CES 2007 HD Sports Showcase

I have to admit I am a CES virgin but a veteran to many, many tradeshows. This however is Disneyland. No really, its just like disneyland but with older, more angry people waiting in longer lines just to get in a friggin taxi with angry driver guy who says at the end of your ride "sorry, no change-only 20s". Once you get past all of the waiting just to get to the convention center you start to feel a buzz from all of the people outside of the convention center. It builds and builds until you finally see your first huge HDTV display and then you know you have arrived. That and the booth babes vying for attention.....but I digress.

This truly is heaven for any fan of Consumer Electronics or just a fan of technology in general. There is so much to see and so many companies desperately seeking support from a base of big spending customers. For me it took all day and a random chance meeting with FOX Sports to find my product of the show. For a sports fan there isn't anything close.


Within the giant Microsoft booth (and trust me it is HUGE) there are various small stations that showcase the abilities of the new Vista plugins offered through free Media Center downloads. Ignoring the Spongebob Squarepants and Vongo Download options I noticed a guy in a Fox Sports polo standing by a HDTV displaying the revolution. Speaking with FOX I learned that Fox Sports has built on their established relationship with Microsoft (msn.foxsports.com), teamed up with a company called Frog Design to produce a software package that allows you to not only watch live sports programming but also interact with stats and scores from national sources. This means that if you are watching tonights National Championship game between Florida and Ohio State and you are wondering why Troy Smith cannot keep from getting his face smashed into the turf repeatedly, just browse through a menu and you will notice that Ted Ginn Jr. (primary WR) has left the game with an injury.

On top of just looking at stats you are able to check what games are on later, check scores with a rolling bar on top, check news and stories for all sports, check non-sports news with a rolling bar at the bottom and most of all for you fantasy junkies, an amazing section to show your fantasy stats. All you will need is a computer connected to a TV source like cable or sattelite and Vista running. (yes absolutely HD can be displayed) There is so much to this interface that there is no way for us to tell you in few words.....but rather we are promised an in depth product review prior to launch later this month. Excuse me while I do more mental backflips. HiDef.com will provide this exclusive as soon as we are able to work with the folks at Microsoft and you will get a sneak peak at the revolution of TV programming but more importantly the way you watch sports.

Just to add an update in case people are wondering why I didnt mention the other half of the sports content in the HTPC space. Yahoo was also showcasing a sports plugin similar to the FoxSports media center feature but it was nowhere near the level that Fox is at. (launched later this month)

First off it was not a working sample displaying live video feeds and the data they displayed made the program look like a pre-beta sample. This yahoo sports feature needs a lot of work and some streamlining but its always good to have some competition in this space to drive innovation. Just the same I will try and get my hands on a live demo but I think it may take some time.