One thing about CES: manufacturers big and small all bring their new products to show off. One such smaller product developer is Norcent and it’s unveiling a number of things, including a 42-inch LCD-TV. The Norcent LT-4231P is set to price at around $1,300.

The Norcent LT-4231P offers through its 42-inch screen 1920 x 1080 resolution. It offers built-in built-in ATSC (over-the-air content), NTSC, and Clear-QAM (unencrypted digital channels) tuners. HDMI input is also provided as well as support on down the video line to composite.

Gefen announced to the press via an email a few days ago its upcoming CES line up. Amongst the cables, switchers and other line items we noted something of interest: two personal video recorders. No specific release date was given for the items, now available for pre-order, but we did note there’s a hard drive based PVR for around $1,000 and a USB memory device based one for around $650.

Gefen’s HD-PVR, which will also connect to removable USB memory devices for storage, has a built-in 80GB hard drive. With this you connect the PVR to an HDMI enabled display, select the video source and function you want from the source inputs and off you go recording. Recording can be done up to 1080i and there’s an on-screen menu for control options. Through this PVR you can also scan storage devices for other types of media to interact with.

DXG USA plans to debut its first “low cost” high definition camcorder at CES. This camcorder is known as the DXG-566V HD and it is priced at around $150.

The DXG-566V HD is a five megapixel digital camcorder which will let you record in HD video resolution up to 1280 x 720 at 30fps and D1 resolution of 720 x 480 at 30fps. It sports a three-inch camcorder style flip-out LCD screen, memory storage via SD cards and 2x digital zoom.

This water-activated “portable power product” is fuel cell-based and through the use of $20 disposable cartridges, it will provide “enough energy to recharge an average notebook computer 8 to 10 times” or even “operate low power devices such as portable lights, notebook computers, portable televisions etc. for more than 14 continuous hours,”. It works via AC outlet or dual USB. The unit will cost about $400. A few of the nicer features on this one are that the HydroPak is quieter and lighter than other types of generators in it’s class, and as a bonus, it doesn’t spit out horrible emissions.

At CES 2008, they will also have a smaller version named the HydroPak Mini, which is a prototype designed to power gadgets like cellphones or your favorite game systems. They expect to have units available for sale in mid-2008.

The news just keeps coming in from CES 2008 and it hasn’t even officially started yet. Kleer.com announced today that Sennheiser has introduced the industry’s first true wireless stereo earphones based on Kleer’s wireless audio technology. The MX W1 wireless earphones are said to deliver crystal-clear CD-quality stereo sound, as well as providing extremely high immunity to noise in the crowded 2.4 GHz band. Since all Kleer-based products are compatible, the MX W1 earphones can receive wireless audio from any Kleer-based PMP.

The earphones come with a carrying case that also acts as a charger, and you can recharge the transmitter and receiver simultaneously via a connecting cable, without removing the transmitter from the player. With Kleer’s Listen In technology, two or more people with
MX W1 earphones can listen to the same audio stream at the same time. The MX W1 will be available in May of 2008.

Here’s a great design if you dare to be different. The Vintage iPod Tube Amp/Charger has the cool somewhat steampunk/Sci-Fi look of a mad scientists lair. According to the manufacturer, you ca enjoy your playlists with the “warmth and richness only a vintage tube amplifier can provide”. I don’t know about that, but I love the design.

Many musicians believe that the harmonic richness and the pure tone of tube-based circuitry can’t be beat. That’s their thinking with this device. Just plug your iPod into the Vintage Amplifier/Charger, sit back with the included remote, and browse through your playlists. They claim that audio details that have been lost in MP3 files through compression, dramatically re-emerge through the 25 watts RMS per channel, all-tube pre-amp system. It will cost you a hefty $800 to find out if they are right. No doubt some of us don’t mind missing out on the differences we can’t hear anyway, at that price.

According to a press release, BiTMICRO will be amazing some people for sure, with their new 2.5-inch solid-state drive with an amazing 832GB of NAND flash. The 3Gb SATA drive is a new addition to their E-Disk Altima line, and uses a technology they are calling multi-level cell (or MLC) memory, which doubles the number of bits stored per memory cell when compared with single-level cell (SLC) NAND. Apparently this increases data density and allows them to keep the price low.

Looks like they will be shipping in the 3rd quarter of 2008. That’s when we should see capacities ranging from 32GB all the way up to 832GB.

Today Asus announced the launch of its award-winning GPS smart phone in the U.S. early this year and will be showing the P527 at CES 2008. The Asus P527 already won one of the CES Innovation Design and Engineering awards for 2008.

