More than a dozen Minnesota companies showed off their latest techno-gear at the just-concluded Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Here are some of the things they exhibited, based on reports:

3M
The Maplewood-based behemoth often provides the workings for other company’s tech products. So it came as no surprise that 3M not only showed its prototype for a tiny projector small enough to fit inside a smart phone but also that it could sell the technology to other companies to use in their devices. 3m also showed its latest advancements in touch screens and 3-D technology.

Audio Research
The Plymouth-based maker of high-end hi-fi gear showed off the CD8, a new CD player that sells for just under $10,000. But if you have to ask how much it costs, you probably can’t hear any difference between it and a $25 player sold at Wal-Mart.

Bel Canto
Another maker of high-end audio, the Minneapolis-based company showed off the USB Link 24/96, a $495 device that connects between a computer and preamp to provide high-quality sound from computer-sourced audio, such as MP3s. Interesting comments from Stereophile readers on the linked post, one raving about the device (”works fantastic and sounds even better than that”) and one scoffing at it (”Since this only converts one form of digital data to another, it’s hard to believe this could sound very different from any other usb-soundcard offering digital out”). 

Canton
Canton is a well-known German maker of high-end speakers, which are distributed stateside by its Minneapolis-based division. Its CES focus was its new Reference 3.2 DC loudspeakers, which go for a cool $16,000 a pair. Their design includes a 1-inch ceramic tweeter, a 7-inch aluminum mid-range driver and two aluminum 9-inch woofers.

Hearing Components
The Oakdale-based spinoff of 3M showed its headphones and accessories that use its Comply Foam technology, as I wrote about recently here.

Innovelis
Like Hearing Components, the Blaine-based Innovelis sells accessories that make iPod’s pack-in earphones better. In this case, its $9 BudFits are clips that turn the Apple earphones into an over-the-ear design. They earned praise from MSN Tech for their usefulness.

Sanus
The Roseville-based company displayed its many accessories, mounts and furnishings for AV gear, high- and low-end. Its equipment uses proprietary technology to make assembly easy, whether done by pros or do-it-yourselfers.

Magnepan
This longtime White Bear Lake maker of flat-panel speakers wasn’t at CES but instead headed to T.H.E. Show, a competing Las Vegas expo for smaller companies specializing in high-end audio. I haven’t been able to find any follow-up, but last week, Stereophile wrote, “Chief among T.H.E. Show’s attractions will be Magnepan’s introduction of its new ‘mystery speaker,’ powered by Bryston’s new 28B-SST 1000W monoblocks.” “Never seen or heard before!” crowed THE Show’s website.

Technobabble pal Don Lindich has checked in from Las Vegas to note that this year’s Consumer Electronics Show is a wee bit on the slow side — OK, actually, a snooze, according to Don and colleagues. Between the economy and having a glut of tech stuff coming out last year, I think everyone is scaling back. That goes for the people covering it, too, because the floors seems to be not as crowded as last year, based on reports.

Also at CES, the Digital Entertainment Group announced the winners of its Creative Excellence Awards, for which I am one of the judges:

Theatrical DVD: WALL-E
Catalog DVD: Touch of Evil
TV DVD: The Sopranos: The Complete Series
Direct to DVD: Futurama: Bender’s Game
Music DVD: Shine a Light
Blu-ray: Sleeping Beauty

Looking back at my picks, my choices won for theatrical, direct and music. On catalog, I considered Touch of Evil, but so many of the nominees, including it, were merely special-edition re-releases that I went for Murnau, Borzage and Fox, which most voters never saw. The TV award was a joke. The Sopranos was merely an expensive repackaging of previously released discs, plus some new bonus material. Mad Men was much more deserving. Sleeping Beauty was a fine Blu-ray, but I’m not sure how WALL-E can win top theatrical and then not win for Blu-ray, which added even more incredible features. The Dark Knight was shut out, but DEG gave it a “best in show” award — a category not up for vote.

Finally, another source to add for CES coverage — besides the ones I listed Thursday – is Dealnews.

The Consumer Electronics Show begins officially today in Las Vegas. It’s the world’s largest display of all of the new and often exciting techno-gear we’ll see in the coming year and beyond. Based on the avalanche of press releases I’ve received, HD Radio is getting a big push at this year’s expo, but there will be much better stuff than that. You’ll see daily reports at news sites such as the Star Tribune. For blow-by-blow accounts of every little thing, though, check out the official CES site, CNET, Yahoo Tech, Engadget, Gizmodo and Don Lindich’s Sound Advice blog. From their reports through Sunday, I’ll spotlight a handul of products that pique my interest in Tuesday’s paper.

After recent news of the impending death of the high-def disc format HD DVD, I wrote: “If you bought an HD DVD player, especially during the recent price drops, figure that you got a good deal on a decent upconverting player that will make standard DVDs look sharp on your HDTV.”

Apparently, Toshiba, the major backer of HD DVD, is thinking the same thing. The company announced today that it has cut the price of its new line of HD DVD players by 50 percent of their original price just a few months ago — from $150 for the entry-level HD-A3 to $300 for the slick HD-A35. And, get this — as observers such as High Def Digest and Don Lindich were quick to point out — it also played up the fact that the players do a nifty job of making standard DVDs look swell on HDTVs by up-converting their resolution. Just keep in mind that you’ll see the benefits of this feature only if you send the video signal to your display via an HDMI cable.  

