CEDIA Expo 2024 brought the home side of the AV industry back to its roots; audio and video. With a few spices in there like shades and lighting. But this year’s edition was full of more audio and video than we’ve seen in a long time. And lacking in what the show had been; Smart Stuff.
Welcome to the dumb show
For over five years CEDIA Expo’s theme could be summed up with the term Smart Home. This year, no more smarts. Hence, the dumb show moniker. It’s not that there wasn’t IoT, Smart Things, or even a hint of AI. It’s that those weren’t the selling points in the booths. Those that were showing off the ability to integrate were saying “of course it does that”. It’s a foregone conclusion. Of course, it’s smart. Next question.
Pretty Pictures
Sony kicked off the show early on Thursday morning with their announcement of a new Bravia line of projectors. This gives the Japanese manufacturer another hook using the Bravia name.
They weren’t the only ones showing off impressive displays. TCL and LG used their OLED displays as the centerpieces of their booths. Now, I love me some OLED. The picture quality and color are the best thing since plasma displays. Prices have dropped drastically in the last two years. OLED technology has gotten sharper. It was a good sign to see so many OLED TVs.
Companies like Quantum are also pushing direct-view LED into the home. The tech that started out as large displays in stadiums has found its way into the home. One reason is the ability to create large screens without hauling a 500-pound TV into someone’s conference room. Or living room. The other is the brightness factor. DVLED can get up to 3000 nits. One nit is equal to one candela per square meter. And 3000 of them is super bright. Bright enough to combat most any ambient sunlight that you can’t control.
Control the Sun
Should you want to control the sun we have shades. Shading has been bandied about in the CEDIA channel as another revenue sources for dealers. Like lighting, CI dealers haven’t really caught the shade bug yet. At least not in large numbers. So don’t wait for them. Go out and get them yourself. Work with manufacturers like Hunter Douglas, Draper, Screen Innovation, and others.
Shades are good for more than just controlling the light. They can be used to be “green” as well. Controlling the sun means controlling the heat of your space. Shades also give you more control over privacy and they make any room just feel nicer.
Theater Experience
One thing about this year’s CEDIA was the number of audio and theater demo rooms. Trinov partnered with Barco, Perlisten Audio, madVR Labs, and Ocupada Acoustica to show off an impressive theater on the show floor. Pro Audio, Quantum, JBL, and L-Acoustics also had rooms that gave me some new movies to see but also made me wish I could have one of them all in my office or house.
Pro at Home
I have long been of the opinion that Resimercial is a real thing. The idea comes from a couple of areas. First, AV experts who work in people’s homes are also doing work in commercial spaces. And any space that isn’t a home is a commercial space. Second is the use of the same gear anywhere AV is needed.
This CEDIA and CI Expo gave me even more fodder for this conversation. L-Acoustics, Crestron, Sony, Planar, and others were showing products. Just product. Is it a home or a commercial product? Yes. They don’t care where you’re going to put it. It’s the same gear.
That is something that benefits all buyers of AV products. You don’t have to worry about a dealer of, let’s say L-Acoustics, putting in a “home” speaker in your conference room. Why? Because there isn’t such a thing. Same speaker goes in both spaces. As companies realize this you’ll see less and less delineation between what’s “residential” and “commercial” products. They’ll just be AV gear.
CEDIA’s Future
CEDIA and CI Expo are both headed back to Denver in 2025. My hope is that they get to expand on the common gear theme next year. Most exhibitors I talked with were busy the first two days, not so much on Saturday. That’s to be expected. The Smart Stage was a far cry better than in 2023 and I commend the team at Emerald for upping their game. For now, I’ll sit back, go through my notes, and see if there are any other threads I missed.
Tim Albright is the founder of AVNation and is the driving force behind the AVNation network. He carries the InfoComm CTS, a B.S. from Greenville College and is pursuing an M.S. in Mass Communications from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. When not steering the AVNation ship, Tim has spent his career designing systems for churches both large and small, Fortune 500 companies, and education facilities.
