Hands-on with Hitachi prototypes

Hitachi showed tech demos of upcoming products, many already available in Japan.

Hitachi — like Toshiba — chose to show off technology demos of products that do not have a model number yet. Interestingly, while their booths were filled with products already available on the market, the tech demos were getting most of the attention. For Hitachi, a remarkable gesture technology was on display.

With partners GestureTek and Canesta, the company has a new remote control system where you just use your hands. Essentially, it’s a 3D camera with IR that scans for movement in the correct pattern. Wave at the screen, and you see a menu. Push to select, and move your hand in a circle to switch channels. To access volume controls, you move your hand in a vertical wave. The technology is called “time of flight” and points to a near future where losing the remote will be no problem at all. In tests, the control system worked flawlessly, but has limited options.

Another product called Super Resolution will upscale SD and HD content. It’s essentially a noise filtering system not that different from a high-pass effect in Photoshop. Even an HD resolution video in 1080p looked noticeably clearer. For an SD signal, the effect was more dramatic.