Down from Mile High

Most of the news out of the CEDIA expo this year was of an evolutionary nature. Bigger, better performing, changes in price, those types of things. That doesn’t mean there wasn't plenty that caught our eye.

Make the jump for an overview of what we saw.

Pioneer’s first Profile 2.0 player adds more than just BD-Live.

Pioneer showcased its new flagship Blu-ray player, the Elite BDP-09FD. While other big-name companies are going slimmer and cheaper, Pioneer remains committed to its intent to deliver premium products for the premium market.

Blink, and you may have missed a Parasound milestone.

Parasound, a company known for its excellent preamps and amps, quietly showed off its very first surround sound receiver: the HDR77.

The company has yet to put out an official press release on this new product or provide pricing and release information, but we did glean some specs from the promo material at the booth.

New look, new features…same great price.

Epson’s newest 3LCD 1080p projector, the PowerLite Pro Cinema 7500 UB, will soon replace the popular Pro Cinema 1080 and reside at the top of the company’s pro line.

The newly redesigned model, which sports a few less curves than previous Epson designs, uses the latest D7 optical engine and 12-bit 3LCD driver technology, and UltraBlack technology leads to some great black levels and a high overall contrast ratio.

The Mythbuster

Everyone knows that if you’re in the market for an ultra-high-end A/V preamp/processor, you may as well forget about the latest bells and whistles, right? It’s simply an understood truth that the latest audio and video connections and format decoding are the domain of less expensive receivers, and take a while to make it to the true performance monsters.

More on Life|ware's CEDIA offerings

I just wanted to add to Adrienne's comments about Life|ware's new models with a few impressions of the company's so-called "High Density TV" feature. It’s one thing to hear a marketing guy say, “We’ve got eight CableCARD tuners and support for ten Media Center Extenders.” It’s another thing entirely to witness Life|ware pulling this feat off on the CEDIA show floor firsthand.

BG teams with THX for the oddest sub you'll ever see

This odd contraption is actually a subwoofer, one designed by the minds at THX and BG.

Inside each compartment is a pair of matched 4-inch drivers, aiming at their twins in the opposite can. The 48 total drivers add up to a radiating area of two 18-inch drivers. But the coolness doesn’t end there.

Big LCDs and in-wall RPTVs

How about a 70-inch LCD? Runco’s new CX-70DHD sports 1080p, of course, and comes with an external scaler/input box (Runco’s own DHD).

Of even bigger news was Runco’s new OPAL technology found on certain LCDs.

OPAL, Runco claims, increases contrast ratio, reduces reflections in ambient light, and creates a hard coating that helps prevent damage to the LCD surface. For now it is found on two models, the CX-OPAL47 shipping in January, and the outdoor model, the WP-42OPALHD, available now.