CEDIA 2013

Vicoustic USA is a company new to me in the field of acoustic treatment. They offer a wide range of products, including some unique absorbers and diffusers, for that application. Many of them are less expensive, in my experience, than many of the similar devices currently available. They begin as low as $75 each for an approximately 2-foot square panel (but only available in a package of 10), though the prices can escalate rapidly when you get to premium products such as all wood diffusers.

Mounting a flat screen HDTV over the fireplace is a favorite trick of decorators everywhere. It's also a terrible idea, unless you don't mind a sore neck from looking up. But it doesn't have to be that way.

Future Automation isn't the first company to offer a mounting bracket that moves the TV out then down to a more comfortable position, but such devices are still not common. And this one isn't cheap. At about $3000, $4000 for a model that also swivels, it costs more than many HDTVs! And you obviously shouldn't use it in the down position with a fire in the fireplace!

In addition to its full lineup of new eShift3 projectors, and impressive demonstrations of them in its booth at the Denver Convention Center and at an off-site location, JVC also announced an 84-inch, 4K monitor at $13,500. The set was shown only at that off-site location, and as it is apparently intended for the pro market, it was not shown on the CEDIA show floor.

“This…is…Lutron!”

They could have started out the press conference that way, and it would have been so cool if they had. Of course, then they would have had to have thrown someone from a competing lighting/shading company down a huge hole; and that probably would not have been acceptable behavior at a CEDIA press conference.

But, in essence, Lutron did throw the gauntlet – and a very fancy gauntlet, at that – down as far as other shading and control companies go...

Vantage demonstrated its Equinox family of home-automation control products in a posh 5,000-square-foot penthouse apartment at the Four Seasons hotel with spectacular views of downtown Denver. The homeowners are avid art collectors who use the residence as a second home when they’re in town and chose Vantage because they wanted an unobtrusive and easy-to-use control system for entertainment (music and TV), climate control, security, cameras, and—most important—lighting to accentuate dozens of prized paintings. Motorized shades and a TV lift are also covered under the Vantage control umbrella.

Automation controller company BitWise Controls came to CEDIA to celebrate the company’s fourth birthday and announce the upcoming availability of the BitWise Access Anywhere subscription service. BitWise’s AccessAnywhere will enable homeowners to access and control their BitWise home automation system from anywhere the homeowner has internet access, anywhere in the world, via a smartphone or tablet.