CES NEWS: New TVs, home cinema, hi-fi... and Kevin Costner?

Greetings from not-so-sunny Vegas (still, the locals seem happy with the rain), writes Clare Newsome.

We're here for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the tech-fest that kicks off every year in a blaze of new products and bizarre events. There's a staggering 1.8 million square feet of Show floor to walk, and that's without all the off-Show activity at hotels along the famous Las Vegas 'Strip'.

The Show opens on Monday, but the real fun begins tomorrow, with a whole day of back-to-back press events. Standby for coverage from Sunday evening of new-kit announcements... from:

• LG (thanks for the 8am start, guys!) - including expected high-end home cinema system tie-in with Mark Levinson

• Pioneer - Full HD 42in Kuro plasmas?

• Sharp - expect LCD and Blu-ray announcements

• Toshiba - the cheapest HD DVD player yet?

• Samsung - we've been promised exciting TV and home cinema announcements. Hybrid Blu-ray and HD DVD back on the agenda?

• Panasonic - next-generation Viera flatscreens and more

• Philips - always something surprising. Wireless HD?

• Sony - again, 'surprises' promised.

And that's just the first day!

Other manufacturers we'll be bringing you 2008 product-plans from include Arcam, Denon, Marantz, Meridian, Sonos, iRiver, Linn, SIM2, KEF, Cambridge Audio, Klipsch and many more.

Our colleagues on Stuff will also be bringing you video coverage of the wonderful and weird - the latter hopefully including events as diverse as Yoko Ono launching the John Lennon Education Bus, film director David Lynch talking TVs, and Kevin Costner's band in action (I kid you not).

And talking of music (of a more classic vintage), I'm off to make my annual pilgrimage to the Elvis museum. Viva Las Vegas!

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