For years, Berlin's IFA consumer electronics show resembled a siege, as computers surrounded the traditional living room and threatened the demise of the television as we know it, writes Derek Scallyin Berlin
This year's event could be titled "The Living Room Strikes Back": the latest offerings from Sony, Samsung and friends suggested it is the television that may conquer the computer and not vice versa.
A record 250,000 people surged through the turnstiles of what organisers call the world's largest electronics show. For them and the 1,200 exhibitors, the turnout was a relieving sign that Germany's economic recovery is solidifying.
"There is a trend among German consumers away from the cheap towards quality products," says Rainer Hecker, head of German manufacturer Loewe and chairman of the IFA organising association.
The dominant IFA trend this year was the continued convergence of televisions and computers, but on television's terms. The flat-screen high-definition (HD) televisions were bigger and flatter than ever and, after drastic price cuts in the last two years, IFA exhibitors predicted a further 30 per cent drop in the next 12 months.
Samsung unveiled 52in and 70in models with LED backlit technology with USB 2.0 connections. Sony hit back with a new Bravia range in 46in, 52in and 70in models - in gold, mauve, beige and "gun-metal grey" - with new technology to create a surround sound effect from inbuilt television speakers.
For cable-hating minimalists, LG unveiled the LT75 range of LCD and plasma televisions boasting a dual freeview tuner and an inbuilt 160GB hard drive. That's enough space, company reps said, to record every game of the upcoming Euro 2008 soccer championships.
Sharp thought it had the competition licked with a 108in model but JVC left competitors in its dust with a 110in product using liquid crystal silicon chips to project the image on to the screen.
Philips took another approach, unveiling what it called the world's first 3D television, offering a tentative step into the third dimension without the need for special glasses.
For anyone looking beyond traditional television, Samsung had two new home theatre projectors on display, a €2,000 home model and the top-of-the-range €6,800 SP-A800B, bringing HD resolution (1920x1080 pixels) to a white wall near you.
Samsung and LG signalled a technological truce in the format wars that have confused consumers and delayed the roll-out of HD technology. Samsung's new hybrid HD DVD player (about €1,000) and LG's Super Multi Blue (€1,200) play both HD DVD and Blu-Ray discs.
Over in the camera hall, Casio rose above a blizzard of new models with a prototype of what it calls the fastest digital camera in the world, shooting 60 frames a second. Goodbye to blurry motion pictures!
Meanwhile, Toshiba presented a new 320GB compact laptop hard drive as well as a 1.8in 100 GB model - apparently the smallest high-capacity device in the world which will open the door to a new generation of miniature MP3 devices.
Storage rival SanDisk presented a new SDHC card which bends in two revealing a USB jack to allow direct file transfer to computers. One growing trend this year was a photography verbot in the stands of high-end manufacturers like Loewe, which believes consumers will increasingly look for devices that marry slick technology with sleek design.
"We've reached a level in the market where technological differences are barely distinguishable," said Loewe spokesman Klaus Petri to Spiegel Online, "but we have already experienced how perfect copies of products photographed in our showroom have turned up with competitors."
Among the novelty products, Austrian firm Infactory displayed a motion-sensitive sweatband and alarm clock which wakes the wearer at the end of a sleep cycle, the optimal time to wake up.
For the gamer who has everything, Philips presented AmBX, which blows wind into a players' face during driving games and a waistcoat with eight air chambers to simulate being hit in the gut.
The needless technology favourite was the iLederhosen, marrying the traditional German leather trousers with Apple's MP3 player, with play, stop and skip buttons integrated into the leather below the right-hand pocket.