Amazon is already selling the HD-A3 for $132 with free shipping. Don notes that Costco has it for $129. Plus there are all kinds of rebates to get 5 to 7 free HD DVDs with a player purchase. The retail price of those free discs exceeds the price of the player. Heck, pretty soon, Toshiba just might pay you to go HD DVD. 

Bad news: DVD sales were down in 2007. Good news: DVDs are still the biggest entertainment format — by far.

One of the things lost amid all of the cool new products debuted at the recent Consumer Electronics Show was the Digital Entertainment Group’s annual report on DVD sales for the previous year. Total consumer spending on DVDs in 2007, including the new high-def formats and rentals, was $23.7 billion, according to DEG. That’s down from $24.2 billion in 2006. (The peak year for the format was $24.5 billion in 2004.)

Sure, DVD sales continued their slight downward trend in 2007, but consumers still spend more on them than any other entertainment format. For example:

Video games: They are the closest competition that I can find. Final figures aren’t in for 2007, although they are expected to be close to a record-setting $19 billion. But a huge caveat is that about half of that figure is for sales of relatively expensive systems and accessories. It also doesn’t include rentals of games. On a comparable figure for just software, video games will probably be right around $10 billion for 2007.  

Music: No monetary figures have been reported for 2007; the industry always wants to express things in terms of albums sold. But with fewer than 600 million albums sold in 2007 (including digital downloads, with 10 songs equaling one album) at an average price of, say, $15-$18, that’s a total of $9 billion to $10.8 billion. 

Books: This is another hard one to figure, because there is no standardized reporting and figures haven’t been listed for 2007. But 2006 sales for reading books (not textbooks, professional books, etc.) was $16.6 billion, according to one study.

Movies: In a record year, Hollywood posted box-office revenues of less than $10 billion for the film industry in 2007.

Theater: Again, no standardized reporting is done nationwide. But Broadway just reported a record year of less than $1 billion in 2007. Adding community and regional theaters across the country surely wouldn’t rival any of the figures above.

Sports: Baseball and the NFL are widely considered to be the biggest thing going, and their recent annual revenues were right around $6 billion each.

To a casual observer like me, DVDs still look pretty darn good. Hollywood doesn’t agree. It’s not enough that people spend more on DVDs; the studios want continued growth. That’s why they’re pushing new high-def discs to reinvigorate the format.

HD DVD’s rejection by Warner Home Video was the biggest story, by far, out of the Consumer Electronics Show, which ended today. Here’s a mop-up of the fallout after the largest home-video company decided to offer its sole support to the competing Blu-ray Disc, based on online reports and anecdotes from industry observers who attended the annual trade show in Las Vegas:

Following suit: As expected, HBO Video and New Line Home Entertainment, which are separately run companies under Warner Home Video, also have dropped HD DVD in favor of Blu-ray. New Line had issued only one HD DVD title, Pan’s Labyrinth, which it also released in Blu-ray.

Big money: Despite Warner denying it and original Blu-ray backer Sony remaining mum, rumors swirled around CES that Warner received a $500 million payout to go Blu-ray-only. If so, that would buy a lot of appetizers for Warner Bros.’ upcoming 85th-anniversary bash.

Big storm: Oddly, in its first release announcement since its sudden decision, Warner says it will finally issue the oft-delayed high-def title “Twister” in both Blu-ray and HD DVD formats on May 6. The tornado-chasing movie was a huge demo title that got the original DVD format off the ground in the late ’90s, so its ironic that it will be one of the last HD DVD releases for Warner.

Say nothing: Warner’s announcement left Universal and Paramount (with DreamWorks) as the only major backers of HD DVD. But neither studio has said a thing about its HD DVD plans, despite CES being the usual platform for announcing upcoming titles. Paramount has issued statements offering weak support for HD DVD, but many people see their silence as a sign that they plan to drop HD DVD support soon, too. They have no other choice with Blu-ray getting all the props. Paramount reportedly received a large payout to go HD DVD-only, so it will be interesting to see how that might complicate such a move.

Blu-ray bigger: This week’s positive news has emboldened the Blu-ray camp to predict that by the end of this year, 10 million Blu-ray players, including the PlayStation 3, will have been sold to that date.

Oh, yes: In a report from PC Magazine about how the adult-video industry has so far generally remained on the sidelines in the high-def war, one industry exec said that porn’s likely move to Blu-ray would be one big shrug. “Blu-ray is ‘a little bit of a headache’ because of royalty fees, but it’s ’six of one, a half dozen of the other’ with the format wars,” said Jeff Thill of the Hustler Video Group, according to PC Mag. But he added that at least Blu-ray “sounds sexier.”  

Forget HD: Some industry observers insist that even with Blu-ray as the apparent winner of the high-def war, its fortunes will last only a few years — if it even takes off with the mass market. The reason? Consumers are moving toward downloadable video, just as they have with music. Says Iowa electronics retailer Michael Fischer, who would seem to have a vested interest in selling Blu-ray players:

“Yes, I know, Wal-Mart just threw in the towel on the [video-download] business. The problem is that right now, most people can download movies to their computer, but that’s where it stalls out. People want to watch movies on their TVs, not their computers. Manufacturers are aware of this and are looking to address it. This is a ‘quantum leap’ kind of challenge that impacts not just retailers but the end users — that means you, the person who loves consumer electronics.”

High Def Digest has been doing a great job of keeping up with developments in the high-def war, so be sure to check it out for regular coverage.