It’s a pretty nice looking device and has several versatile functions, but the most unique ones have to be Travelog and Location Courier. Travelog lets users record travel routes and export data to Google Earth, while Location Courier acts like an S.O.S. beacon and is at the ready to send a user’s GPS position to up to five preset numbers. Basically, the Asus P527 has the features of a cell phone, navigator and PDA.

The CompactFlash Association will be unveiling a CFast connector package at CES 2008, and the SATA interface will give you data rates up to 3Gb per sec. That’s quite a jump over the current 133MB/second that PATA provides right now. As usual, there is no word yet as to when it will hit store shelves after CES 2008.

Mr. Shigeto Kanda of Canon and the CFA chairman of the board thinks that “The development of a CompactFlash card with a SATA interface will maintain the dominance of CompactFlash in the non-consumer (embedded systems, single board computers, data recorder, etc.) markets as well as promote its use in other applications such as digital SLR cameras and professional video cameras.”

Goodyear is a name you recognize when it comes to tires, but now they’ve entered a license agreement with The NCC, who will be launching its first line of Goodyear branded, driver-friendly GPS navigation systems at CES 2008 in Las Vegas, January 7-10. They are calling it a “rugged GPS system,” and all eight models will have features never before seen on mobile navigation systems, like remote control to access hands-free communication, via a single quick-touch button to answer and hang up calls. It’s clear they are betting on safety and convenience.

The remote control can be fastened to the driver’s side visor, or next to the gear shift, or anywhere convenient for that matter. Certain models will also feature MSN(R) Direct, which will provide useful info like live traffic updates, local gas prices, weather reports, as well as local movie times. In addition, other features are 4.3″ LCD touch screens, speaker-quality sound, High Sensitivity receivers, text-to-speech navigation for spoken street names, millions of points of interest (POI’s), MP3 and video playback, A/V inputs for MP3 players, TV tuners, or DVD players. Comes with 2GB of internal memory and removable SD storage.

Dell, as part of its pre-CES announcements, revealed a stunning new 22-inch LCD display which matches price with function. The new Dell Crystal is priced at around $1,200.

The Dell Crystal is a 22-inch widescreen display crafted from four millimeter ultra-clear tempered glass. Audio speakers are integrated into the design of the Crystal as is a Webcam and microphone. Touch controls allow you to operate this art-like monitor to get the most out of the 1680×1050 resolution.

Pinnacle Systems has a pretty cool little device debuting at the Consumer Electronics Show this year called the Pinnacle Video Transfer. The Video Transfer allows users to connect analog video input and record it straight to different USB 2.0 compatible media players such as an iPod, PSP or just to a regular USB flash drive. It takes connections from a number of video inputs such as S-Video, Composite video and stereo audio analog from devices like a television, DVD player or camcorder. From there it converts it up to 720×480 H.264 MPEG-4 files on the USB device, ready for playing. Different recording qualities can be set depending on the quality desired and the size of the display needed so you can save some space by recording small for a small screen. It can even be used to charge up some devices while connected.

If you’re getting frustrated with the limited feature set of your current set-top box from your cable company, Motorola is showcasing the next generation of set top boxes for the cable industry this year at the CES 2008, bringing their first MPEG-4 box for interactive in-home television programming. The new DCX series set-top boxes support high-def video content, surround sound and can act as a hub to share media between it and other compatible devices in the home.

One of the biggest complaints we’ve heard about DVRs from cable providers is the inability to easily share recorded content to anywhere else other than the DVR itself. The new DCX series boxes allow users to not only share the content with other devices so you can watch it in another room, but it also lets the owners add their own media to the device and share it as well.

Compact flash cards are slowly becoming a thing of the past, being replaced by SD cards, but there are still alot of cameras that rely on the older format. So RIDATA is looking out for you. They just introduced what they call the SMART compact flash card.

They are SMART because the have a new internal data monitoring system that ensures you never experience any data loss. It’s nice to have alot of storage in your camera, but not a pleasant feeling when you lose an important file. The cards also have embedded error correction code (ECC) which I believe is a fancy way of saying that it has “back up power Captain”, should something truly go wrong.

Verbatim is launching at CES a new line of 2.5-inch external hard drives which are palm-sized. These new Verbatim SmartDisk 2.5” Portable Hard Drives will have retail prices starting at around $100.

The Verbatim SmartDisk 2.5” Portable Hard Drives will be available in 120, 160, 250 and 320GB capacities. They will work with both Windows and Mac operating systems, offering options of a USB interface or combo USB/FireWire interface. The combo one in particular will allow consumers to transfer files between a Mac and PC.