Recap from CEDIA 2010

We attended the CEDIA convention in Atlanta, GA the last week of September.  This convention is one of the largest shows in our industry.  It gives us an opportunity to preview and research newly released equipment.  CEDIA also offers numerous continuing education opportunities so we can stay up to date in our ever changing industry.

We thought a quick overview from the show floor might be of interest:

Projection Systems

3D video was a hot topic again.  All of the big hitters were showing off their latest advancements.  Runco and Digital Projection both had dual-imaging 3D projection setups running.  Digital Projection also had native 2.35:1 projectors running without an anamorphic lens attachment with an impressive resolution of 2560 x 1080.

JVC announced  the DLA-X9, DLA-X7, and DLA-X3 series are aimed at the consumer market. The company says that these D-ILA models have been completely redesigned to meet the challenges of 3D, with a new lamp and optical system, among other improvements. The estimated release date for these projectors is late November.

Kaleidescape

Kaleidescape continues their expansion of Blu-Ray compatibility.  They have recently announced a new mini player with the new interface an Blu-Ray support.

Kaleidescape also has released a  children’s interface and dedicated children’s remote.  The beauty of this system is three-fold. First, it gives children a remote that they can call their own, and even a toddler can use it. Second, parents dictate which titles are available for viewing through the children’s interface through a simple setup menu. And third, to launch the graphics-only interface, a child simply hits any button on the remote. From there, kids can easily pick movies based on the cover art.

LCD / LED

Panasonic is not making the all out attempt for ultra thin chassis like many other manufacturers.  Panasonic plasmas had some of the best flat HDTV images you could see at the show with their plasmas. The 65” plasma was the “picture quality” star of the show. However, the real show stopper at CEDIA was a 152”, yes 152”,  plasma that does 3D, 2K and 4K resolutions. Unlike past showings of the 103-inch plasma, the 152 was good all the way out to the edges of the screen.

Samsung was also a big hit with their ultra, ultra thin (.31” deep) LED.  This TV has good picture quality, is 3D compliant, and the thinnest chassis available.  The LED’s and plasmas were as good as expected.

Speakers

Triad introduced their new “invisible” speaker this year.  The speakers showed good response and audio quality. The Designer Series offers a totally concealed audio solution that allows complete interior design flexibility without the visible presence of speakers.

We will be adding Definitive Technology speakers to our product line up in the near future.  These speakers will give us another quality choice for our clients.  Definitive has expanded the XTR line to include models from the larger XTR-60 down to the smaller XTR-20.  The entire line is ultra slim and will pair well with the new ultra flat TV’s.

If you would like more information on these or any other product, we would be happy to answer any questions.