Report from CEDIA

Recently concluded Denver Expo was filled with new toys of the future -- and the present

By JD Mars

The 2006 Expo was held in Denver's Colorado Convention Center

For those of you who don?t know, CEDIA is the Custom Electronics Design and Installation Association.  Based in Indianapolis, CEDIA organizes several trade events throughout the year, one of which is the CEDIA Expo that took place this September ?06 in Denver.

CEDIA Expo is a business-to-business (a/k/a B2B) trade show, not a consumer show. The consumer is the ultimate recipient of these products, but a home automation, whole house audio, or high-end home theater system generally requires the expertise of a system designer and installer?hence the custom electronics design and installation cloak that envelopes these fascinating and exciting devices. 

Home theater itself is no stranger to the pedestrian consumer. You can find a theater-in-a-box and a second-tier video display in most consumer electronics stores, and a somewhat more desirable system in a more posh establishment, but cutting-edge products are found in specialty stores or custom electronics dealer showrooms. Buyers from those stores are the CEDIA attendees.

So, there?s home theater, and then there?s Home Theater. Anybody can set up a home theater-in-a-box (visions of 12:00 blinking on millions of VCRs comes to mind), but if you want to press one button and have your audio/video components turn on and set themselves to the proper inputs, the sconces dim in five seconds and the overheads dim in 10 seconds, while the curtains or blinds automatically draw to a close, then you may have to engage a custom designer and installer to properly get the whole shebang rolling for you.

I?d be derelict in my duties if I didn?t mention the craze over 1080p high definition displays and projectors. The display market landscape is indeed changing, especially with the added sprinkling of projectors in the $5k range that will give you a plasma- or LCD-like experience on a 100-inch screen. If you haven?t noticed, there?s been a distinct down-shift in the price of displays found in the consumer stores.

There were some products of note at CEDIA in Denver, with particular accessibility for consumers. The brief synopses given here will be expanded upon in subsequent articles.

Oppo DVD Player with Up-conversion:  Not widely known, Oppo (www.oppodigital.com) seems to be making two of the best and at the same time most affordable up-converting DVD players around. With an MSRP of $199, the OPDV971H has won product shootouts against players 10 or 20 times the price. The company?s new model for $149 has one HDMI connector, but no DVI output.  Both units up-convert to 720p/1080i, and decode Dolby Digital- and DTS-encoded 5.1 surround sound audio. They also play back DVD-Audio discs.

Oppo OPDV971H

In this brave new world of high-def video, you?ll want to up-convert your standard definition DVDs. Some of the new displays include the ability to up-convert, as do some new receivers. The beauty of the Oppo products, aside from the purported excellent up-conversion job they perform, is the price. Even if you find yourself in an A/V equipment flux, you can afford one of these units to enjoy the beauty of high-def from your standard DVDs.

Sonos controller

Sonos Digital Music System:  Whole house audio is available to the consumer in an easy-to-configure package using an existing home network. For $1k you get two zones and one very cool controller?all using proprietary wireless connectivity?that will let you control access to your hard drive?s stored music and a number of preprogrammed internet radio stations. You can connect the zone units to an existing stereo, home theater, or powered speakers, or pay a little bit more for a unit that includes amplification. Sonos is expandable to 32 units/rooms.

Subscribe to a music service like Rhapsody for $10 a month, and you have access to and control over music-on-demand. Adding this feature to a whole house music system elevates the viability of distributing audio. Music-on-demand could mean that you never have to own music again. If you have no plans for designer-installed whole house audio, this might be an excellent way to go (www.sonos.com).

Music Giants HD Downloads: Want to be able to download music at will, but hate the sound of compressed audio? Well, dream no further. Music Giants (www.musicgiants.com) provides uncompressed audio downloads in Windows Media Audio format  In the few years they?ve been in existence, they?ve formed an alliance with four major labels and an increasing cadre of independents to obviate the need for low resolution downloads forever.

Music can be downloaded from the Music Giants website, or directly through Windows Media Player 10, available for free from Microsoft. One nice feature of the service is that if one song is downloaded from an album, the user can download the album at a later date and not be charged for the song already purchased.

JD Mars is the chief wizard at The Word Wizards, www.thewordwizards.com, a marketing and technical communications firm, as well as an independent technical journalist.