Kitsch and culture collide

By CHRIS BARTON

One of the most startling moments at Philip's "Immersive Expressive" media conference in Thailand last week was in the PC peripherals session.

Showing off new flat panel TV/PC screens and emphasising how "slim and seductive" the monitors are, the presenter pulled back a curtain to reveal a slim and seductive Thai model wearing nothing but a black micro mini skirt, high heels and a flat screen.

Accompanied by the advertising tag line "Turn me on", she then stroked other screens on the wall.

It was impossible to take your eyes off her impressive liquid crystal display.

It wasn't the only moment kitsch and culture collided. At the gala dinner held in Bangkok's famous Rose Gardens and attended by about 100 journalists from the Asia Pacific region the finale was "It's a small world after all" - played with traditional Thai instruments (a plinky plonky sort of sound) and interpreted by traditional costumed Thai dancers. When the flags of all the nations unfurled at the hands of the graceful women dancers, there was a gasp of delight from the audience. It felt like Disneyland.

Such are the joys of the consumer electronics conference - standard fare for most global manufacturers which often fly in dealers and media to the one event to promote their latest wares.

As with most conferences there are themes - "digital home entertainment" and the more obtuse "digital personal expression.".

This seems aimed at youth culture and involves the delicate balance of being both in the tribe and an individual.

The just announced partnership between Philips and Nike is an example - involving wearing cool Nike/Philips Mp3 audio players strapped to your bicep while being athletic.

Which cues the Philips wearable electronics collection: "Say 'no' to stress and 'yes' to fashion in a cream kimono with a conductive embroidered spine at the back that can dispense an electrostatic charge.

"This creates a tingling sensation - for the ultimate relax-while-you-walk experience."

There's also the change-colour-while-you-dance experience, walk-while-you-download experience, and the experience-while-you-wear experience.

Why am I at a consumer electronics show? Because of convergence - the digital melting pot of PC, phone and TV into something new and fabulous.

This year, as well as new sleek and seductive monitors, convergence brings better quality audio, more recordable DVD, format wars and "discussion" with the content industry.

The discussion is about the thorny issue of copyright protection being built in to CD and DVD (digital video disk) players or disks and sometimes both.

Like the farcical "zone" scheme for DVD - whereby the movie industry has divided the world into six regions.

In theory, New Zealanders can play only region four DVDs on players designed just for those disks. But in practice nearly all DVD players sold here are multi-zone - and if they're not a quick visit to the internet will soon provide instructions on how to make them so.

That means if you've legitimately bought a region one DVD in the United States or over the internet you can still play it on a local purchased player.

But there are many anomalies: Like the problem with PC DVD players. Unlike standalone consumer DVD players, the PC variety isn't multi-zone and makes you choose your zone after three or four plays of a disk.

So far, I haven't found a web site with information on how to disable this censorship device.

Philips and others have also introduced recordable DVD players.

Great for recording TV soap operas but copying DVD movies is not allowed. More "discussion" required.

It's a similar story with CD and MP3 players. So far, copyright protection on CD audio disks and players has been limited, but the practice is growing.

This month for example, Sony is releasing a copy-protected version of Celine Dion's latest album in Europe, using technology that won't allow it to be played on computers.

That resulted in Philips warning record labels that non-standard CDs cannot carry the "Compact Disc" logo that has been stuck on every audio disk since Philips and Sony invented the CD in 1978.

But it doesn't stop there. Nearly all the major labels are experimenting with ways to stop sharing of their products over the internet through the MP3 format and peer-to-peer networks such as KaZaA and Grokster.

But many consumers believe they have some right to copy their own CDs - such as making a disk with a mix of favourite songs, copying music to their PCs (and backing up the hard drive) or transferring tunes to a portable MP3 player. "Discussion" is ongoing.

Another area that can stuff it up for the consumer is the conflicting DVD and high quality audio CD format wars. Six different formats are available for DVD recordable.

4.3). Philips and a gang of eight heavyweights including Sony are pushing DVD+RW which has the big plus of being able to play on host of other players, whereas other recordable formats such as Panasonic's DVD-Ram will play only on DVD-Ram players. If it all sounds like a repeat of the Betamax versus VHS video tape format wars, that's because it is.

It's the same in the high-end audiophile market where super audio CD (promoted by Philips) is battling for market share with DVD audio for the ears of those who crave multi-channel surround sound.

But of course the big question is will we get the "turn me on" ad campaign downunder? "Definitely not, "says Philips New Zealand managing director Errol McKenzie. "When we saw that material we sent it right back. We're doing something with a gymnast to emphasise the screen's sleekness and flexibility."

In New Zealand even PC screens have to be PC.

* Chris Barton attended "Immersive Expressive" as a guest of Philips.

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