Ceatec to showcase the latest gadgets

Japan's largest electronics show, Ceatec, opens its doors Tuesday to showcase the latest technology in the rapidly-changing IT industry.

More than 200,000 people are expected to visit the exhibition over its five-day run, organizers said Monday. Last year Ceatec attracted 199,680 people so this year's forecast is for an increase on 2005.

There will be 807 companies exhibiting, of which 283 are from overseas. A total of 26 countries are represented. The number of international exhibitors has dropped slightly this year. Organizers said that's because KOTRA (Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency), which in past years brought a number of small Korean companies, isn't attending this year.

"This year we try to focus on the changing lifestyle and business brought about by IT and new products and services," said Atsutoshi Nishida, president of Toshiba and chairman of the Ceatec Japan organizing committee, at a Tokyo news conference Monday.

The show will kick-off with the unveiling by Sony of a new Blu-ray Disc product. Sony hasn't provided any further details of the product but the company is expected to shortly unveil a Blu-ray Disc video recorder. The high-definition recorder was shown in prototype form in August and Sony said it would be on sale in Japan in time for the year-end shopping season.

As in previous years the displays of major electronics companies are likely to be dominated by big-screen LCD (liquid crystal display) and PDP (plasma display panel) television sets. Toshiba and Canon are also due to show a prototype SED (surface-conduction electron-emitter display) panel. The technology is said to be closer to the picture from a traditional CRT (cathode ray tube) than other flat-panel displays and has been shown before but the display on show is promised to be the closest yet to a commercial product.

With terrestrial high-definition digital television broadcasting now well established in Japan the sets and companion digital video recorders feature big in companies' year-end product plans. High-definition camcorders are also likely to be featured as companies begin to push HD for home movie recording.

Ceatec is also about more than just consumer electronics. More than half the show is given over to the companies exhibiting components and parts such as the screens, chips and cables that are integral parts of modern electronics.

Ceatec takes place from Oct. 3 to Oct. 7 at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, near Tokyo. The exhibition will be open to the general public on the final day.