Recently Filed in Shows and Expos

Sony, Crestron, SpeakerCraft, Mitsubishi, Toshiba, JVC, Lutron ... those and other top brands have been covered fairly extensively since CEDIA Expo 2009, where they all announced important new products. We’ve already covered a couple of editors’ picks for five favorites and the 15 coolest products at CEDIA. Editor Julie Jacobson even went so far as to pick out eight of the new products that she’d really like to have in her own house. And if you’re into the whole networked content thing, we detailed 11… View this story
Shows and Expos • Product News • Slideshows

Most electronics installation professionals have now heard the attendance figures, economic forecasts and product announcements from CEDIA Expo 2009. It’s not a consumer electronics show (that big one’s in January) but the products on display in Atlanta recently will have a big impact on what consumers will be wanting and expecting from the industry. Focusing specifically on the new products, it’s clear that consumers like eco-friendliness and digital media convergence, which are both fueling innovation in the industry. Boiling down the best of the new… View this story
Shows and Expos • Product News

It’s official: Toshiba has a Blu-ray player in its CEDIA Expo 2009 booth (No. 3025). Toshiba, which was a big supporter of the HD DVD format, offers the Profile 2.0 BDX2000 Blu-ray player with BD Live. The player will ship in late October or early November for $249. And, no, it doesn’t play HD DVDs. Although the format war didn’t work out the way Toshiba had hoped, maybe its late arrival in the Blu-ray category is advantageous. The BDX2000 has a cool flip-down front panel… View this story
Manufacturers • Shows and Expos • Product News

Can a trade show focusing on home electronics be green? CEDIA (Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association) is trying. The CEDIA Expo to be held this week in Atlanta has made some green initiatives, such as eliminating paper from educational course guides. According to the organization, last year CEDIA saved more than 10,000 pounds of paper by reducing print quantities, 9,000 of which was saved by moving to a paperless format for the CEDIA University course participant guides. CEDIA is again offering attendees a chance… View this story
Industry • Shows and Expos • Green Technology • Info and Answers

Bostonians love their Red Sox, but sometimes, sitting in the cold weather at Fenway Park isn’t such a treat. Now you can find out how to view the team in comfort on your own surround-sound “plasmer TV” or front projection home theater… and possibly win some prizes too. Audio Video Designs in Newton, Mass., is holding a 35th anniversary open house party on Saturday, May 2 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at its showroom, complete with product demos, prizes (given away every hour) and… View this story
Installers • Shows and Expos • Product News

We’re just days away from the madness that is the International Consumer Electronics Show. A few thousand manufacturers will be showing off their latest and greatest to the 125,000+ visitors expected to descend on Las Vegas this month. So what can we expect this time around? Thin displays for starters. Manufacturers remain obsessed with bringing us the slimmest TVs imaginable. On the flip side, there’s Panasonic’s infatuation with gigantic plasmas. Maybe they’ll top last year’s 150-inch beast. We’re also expecting increased Internet capability in TVs,… View this story
Shows and Expos • CES • Info and Answers

There were some good signs from the recent Greenbuild show in Boston, where upwards of 30,000 browsed green building products, technologies and services—though once again electronics only played a bit part. Although progress seems to have been made this year, it appears that electronics shows like the CEDIA Expo and EHX don’t show much in green stuff, and the green shows don’t have much in electronics. We know the two can meet. Being green and connected are not mutually exclusive. And I am a firm… View this story
Miscellaneous • Green Technology • Shows and Expos • Info and Answers

For homes with limited wall space, hanging a flat-panel TV on the wall or building a huge wall unit for entertainment components can be tough to implement. Enter the lowboy. Less than 2 feet tall, they take up little vertical space, but provide plenty of storage for TV and all the gear that goes with it. They were all over the place at the CEDIA (Custom Electronics Design and Installation Assocation) Expo this week. Furniture manufacturer Madison Fielding offers units in a variety of colors… View this story
Furniture • Shows and Expos • Home Theater • Info and Answers

About 8 CEDIAs and other tradeshow years ago, a semi-updated 1950s technology was introduced that wowed the conventioneers, media attendees and industry analysts alike. It was the first TV-based 3D viewing of live and video-taped theatrical content. But the lack of an accepted standard from manufacturers, movie-makers and TV producers, let the next 3D die right there. The 2000 version by X3D could be viewed by attaching a small converter box to your VCR, while the Texas Instruments version was seemingly built into the TV.… View this story
Displays • DLP • HDTV • Shows and Expos • Home Theater • Info and Answers

Do you know anyone with hundreds of Blu-ray movies? Make that hundreds of good Blu-ray movies. If so, they might want to keep an eye out for this monster. The Mega Changer by Sony can hold 400 Blu-ray discs, DVDs and CDs. Besides the fact that it will support BD-Live and contain an RS-232C port for custom installs, Sony is offering very few details. We’d only be guessing on a price but keep in mind, Sony displayed a $3,500 200 Blu-ray disc changer at last… View this story
Blu-ray • Shows and Expos • Home Theater • Product News

CEDIA is fast becoming the trade show of choice from the harried booth technician to the pressured CEO. And what does that mean to the CE, PC, home networking and custom installing consumer, pro-sumer or professional? A happy and rested manufacturer, buyer, retailer or journalist is likely to make a better deal; field product queries with patience and have time to think out the vicissitudes of technology retailing. “I think we can examine new products, get into the real nitty gritty of what we need… View this story
Manufacturers • Shows and Expos • Info and Answers

Denver, Colorado…Opening day at CEDIA, the nation’s fastest growing technology-based trade show, was pretty successful despite the recession and general downturn in custom installed products and systems. While the custom install business is less vulnerable to economic downturns because of its higher than average financial demographic, the recent rise in gas prices and product manufacturing has taken a toll on this heretofore thriving business because of the slowdown in new housing construction. However, the throngs of custom installers and manufacturers converging on this town which… View this story
Manufacturers • Shows and Expos • Networking • Info and Answers