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The current leader in subscription video streaming is Netflix, and today at its Las Vegas hotel suite we saw some of the technology it's planning to stay a step ahead of the competition this year. First up was one of the most widely requested features -- the ability to set up individual profiles for different family members, complete with their own queues and recommendations. The profiles can be set up on device or on the Netflix site, with toggles for a preference to its Just for Kids menu UI, as well as asking a bit about your preferred movies to seed initial recommendations.

We also got an eyeful of the new "Super HD" 1080p streaming, and although network issues kept us from getting a true gauge of the quality, we did confirm that the new max bitrates are well above the old "X-High" standards. Another thing we confirmed? That Cablevision and Google Fiber aren't the only US ISPs on its Open Connect list -- check the site to see if yours is.There was also a screen in the Samsung booth showing "early results" of their combined work on 4K video, but since it wasn't actually streaming there's not much to see.

Netflix was even showing off 3D streaming, and although we weren't able to confirm the type of compression being used (top/bottom, side by side or something else) we did watch it and it was mostly clear with only a few hints of ghosting. There are apparently several dozen 3D titles available to start, although customer reaction may dictate when/if more are added. The second screen experience we've seen on the PS3 was also shown working with Samsung TVs, in much the same manner. One thing that could make it better however, is the DIAL multiscreen initiative it's pushing with YouTube. If picked up as a standard, it would let you automatically launch these streaming services on a mobile device, and make them start playing on compatible TVs without having to launch the app on the TV first.

Not enough good news? Netflix also announced a launch date for another original series, Hemlock Grove, which hits April 19th (trailer after the break), and dropped the news that we'll be getting 14 new eps of Arrested Development in May. We expect to hear a bit more about all of that later in 2013, but if you want a preview of the features we saw then just check out the gallery.

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Pre-CES rumors suggested Intel would announce a "virtual cable" service (before being stamped out) but the partnership with Comcast it actually revealed turned out to be far more conventional. Very similar to the tru2way multiroom box Intel demonstrated back at IDF in 2009, the Multi-Screen Video Gateway by Arris capitalizes on DLNA standards -- touted by the alliance earlier today -- to bring video to virtually any device in your home. It's "headless", because it's not built to connect directly to any TV, just shoved somewhere out of sight while you tune in on your various screens. Of course, these demos have been here before and the DTCP-IP technology behind it isn't particularly new either, so why could 2013 finally be the year we see these features roll out from major providers?

As cited in the earlier press release, DirecTV has released Genie DVRs loaded with RVU that pushes video directly to TVs and even the PS3 in the past year, providing one example of the tech in action. The updated FCC IP interface requirements and continued work on the DLNA Premium Content guidelines are also forcing progress forward, albeit slowly. Finally, there's some hope that the CE and cable industry can actually work together, as seen in Comcast's RDK program that's pushing the development of this box and others (like that Humax box we spotted floating through the FCC) with similar capabilities. The box was running Comcast's new X1 cloud-based guide which has seen a limited rollout so far, but because of how it works is more easily accessed and updated on connected devices. Of course even with all that, we've been down this road before (again and again and again and again) so despite a slick demo we'll withhold excitement until hardware is actually released.

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We caught up with Verizon at the booth and had a chance to spend some time with the new whole-home HD DVR and its clients, we were expecting last year. The VMS1100 media server features six tuners and a 1TB hard drive. You can connect up to five Motorola Medios+ IPC1100 IP-based set-top boxes to it to expand your DVR's reach to six TVs. Not enough for you? Well, you can actually setup two Media Servers in your house and then scale the system up to 12 TVs. The experience on the clients is nearly identical to that of the TV connected to the server. The whole thing works over IP and with built-in MoCA it'll run over the existing coax cables in your house. The user interface on the Home Media Server and clients is based on HTML5, which we're told is why it's so snappy and switches so quickly between other apps like YouTube and HSN's Shop By Remote.

What's odd is that the IPC1100 client has a tuner, but it's unused. Instead, the client relies on the server's tuner for live TV. One other unused feature is the server's ability to transcode. Although, Verizon did seem to intent to leverage this down the road, perhaps to prepare transfers to a portable devices for offline viewing. An exact release date wasn't something Verizon wanted to talk about, but it's expected to roll out this year, and presumably it'll be a staged rollout as we've seen in the past. The whole-home DVR is expected to be offered as a premium over the existing offering, but exactly how much more it'll cost is unknown.

