The world is exploding with "must have" digital media services and products: digital TV; high-definition TVs, optical discs and gaming devices; portable media players, digital still cameras and camcorders. Along with this comes all the jargon, like HD, HDMI, Blu-ray, HD DVD, 1080p, LCD, DLP, MP3, AVC, VC-1, Dolby Digital. And amid all of this, we hear that analog TV will be "turned off" in February, 2009. What does all of this mean to you and me? How do we separate the hype from reality so that we can make informed buying decisions?

In this talk, Dr. Michael Isnardi of Sarnoff Corporation will provide insight into these issues. First, he will explain the need for compression in consumer electronic (CE) products and services and will highlight the development of international compression standards that allow CE products to be manufactured cost effectively and to interoperate with each other.

The various digital TV (DTV) standards in the U.S. will then be covered, with emphasis on HDTV broadcast content. The implications of the analog shut-down will be discussed.

Then the new, competing high-def optical disc formats - Blu-ray and HD DVD - will be reviewed, as will HD camcorders and consumer interface technologies, such as HDMI. The latest HD display technologies (LCD, plasma, DLP) will be discussed, including up-to-date information on what CE manufacturers are doing to improve their quality.

Finally, highlights from the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show will be presented, offering a glimpse of what you may be seeing on the store shelves later this year.