In 1980, this display at the Consumer Electronics Show featured a wall of televisions. (Scott Henry/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
They knew robots were on the way in 1980, when this display was drawing attention at the Consumer Electronics Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center. (Scott Henry/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Before there were Beats, headphone displays like this one from Sony attracted plenty of attention at CES in 1980. (Scott Henry/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Turk Brown of Salt Lake City plays a computer chess game at the Consumer Electronics Show in 1980 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. (Scott Henry/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Innovations in headphones were on display in 1980 at the Consumer Electronics Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center. (Scott Henry/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
By 1987, compact discs were big at the Consumer Electronics Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center. This display featured hundreds of CDs hung from the ceiling. (Jim Laurie/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
A closer look at the hundreds of CDs hung from the ceiling at the 1987 Consumer Electronics Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center. (Jim Laurie/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
A woman plays a video game on an NES console at the 1987 CES show at the Las Vegas Convention Center. (Jim Laurie/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
New models of video cassette recorders are on display at the 1987 CES show at the Las Vegas Convention Center. (Jim Laurie/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Portable AM/FM stereo receivers branded as “Miami Vice” merchandise are displayed at the 1987 CES show at the Las Vegas Convention Center. (Jim Laurie/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Sanyo and Sony are among the big names displaying their products at the 1987 CES show at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Other companies at the show included Casio, Lasonic, Gemini, Fuji, Gold Star (GS), Mura, Konica, Nintendo and Samsung. (Jim Laurie/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
People line up to demo new games for Nintendo’s NES console at the 1987 CES show at the Las Vegas Convention Center. (Jim Laurie/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Sony’s booth at the 1987 CES show proclaims, “Video 8 … You Be the Judge” at the Las Vegas Convention Center. (Jim Laurie/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
A personal TV — a Citizen LCD-TV TB 20 — is on display at the 1987 CES show at the Las Vegas Convention Center. (Jim Laurie/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
A portable Citizen LCD Color Television and Video Monitor TC 50 is displayed at the 1987 CES show at the Las Vegas Convention Center. (Jim Laurie/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
“Wheel of Fortune” co-star Vanna White signs autographs for fans at the 1987 Consumer Electronics Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center. White was the main attraction at a MaxiGuard car security booth. (Jim Laurie/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
The 1993 Consumer Electronics Show featured demonstrations of the Radio Broadcast Data System. The RBDS System transmits several types of data including call letters of the station tuned to, the station’s current program format, select alternate frequencies for translators or other stations carrying the same program, emergency alerts, traffic bulletins, paging information, and business and navigation information. RBDS also has the potential to deliver advertising and other messages to home, car and portable radios. The receivers are expected to be on the market by mid-1993. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Two people play the NHL Stanley Cup game on the Super Nintendo gaming system on a big screen television at the 1993 Consumer Electronics Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
On the last day of the 1994 Consumer Electronics Show, a man plays a Panasonic REAL (Realistic Entertainment Active Learning) game at the Las Vegas Convention Center. (John Gurzinski/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
The 1994 Consumer Electronics Show, sponsored by the Electronics Industry Association, featured video game demos including the Super Nintendo’s “Stunt Race FX.” Jeff Andretti of Nintendo of America plays the game at the Las Vegas Convention Center. (Jeff Scheid/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Coaches, not players, were on the covers of the big NFL video games released around the time that the 1994 Consumer Electronics Show was at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Among the hot topics at the show: establishing a single rating system for home video games to help consumers screen them for adult content. (Wayne C. Kodey/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
For a tech-heavy show, Consumer Electronics Show has always had a cool factor.
Products that surprise are in no short supply. Some are trendy, and some are ahead of their time.
A look back into our photo archives at shows from 1980, 1987, 1993 and 1994 reminds us how times change, and how far technology has advanced since the early visions of big TVs, small radios and cutting edge video games.
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