Monster, Toshiba, Mitsubishi Highlight CEA Digital Downtown

CEA's Digital Downtown event in New York City may have been a small event, but it certainly was loaded with gadgets.

Many of the exhibits had little to do with the custom market, from Web cams to laptops, but there were a few gems from recognizable names.

Monster Cable showed off its new SuperThin HDMI Cables that measure just 3.5mm in diameter. The cables have built-in LED indicators to let the user know the cable is active.

Toshiba's New Regza HDTVs

Toshiba, meanwhile, presented its new Regza HDTV Series that includes an LED TV (the SV670) and ZV650 LCD. The picture quality was stunning on both models.

The models include several Toshiba-branded technologies:

• FocaLight LED backlight with local dimming
• ClearScan 240 motion enhancement
• PixelPure 5G 14-bit video processing
• Resolution+ resolution technology
• AutoView histogram controlled automatic picture adjustment

The units have one port for USB, four HDMI inputs, an IR pass-through port, and SD card slot and a PC input. The units also include Dolby sound leveling and Audyssey EQ.

Torrent Debuts HDMI Cables

Torrent Inc., a start-up company, debuted its SureConnect line of HDMI cables. The cables address three primary problems integrators encounter with HDMI connections:

• Loose connections
• Different depths of connectors
• Troubleshooting the integrity of the HDMI signal itself

The cables have MagLoc technology, which is basically an O-ring magnet around the connector that provides three- to five-times the strength. Gregg Wilkes, VP of sales, says the magnet O-ring doesn't affect the signal quality. Its VeriFYI technology is an LED indicator that confirms the connection.

Torrent was also touting the cables at lower costs and is selling them to dealers through D&H Distributing.

OmniMount, Atlona, Mitsubishi

Other companies at the show included Omnimount with its new "omnimount" leveling mount for smaller flat panels. Even cooler, Omnimount used images of marketing manager Kim Fabiano installing the mount and hanging a flat panel herself in the blister-pack packaging.

Atlona Technologies was also on hand with its line of residential and commercial converters.

Mitsubishi maintained its commitment to the market with its new 737 and 837 series of DLP rear-projection TVs with 3D-Ready viewing technology.