high def

Top Gun training in Fightertown USA might become obsolete thanks to a new ultra-high definition, immersive F-16 training program. Powered by 120 Intel Dual Core PCs packed with high-end graphics cards, nine overlapping HD projectors display the highest-res flight simulator possible. Creating a stunning 30,000 interactive images in a single simulation, L-3 Link’s SimuSphere offers a realistic training tool for the military that will hopefully lead to a smaller home version for me.

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Let's get something straight: I hate the Yankees. I hate hate them, in fact. I don't like their uniforms, I don't like their owner's facial hair policy, and I really don't like Yankee Stadium, new or old. But I'll give 'em this: They have the sweetest TV in the bigs, and possibly in the world.

Just don't call it a JumboTron.

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Last week Netflix quietly introduced HD to its streaming Internet service. Netflix didn't make a big stir about flipping the HD switch, though, and it's easy to understand why. (As company spokesman Steve Swasey said, "For now, the HD offering is more of a stake in the ground.")

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LG, the Korean consumer electronics giant, made a big splash early this CES with the unveiling of the Super Multi Blue player, capable of playing both of the warring high-def disc formats, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. Teamed with the Chocolate music phone, the #1 CDMA handset in the U.S. and a solid line of HD TVs, LG has quickly become a force to be reckoned with. —John Mahoney

Take a quick tour of the booth below and click the individual images for captions.

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After testing the first Blu-ray and HD DVD boxes to hit the market, I´m confident that the future of movie discs is clearly high-def: picture and sound quality from both players was terrific. But each had its own bugs and with studios split over the two formats and combo players at least a year away, smart consumers will hold off on that future a little longer.

Blu-Ray: Samsung BD-P1000
Price: $1,000

Number of announced movies: 132 (but wider studio support)

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With nine processors and 234 million transistors, the Cell is the powerhouse of Sony's forthcoming PlayStation 3 console. The four-plus-gigahertz (depending on its application) chip calculates an unmatched 256 billion operations per second, making it 35 times as fast as the PS2's chip. The upshot: Characters react more realistically (like flinching when bullets whiz by). Next year Toshiba will offer an HDTV set that uses the chip to decode high-def signals.

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