In two days time, hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world will be pouring into Berlin for IFA 2008. It's the second biggest consumer electronics show in the world - only CES in Las Vegas is bigger.
It's held at Messe Berlin, an exhibition centre spread over millions of square feet, consisting of a series of seriously enormous show halls packed full of towering exhibition stands.
Last year the show was attended by 222,780 visitors, and covered by 6,600 journalists.
Traditionally, many of the worlds' top consumer electronics brands like Sony, Panasonic and Samsung have launched some very exciting products at IFA. Last year, one of the biggest announcements came from Sharp when it unveiled a stunning prototype LCD television panel.
The show starts on Wednesday and lasts for a week. Here are what some of the companies' at this years' show have to say about what they've got coming up.
Panasonic:
"We will unveil our latest digital audio visual products and technologies at IFA this year. As connectivity between High Definition TV and other audio visual products is further enhanced, a whole variety of new features and lifestyle conveniences can be realized, making the viewing experience more real than ever before. Panasonic will showcase these products and technologies at its booth in Hall 5.2 a/b."
Philips:
"Philips will be unveiling lots of new stuff at IFA (as you would expect). One thing which will be on show if the new range of LED backlit TVs. We will also have the new Aurea II TV released. As well as lots of other new technology, I'm afraid I can't specific on any other products. There will also be Seminars on Philips' latest research in the range of TVs and Audio products."
Pioneer:
"We won't actually have a presence at IFA this year. It used to be be-annual so we were there every time, but now it's every year it's harder to justify for us. It's an issue of return of investment. We have already launched all of our 2008 products at previous shows and so we wouldn't have anything to launch anyway. Pioneer displayed its world-beating new super-black and super-thin TV prototypes at CES in January, so we had no real reason to be at IFA as well."
Samsung:
""This year's IFA is set to be bigger and better than ever before. Samsung Electronics will be showcasing the latest innovation and R&D from across a number of product areas.
"President Jongwoo Park will be unveiling ambitious plans for the future of consumer digital benefits during his opening keynote on Friday morning.
"We can expect to see major launches from Samsung across many of our product lines including notebooks, Blu-ray and MP3 technology. Attendees will also get a first glimpse of some major developments in the Consumer TV space, exhibited on the Samsung stand."
