CEDIA 2016 is coming to Dallas on September 13-17. CE Pro spoke to Jessy Crabb, general manager of Metra Home Theater Group, about the company's plans for the show and what to expect in booth #3005.
Anyone interested in becoming a dealer can contact Miranda Grantham, our national sales manager at [email protected] or go online to www.metrahometheater.com/apply.
What would you say to dealers who are already family with your product line?
Since they are already familiar with our company and products then they know we are in the business of solving problems for our customers. I would ask them what new issues and problems they are dealing with so we can continue to develop technologies and solutions that make their lives easier.
What would you say to dealers who are stumbling across your company for the first time?
I would reinforce that we are in the problem-solving business and this is evident through our products that allow integrators to perform efficient installs while making a profit. In addition, we are a leader in education, something we put a lot of importance on.
Our customers get quality training on the latest technology as well as products that are engineered to work with future technology. We are passionate about what we do and provide in-house customer service for integrators that have a question, need help with a project and more. Our goal is to help your business succeed because if our customers aren’t succeeding, then we aren’t either.
In an integrator stops by your booth with only 5 minutes to spare, what’s the one product he should examine or one question he should ask?
If an integrator stops by our booth with just five minutes to spare, they should take a serious look at our HDMI cables. We launched these cables back in 2012 and the same cables support 4K/HDR because we spent the time engineering them for the future.
While they’re at our booth, they should also speak to one of our approachable and knowledgeable sales staff members. The CI will quickly find out that we value our customers enough to sell them products for today and tomorrow, unlike other companies that may only provide cables for today’s technology.
What is your most memorial CEDIA moment?
My most memorable moment at CEDIA was just a year ago at CEDIA 2015 when our HDM-GA1 Gigabit Accelerator (a device which upgrades passive cables to full 18Gbps capability,) won the CE Pro BEST Award. It was such an honor for a product which we had put so much time, energy and engineering into to be recognized with such a well-respected award.
Course offerings at CEDIA:
We place a big emphasis on training events because we feel the best thing we can give our dealers is industry-leading experience and learning opportunities. Our annual Lunch and Learn event is back by popular demand and Jeff Baccacio from DPL Labs will be hosting the event in our booth during CEDIA 2016.
This year’s Lunch and Learn will be divided into separate training events to allow each attendee to learn the idiosyncrasies that are now surfacing with the latest High Speed UHD 4K/HDR. Session one will explore the features and functions of 4K that can be problematic, as well as bandwidth requirements for HDR and the changes with respect to HDCP Rev 2.2. Session two will dive into long distance high bandwidth data transmission and provide the required knowledge about Fiber Optical technologies both in its strengths and weaknesses.
Do you have any giveaways, contest or quirky features planned for CEDIA?
We’re excited to give away a new HDMI Velox Fiber System (an $850 value) to one lucky winner who stops by our booth. Our CEDIA 2016 giveaway is a great way for us to mark the debut of our Fiber System, which allows integrators to efficiently install the latest 4K technology in traditional home theater configurations.
Think of your closest competitor. What is one thing you do offer that they don’t?
We offer the new HDM-AIO which is an “All In One” solution for HDMI related issues such as EDID capacitive stripping, 5 volt and hot plug control and many other issues technologists face. We have taken everything we’ve learned about EDID and voltage control and combined that knowledge into a single unit to resolve low speed and voltage based problems.
The days of installers being stuck with a black screen and trying multiple different solutions to fix it are over, with the ‘All In One” you are covered.
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