2009 is the Year of the Connected Living Room

I’m back from CES 2009. I recovered from walking 46 miles in a day, I got the smell of cigars and roulette out of my sweaters, and I found a box to hold all of the free USB drives I picked up on the show floor. Now it’s business time.

This year’s Consumer Electronics Show was certainly not spared from the recession, but it still occupied an area measured in football fields. All of the big guys as well as their scrappy challengers were in attendance, hawking their latest and greatest to retail buyers, gadget freaks, and industry experts. The trends this year: ecotech, quasi-3D, and broadband connectivity in the living room. A few highlights from the latter:

Sony appears to have realized that their $300 BRAVIA Internet Video Link that was released in 2007 was an epically silly idea. They announced integrations that will bring Amazon Video on Demand, YouTube, Yahoo, and Slacker right to select TVs.

Panasonic announced their integrations with Amazon Video on Demand, YouTube, and Picassa on their line of TVs with ‘VieraCast’.

Samsung BD-P3600

Samsung unveiled a new line of gorgeous Blu-ray players that allow for easy access to Netflix and Pandora in a sleek, shiny black package.

LG launched NetCast, a service that will ship with select LCD and plasma TVs, that brings Netflix, YouTube, Flickr, and Yahoo widgets to the set. It also allows users to access photos and music stored on their PC over a home network.

Boxee opened their previously private alpha for Mac and Linux users to all who want to join and began their private alpha for Windows users. They also announced integrations with MTV Music, Joost, and BBC iPlayer (UK only). If you’re unfamiliar with Boxee, it’s a free program that enables users to access video from services like Hulu, Comedy Central, and CBS in a couch-navigable interface.

Netgear, who is most well known for their home networking products, launched their Internet TV Player. The aptly (but blandly) named box appears identical to the VuNow Pod, a recently-released Roku competitor from Verisimo Networks, and facilitates access to a plethora of services including Hulu and YouTube. It was also the only device that features live video, though that did not work during the demo I received. Although it’s clear that there is a relationship between Netgear and VuNow, the product rep refused to discuss what that deal looked like. VuNow is still selling their ‘Pods’ for $99, a full 100 bucks less than the ostensibly identical Netgear box.

It was a big show and I obviously wasn’t able to see everything. Did I miss something that’s worth sharing? Let me know in the comments!