Barco surprised integrators by participating in the 2015 CEDIA Expo in Dallas last fall. Largely a commercial video manufacturer until now, Barco has broken into the residential market with its Loki 4K Projector. 

Tim Sinnaeve, director of Barco Residential, spoke with CE Pro about the new projector and what else the projection giant has planned for the resi market. 

What would you say to dealers who are already familiar with your product line?

We are very proud of our current product line, and the new products that are coming out in the next months. A lot of integrators have had the opportunity to see our new Loki 4K projector in action at one of our seminars over the past weeks, and feedback has been extremely positive.

We are excited about the caliber of integrators that are coming on board with Barco Residential and the unique visual experiences we can bring to their clients.

What would you say to dealers who are stumbling across your company for the first time?

Tim Sinnaeve, director of Barco Residential

Barco Residential draws upon our company’s strengths as a global technology leader in visualization, bringing world-class image quality, design and craftsmanship to high-end homes. But our ambition doesn’t stop at creating the world’s best projectors for the finest home theaters and media rooms.

Combining technology leadership with architectural design, we want to bring innovative, visual experiences to all areas of the finest residences, enabling our custom integration partners to create fully integrated solutions that perfectly suit their client’s homes and lifestyles.

Tell us about one particularly interesting installation of your product.

Other than the Michael Bay installation, which received a lot of press and attention, I would refer to the first global installation of Thor, our 6P laser flagship projector, in what was already an award winning Home Theatre by Greg Margolis of Hometronics in Texas. It is wonderful to be able to push the envelope with an integrator and client that are committed to create the best home theater experience on the planet.

Besides the usual, what really specific thing differentiates you from your competitors?

Barco Residential has a vision and a strategy for the residential market that pays homage to both the art and technology of cinema integration, coupled with the technological capability and solutions to deliver on that vision.

This means a unique level of image quality coupled with architectural design that allow us to deliver technology and solutions that truly enable the custom integration channel to create unique experiences for their clients. That’s what we aspire to, and rather than any single product or feature, this is what will set us apart from competition.

What’s the best sales tip/tactic you’ve come across?

I think it is key to focus on and sell the complete experience. As a projector manufacturer it’s tempting to focus on the image and put less emphasis on the other elements when we do demos. To deliver an amazing experience, every element needs to be right.

What one technical tip can you offer about installations?

Don’t forget about maximizing the overall image quality by focusing on a single aspect of the puzzle. It is all too easy to get caught up with the latest acronym or perceived technological advancement.

To truly deliver an extraordinary customer experience in a dedicated home cinema or media room, you need a big, bright, uniform screen with high-contrast and sharp, colorful images. Barco Residential, our distributors and our strategic brand partners are uniquely positioned to help you create this result on your next project.

Where do dealers typically get tripped up on installs?

I think it’s often challenging to combine performance with architectural integration. Together with our partners, we want to bring solutions that address both, so we don’t have to compromise on the performance while making the solutions more attractive to home owners, architects and designers.

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