Day 2 Continued and Day 3
The main hall was a bit disappointing, as it was more business oriented. Products range from new rack mount housing, to management software. As I tried to kill of the remaining 40 minutes before the hall closed, I passed by AG Neovos booth (http://www.neovo.com) and, their booth was lined with nothing but Flat Panel monitors. They had 2 model lines on hand, F-Series, and X-Series. The F-Series was their entry level line, but it had a ton of features to go along with being a basic monitor. Aside from it looking crisp and clear, it had is able to accept multiple input functions (analog, s-video, and component), LCD TV Functionality, Picture in picture, Built in amplifier and speakers with SRS for the 15 model, and WOW and TruBass for the 17. The TV tuner accessory is quite unique, instead of it being a unit that sits on top of lets say your desk, it doubles as picture frame, and so it can be hidden away. The X-Series looked a bit better in terms of image quality, and more eye pleasing in terms of exterior looks. Whats the difference you may wonder, well, for starters, it has NeoV crystal optic filter, which enables it to produce richer vibrant colors, and clearer text, MVA or Multi-domain Vertical Alignment, well, it basically gives you a 160 degree viewing angle and high contrast ration (400:1). It also has multiple input option, LCD TV functionality, and one touch adjustments. Another cool thing is that it had rubber corner edges. The representative I was talking to, said that if you ever drop it, (and lets hope that doesnt happen), it will always fall on the rubber edges, kind of like a cat always landing on its feet. The NeoV is said to be very hard (almost as hard as steel according to their reference sheet, and well, they had a small cut out sample, and, I hit it against the counter, and it didnt break). It also comes in 15 and 17 sizes. It is currently available now in the bigger retail stores. (My apologies, photos came out subpar)
The time spent at Neovos booth pretty much killed of what was left of the day. Exhibitors started to pack up, and well, that signaled me to exit the building. I couldve perused more before closing, but I started trading some palm OS games with the Neovo Rep.
Day 3: June 20
The final day of CeBit, and thus far, its been well, good from my stand point. I was able to talk with a representative, in depth about the products they are showcasing. Well, lets see how day 3 stacks up, as the hours are shorter, and, well, I am just going to be roaming around to see what I have missed.
As I left the previous day, I saw Ahead software, the people that brought us the popular burning software, Nero, was in attendance. So, I decided to make them my first stop of the day. I was briefly shown some of the new features that were added, but was later given a pass to go downstairs for a more in depth demonstration of Nero 6.
declined, and just grabbed myself an ice cold beverage. I sat down with Aheads Vice President of sales Clive Proud, and he showed me what was new with Nero 6 Ultra Edition. My initial impression, well, in short the best just got better. They have basically put everything in this new package, DVD player, backup capabilities, movie editing, a much more powerful sound editing capabilities, and of course, the burning of data, and copying of CDs feature. The most noticeable difference is probably the GUI. They have improved on it, in terms of it being more user friendly. They call this start smart, and it has all the available sub applications that can be found in Nero 6 Ultra Edition. It is also customizable, as you can set your favorite apps to be grouped in one location. So what is included in Ultra Edition, well, lets break it down in sub groups.
Audio
The audio capabilities in Nero 6 UE have been vastly improved. Aside from ripping and downloading music, the editing function is now a bit more powerful. Multi track editing is now available, as well as the familiar cross fade function. Splitting tracks is also present as well as controlling the pauses between tracks (one of the features I loved). MP4 decoding and encoding is also built in, as well as grabbing your old collection of LPs and Tapes, and cleaning it up for CD importing. A jukebox called Nero Mix is also included. You can customize your own play list; adjust eq and sound effects, a visualizer, and its skin able.
Video
Basically a more friendlier version of Windows Movie Maker (able to save files other than WMV format.) It allows you to capture video via USB 1.0, and 2.0, Fire wire, analog, and MPEG 2 capture cards as well as TV tuner cards. If you are worried about hard drive space, well, if you have a DVD recorder, you can directly capture to DVD+R/RW with DVD+VR technology. Very cool feature for those who do not have massive hard drive space. Effects can be done as well as menus and such. Burn to DVD-Video, VCD, and SVCD with the built in MPEG 2 encoder, and it is also packed with Nero Showtime DVD player which plays any DVD format, including Nero Digital.
Photo
A photo slideshow app is also included too. Capture photos from your digital camera, and scanner, and edit them with out having to go to another program (crop, clean up, and special effects). Add music track to your slideshow to fit enhance your presentation. Menus and captions can also be added to the slideshow. Burns to VCD, SVCD or DVD formats, and play it on your pc or set top DVD player.
Data
Data burning now supports the Mt. Rainier (CD-MRW) format. The usual drag and drop capabilities are still present. Create bootable CDs as well as make back up copies of your CD/DVD (Nero states that it wont copy copy-protected CDs and commercial DVDs). One of the new features is that it can automatically check any new data when you put data CD/DVD back in your computer.
Backup
Another new edition to Nero, it has an easy to use interface (explorer style), as well as an available wizard. Multiple back up modes include full, incremental, differential, and update. Automatically back up files with the available job scheduler, as well as back up to multiple CDs and DVDs. Data compression is also on hand so you can fit more to a disc. Password protection can be done for sensitive materials.
A few other notable features are included such as a better Nero Cover Designer, smart detect technology, (it automatically detects what CD/DVD recorder you have on your system and makes it available, new or old), and ultra buffer technology, a separate buffering system aside from your hardwares existing buffer. All in all, Ahead has put together a nice package together, as well as improving on some of Nero 5s already existing features. It will be released on July 18th, available at retail stores, as well as a downloadable demo from their website. It will be priced at $99.00.
