CES, the Apple MacWorld 2007 and the Detroit Auto Show 2007 are all happening at the same time. OK, so the Detroit Auto Show is a litle far afield from electronics and audio – but not all that far what with Car Audio being a big thing at CES to many people.

But one would have to think that a lot of hardcore Mac-people are audiophiles.

And it is CES that moved their dates this year. Usually they are a little mlater in the month, and run on Thursday through Sunday. This year it is Monday through Thursday.

Now for something a little different… as we watch it snow yet another time [ANOTHER 16-18 inches] before we leave on Saturday [tomorrow] for the consumer electronics show in sunnyyyyyyyyyyy [warm and snow-free (!) ] Las Vegas…

We picked up the Sony $1K player a few weeks ago. It is paired with a Sony 26″ XBR LCD TV.

Playing “The Fifth Element” Blu-ray disc that came with the player. I think I should maybe pause the movie before I take the photo? Hmmmm…..

The Fifth Element is really well done. Whether this is the same disc everyone complained about who had inferior players or whether it is a new release, I do not know. But no problems, here. Well, the player did freeze once, but that was the player… 🙂

The question, as I see it, for us here is:

1. Will this format succeed with the consumer?

If so, then this will likely be the next format for high-end audio as well. In this way we would ‘piggy back’ on top of a popular technology with all of its manufacturing support and efficiencies, while taking advantage of the potentially 10X better than SACD data storage and playback capabilities.

The answer to question #1, is….

Still not sure.

I sit about 2 to 4 feet in front of this amazing, yet still 720p monitor [it is on my desk, and, yes, I LIVE at my desk]. At this distance I can really appreciate the higher resolution of Blu-ray. On long shots, with lots of details off into the distance, it is amazing how much deeper into the picture you can see. You can sit there and read the hieroglyphics on the pillars of the temple in the opening sequence of 5th Element. Kind of weird, but the desire to see everything is very natural and to be able to do so quite rewarding.

When I am 10 feet away, it is still nicer than standard DVD but not sure it is quite worth the effort for everybody.

On a larger monitor, a 1080p monitor that can take full advantage of the 1080p format? We’ll see… but this format has more of a chance to suceed in my estimation after having lived with it for awhile .. IF

IF they can get the price of the discs down. If they can get the dealers like circuit city etc. to make it look better than DVD (a much larger challenge!). If they can get some decent amount of content on Blu-ray and the studios can do a good job of it [Superman Returns is mixed – long shots are great, lots of detail and 3D cues. But closeups are grainy.].

So, the jury is out. Deliberating. And still evenly divided.

Sonically?

The BDP-S1 (what a boring name, people seem to come up a lot of computer-generated-like names these days) sounds pretty darn good, from what I can tell running it into a Lexicon DC-1 and into a pair of Yamaha active studio monitors.

It DOES NOT play CDs or SACDs. So the real test will be when we get our all-out-assault Home Theater system set up.