The convention has never been bigger. Around 140,000 attendees will trudge through 1.85 million square feet of exhibition space. But despite its size, or maybe because of it, the conference has become a challenging and sometimes ineffectual place to introduce products.

The show, which started in 1967, was once a springboard for the industry’s successes, like the VCR in 1970, the compact disc player in 1981 and the DVD in 1996. Now, electronics makers and industry analysts say the show has become so loud, sprawling and preoccupied with technical esoterica that for many companies, it is as much a place to get lost as to get discovered.

Part of the problem is that technology has wormed its way into so many products that it is hard to say what an electronics trade show should be about. “Everything has morphed into it,” said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at JupiterResearch, who is skipping the show after attending for four years. “You’ve got a 150-inch plasma screen and next to it some guy selling electronic toothbrushes.”

Technology companies frequently introduce products elsewhere to reach consumers more directly. The Apple iPhone, the Nintendo Wii and other recent must-haves were not unveiled at CES. One of the industry’s biggest hits in 2007 was the Flip Video camcorder, an easy-to-use pocket-size device that sells for $120.

Executives from Pure Digital Technologies, its maker, visited Las Vegas last year but kept to their hotel, briefing retailers on the device. The company introduced the camera in June with a television ad campaign, and stellar word of mouth landed it in the hands of an enthusiastic Oprah Winfrey on her show in October.

Gary Shapiro, chief executive of the Consumer Electronics Association, which runs the show, said sales of recent hit products pale in comparison to the revenue from broad categories like high-definition televisions, which are a big part of the CES scene.

But many products introduced here, rather than representing quantum leaps, are incremental enhancements or important technical changes that may not register immediately with consumers.

That incremental approach is perhaps one reason that news from last year’s electronics show was definitively drowned out by a much smaller gathering — Macworld in San Francisco, where Apple introduced the iPhone.

“Apple stole CES last year as its message was simple and succinct,” said Rob Enderle, an analyst with the Enderle Group. “CES does not have a crystal-clear message. There’s too much information, and it looks like you have to get a PhD to get these things to work.”

Todd Thibodeaux, senior vice president for industry relations at the Consumer Electronics Association, said the big issues at this year’s show would revolve around the marriage of hardware and content. Consumer electronics makers, he said, will unveil and pursue partnerships with cable, satellite and phone providers, as well as media companies. “It’s the biggest comparison-shopping floor in the world of consumer electronics,” Thibodeaux said. “In terms of major innovations, there are more than ever.”

But will the show produce a big hit product? “I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s related to WiMax,” a new wide-scale wireless technology, Thibodeaux said.

"Such events do not have a crystal clear message. There is too much information, and it looks like you have to get a PhD to get these things to work"