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The HR34 hasn't been around that long, but DirecTV is showing the replacement at CES, the HR44. The new box does just about everything the HR34 does, including record five HD shows at once to a 1TB hard drive, but in a smaller package. The small package also happens to be almost fan less -- there is an emergency fan that is designed to only turn on in extreme cases -- and has a faster chip. This speed improvement is noticeable on both the main TV in your house, as well as on the various clients. Speaking of which, in addition to the DirecTV C31 set-top box and 2012 Samsung HDTVs, the new 2013 Samsung and Sony HDTVs -- as well as the PS3 -- can also connect directly to the HR44 (and older HR34) and deliver the entire DirecTV Genie experience. Inside you'll find integrated WiFi, but no internal power supply. We're told that an external power supply helps keep the heat down inside, and you can see in the images below, there are large heat sinks either side and a heat pump to cool the processor. No word on price, but we'd suspect it'll be the same as the HR34 -- free for new customers, up to $300 for existing -- and we could only nail them down to "this year" in regards to availability.

In what could even be called a bigger change, is the new remote. A new simpler design, it fits perfectly in the hand. We have to say it is a sight for sore eyes to see a remote with less buttons, but we're sure more than a few people will complain about missing their favorite button. The volume and channel rockers are very small and notable. They actually click as they are pushed up and down proving great feedback, even when you aren't looking at it. We'll have to wait until we can use it for more than a moment before we're ready to say this simpler design is actually superior, but we like the direction they're going here.

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The majority of Sharp's area on the CES show floor is taken up by its 2013 consumer AQUOS range, but hidden in dark corners are tech demos, concept panels, and ridiculously priced displays. One demonstration set is split into two sections, comparing the company's next-gen Quattron yellow sub-pixel technology with the current generation. Did the color's look great? For sure. Did it look like the current-gen Quattron had been made intentionally low quality? Definitely. The two-faced demo TV also had the glare-reducing Moth-Eye technology on board, as did a 70-inch UHDTV concept model which a Sharp rep called "just an exercise in engineering." It wasn't exactly gasp-inducing, but the anti-reflective tech was certainly working. Finally, hidden behind a curtain and crammed into a small pitch-black room (literally) were a bunch of Sharp's "Integrated Cognitive Creation" (ICC) 60-inch 4K LCDs. The hook of the ICC PURIOS is that it upscales 1080p to 4K, and will do so for only $25,000 - $30,000 when it launches in the US this summer. We couldn't really tell the difference between the HD and 4K pictures, but maybe we should've brought a microscope for a more thorough analysis.

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When you're surrounded by huge 4K TVs cranked to retina-damaging brightness, it's easy to get desensitized to the high resolution. But, when you are standing in front of a 32-inch monitor (31.5-inch to be exact) at that same resolution, it's a whole different story. In the gargantuan halls of CES, Sharp is showing off the 4K-resolution low-power IGZO LCD panels it announced November last year. They had two touchscreen versions on show -- one for Windows 7 and another for Windows 8 -- as well as one non-touch model. The touch versions were also slightly different in that you can lie them horizontally if you need to. Honestly, the resolution and color reproduction on the panels were absolutely incredible. They looked so good, in fact, that I fantasized about tearing it from the table and making a break for it, if only for a second.

That's the only way I could end up "owning" one, as the non-touch model will be "at least" $5500 when it launches in February, and the touch models will be "at least" $1000 more when they arrive sometime in Q2. They aren't really intended for general consumption, anyway, but for the medical sector, serious design pros and other commercial uses. The pics we got of them can be found in the gallery below, but unfortunately, it was hard to do the displays justice in the crowded, dimly lit Sharp den.

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Who doesn't want to be able to watch whatever they want, in any room that they want? Of course this was possible for years using TiVo's Multi-Room Viewing, but that required multiple DVRs which meant multiple Now Playing lists and multiple ToDo lists -- not to mention other costs. In comes the TiVo Mini, a smaller, more efficient set-top box that extends your TiVo Premiere into other rooms of the house. The Mini can connect to the TiVo via Ethernet or coax (MoCA) and has HDMI output as well as component and composite (via a dongle). The box is a trapezoid shape, so don't try stacking anything on it, and is about four times as wide and deep as the TiVo Stream and about the same height -- and of course uses the famous TiVo peanut remote.

The TiVo Mini is expected to ship this Spring, and the price is still yet to be determined. At launch, the Mini will take over one of the four tuners of the XL4 if you want to watch live TV on it, but dynamic tuner allocation is on the road map or you can just choose to use it to watch recorded TV, etc. The XL4 will support two Minis and can work with them both at the same time, and you can easily configure the Mini to switch to any TiVo in your house. The experience is almost identical to that of the Premiere, except its much faster. The only missing features are the Premiere's Live TV window in the menus and not all the streaming apps that the Premiere has will make it to the Mini -- have to wait for launch for a list.

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