5 Top Secrets Spilled Before CEDIA - Cedia Expo 2008

5 Top Secrets Spilled Before CEDIA

Some outlets have spilled the beans on URC, Control4, Proficient, and a new Media Center Alliance.

Aug
22

By Julie Jacobson
Filed in: News, Product News, Control Systems, Lighting, CEDIA, Universal Remote Controls
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08.22.2008 — Some exhibitors try to keep their hot CEDIA Expo news under wraps until the first day of the show.

Unfortunately for them, it doesn't always work out that way.

The following products were revealed through various leaks from dealers and the press. Although I knew about most of these in advance, I have been sworn to secrecy. So what is revealed here is information culled from the public domain.

Stay tuned for all the late-breaking details at CEDIAnews.com.

In the meantime, please share any secrets of your own (and win a prize from Sanus).

Proficient Audio - Receivers

Proficient Audio is adding 7.1 receivers to its lineup of whole-house audio solutions. The flagship M80 will inlcude Dolby True HD, DTS-HD Master Audio, Silicon Optix video scaling and HDMI.

The step-down M70 is "super-affordable" and the M40 is a stereo receiver with "all the latest features such as video switching and subwoofer output."

Control4 - 7-inch Portable Touchscreen

Not too long ago, Control4 announced a 7-inch in-wall touchscreen. Now the company plans to debut a portable version.

For optimizing power, the device goes into sleep mode when the unit is idle – or run the screen saver program to turn it into a digital picture frame.

The touchscreen has four customizable hard buttons.

Universal Remote Control - MX-6000

It was supposed to be a secret til showtime, but word is out from URC on its new MX-6000 two-way touchscreen.

The sleek wireless touchscreen features two RF transmitters – 802.11b/g for communicating with devices on the WiFi network, and narrowband RF for quick and effective control of A/V and other devices in the home.

Via WiFi (Ethernet), the touchscreen can be used to access virtually any digital content on the home network.

iPod operation is automated via the PSX-1 personal server.

Universal Remote Control - Lighting Control

In addition, it appears that Universal Remote Control is getting into the lighting controls business. The maker of remote controls sent an email to dealers hinting at "the most significant introduction in lighting control since Edison invented the light bulb."

According to the email, the new solution will allow you to control the lights directly from a URC remote via RF, with "no interface required."

URC says it is teaming up with "the biggest name in lighting controls."

Dealers at RemoteCentral.com are guessing that the "big name" is Lutron.

URC is offering two courses on "Universal Lighting Control" at CEDIA Expo 2008.

Media Center Integrator Alliance

A new addition to the CEDIA roster is the Media Center Integrator Alliance. Hmmm…what could that be?

What Do You Think?

What do you hope to see at CEDIA Expo 2008? Do you have any secrets of your own to share? Chime in here, and win a prize from Sanus.

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Comments

Posted by jbrown on 08/22 at 08:30 AM

I hope the “Media Center Integrator Alliance” isn’t just a lame booth with only a table, a banner and a clueless zombie paid to keep the chair warm all day and hand out flyers.

Posted by Julie Jacobson on 08/22 at 08:43 AM

Jason, you ARE a cynic, aren’t you.

I can’t vouch for the folks who may be working the booth (booth babes, clueless zombies, real pros, or otherwise) but I can tell you it is a significant and legitimate initiative.

By the way, what do you have against those of us who get paid to “keep the chair warm all day and hand out flyers”?? You have offended me and half of my colleagues.

Posted by Jean-Claude (JC) Chagnon on 08/22 at 09:01 AM

Allow me to butt-in. Would that be the upper half or the lower half?? (the smileys don’t work)

Posted by jbrown on 08/22 at 09:10 AM

Well Julie, statistically speaking, half of your colleagues are below average, so they probably aren’t hard to offend

I would definitely put you well into the upper half though I must admit, your competition hasn’t set the bar very high.

And besides, the publications hand out magazines, which we actually WANT to read, not flyers. Plus they usually do a good job of having at least one or two “booth babes” since the “real pros” are out covering the show floor.

Posted by Julie Jacobson on 08/22 at 09:18 AM

I actually love to work our booth but never get the chance to.

The rare times I get to do it, if someone asks me an intelligent question, I just stare at them and say, “I don’t know, I’m just a booth babe.”

Why do you suppose they laugh at me when I say that?

Posted by Don Calley on 08/22 at 11:02 AM

Wow, Julie, you’ve got a tough audience. Maybe if you had a better subject matter, it’d be easier. The alliance appears to be a way to get the better,(upper half), to accept Microsoft attempt to sell more product that we would be left to service. I wonder if this is actually the hint of a merger coming, Mc-Integrator Alliance, maybe soon there will be McVideo Servers, McTouch Screens, McInterfaces. Do you want fries with that?

Posted by QQQ on 08/23 at 05:51 PM

Here is how I would envision the Media Center Alliance and I hope I am wrong:

1. MS offers some program that reflects 0 understanding of the CI market such as special support for CI’s who sell 100 MCE machines a year when most CI’s might sell 10.

2. Participating CI’s will be promised “leads”, which actually means we get the honor of increasing our wasted time exponentially, following up tire kickers who fill out forms online.

3. The few who will sell 100 a year get some type of direct line to tech support, which few of us will ever use anyhow, preferring a quick Google search.

Does anyone think I am off base here?