of the HD picture gives you clarity you couldn’t get anywhere else, even at the game. So there’s no question that everything will be in HD and anyone who wishes to produce video content will have to do it in HD. In order to produce HD content, you have to use the much higher capacity of Blu-ray discs, so it’s only a matter of time before all videographers switch over to Blu-ray to shoot their videos. Just an observation.

I’ve read a number of articles about the expansion of the DVD rental kiosk through companies like Redbox (the most prevelant), NCR, Blockbuster, etc. All of these companies recognize that while the consumers may not be going back to the dedicated video stores in the numbers they used to, movie rentals as a commodity is far from being dead. Instead they found if the consumers were not coming to them, then they should bring the product to the consumer.

First, home delivery with services like Netflix were all the rage. But somewhat quietly, Redbox has emerged as a major player by allowing customers to rent and return movies from convenient locations they frequent regularly anyway, like the grocery store, convenience store or pharmacy.

So even though many major and privately owned video rental stores may be going the way of the dinosaurs, video rentals as a commercial entity is still very much alive and prospering. Maybe video on demand and video streaming will eventually knock these video rental services off their perch, but for the foreseeable future, there is money in those kiosks and retail is recognizing this.

Apparently the success of a recent push by Warner Home Video whereby they agreed to exchange previous HD DVD titles for the same title(s) on Blu-ray at a much reduced price was so successful, they decided to extend the offer to standard DVD titles as well.

This is another example of the push toward Blu-ray as the preferred video viewing format. That is why we believe that the increase in Blu-ray duplication will also jump dramatically in 2010. To accommodate this transition, Vinpower Digital is ensuring that our line of Blu-ray duplicators offers the fastest Blu-ray duplication speeds, greatest level of playback compatibility with the widest acceptance of recordable Blu-ray media. We want to make sure when our customers are ready to make that switch from DVD to Blu-ray, it’s as seamless and convenient as possible.

Dubai 2009 Gitex Trade Show – An Unforgettable Experience                                 

 

Oct 16^th, 2009, I’m not sure how many times I’ve traveled on an airplane in the past, but I am sure this is the most exciting time. Because where I am going is the pear of the world: Dubai. I went there for the Gitex IT trade show, one of the biggest and most famous electronic product trade shows in the region.                                              

  

Before I ever had the chance to put my foot on Dubai soil, all I’ve known about the area I read in newspapers and magazines.  I read about their culture, whether, religion, and economic situation, but that doesn’t begin to tell a complete story of the area.  When we walked out from terminal 3, seeing the road side skyscrapers, fancy cars, big malls, and everything, it’s hard to believe that this was all dessert before. The whether made me think of Taiwan, because they are very similar, even the street scene is similar.                                       

            

Saturday, one day before the trade show, we prepared all the units for the show.   These units were prepared by the Taiwan team and they did a great job helping us ship all the samples and having the units ready to be exhibited.  Since it’s my first time in Dubai, my Boss let me go on the sightseeing tour held by our travel agent. The tour involves being driven in a 4WD Toyota Jeep, running up and down in the dessert. They would play Middle East style electronic music on the trip, it’s quite a special experience.  After that, we had dinner in the dessert, eating typical local BBQ cuisine.  While we ate, there were Belly dancers and some other traditional dancing, which I can not recall the name of. What a pleasurable night! I give thanks to the team for letting me have this opportunity. Afterwards I am Preparing myself to face the first day of what’s sure to be a busy trade show.     

         

Dubai is the center of trade throughout the Middle East, Africa, parts of Europe and Asia. After 13:00 pm, customers form all over the world came to our booth. It was so busy, we did not even have time to eat. What I see is that this is a really developing and well educated market. All the customers have basic IT industry knowledge, which is why they can easily tell the difference between us and our competitors. People keep looking for new stuff and better technology, the supplier has to pay more attention with customer’s need, and put more effort on service.      

   

We had a great show because of the strong presence of our products, and the patient attitude of our staff during this busy time. Believe it or not, we did not have time to eat lunch. It makes me feel like when the farmers get an abundant harvest and they do not have time to rest, the body gets tired, but the heart feels happy and excited. When I saw our competitor’s booth is almost empty, and the customers are making lines waiting to buy our products, I am so proud of myself for working at Vinpower Digital.

As Flash memory gets cheaper and the capacity increases, the small rewritable format is gaining momentum in the data storage realm. In fact the low cost netbooks do not offer optical disc drives, yet do offer USB & SD card slots. Now, one of the leading video rental companies, Blockbuster, has announced that they will offer new SD card video rental kiosks.

These kiosks will allow those interested in renting movies the opportunity to load a movie onto a SD card and watch it on any medium (TV, computer, cell phone, etc) that accepts an SD card or a SD card adapter. This will greatly enhance the movie viewing options and locations.

Vinpower Digital recently traveled to the U.A.E for a trade show in Dubai and made a strong impact on the local news. Below are scanned images of press clippings from the AL-Jazirah Newspaper dated Thursday, October 22, 2009:

We’ve posted a new video on youtube showing how easy and convenient it is to use the Xerox Duplicator. Check it out for your self (copy and paste the below link into your web browser):