Signs of Life, Signs of Cool Stuff

By most accounts, this year's CEDIA Expo was not the ghost town most were expecting. In fact, there was a fair amount of traffic and quite a lot of cool new gear. 

Click through for the highlights.

120 Hz and more

Sony has announced the VPL-VW85, their latest 1080p front projector.

In addition to increasing the refresh rate to 120 Hz, Sony has added a number of other features specifically for the CEDIA and custom install crowd.

All the info after the jump...

California Audio Technology (CAT) may be best known for their ultra-custom high-end speakers, but the company is no stranger to video. In 2001 they partnered with Sam Runco to bring their first MBX projector to the market at $250,000.

At CEDIA this past week, CAT announced its latest video partnership, this time with Display Development, Inc., and unveiled a new projector line priced from  $128,000 to $380,000 apiece.

A new step-up DLP model.

After a few quiet trade shows, Optoma has re-emerged with two new 1080p DLP projectors and a new strategy, to target specific products at specific channels. The custom-oriented line, distributed exclusively through AVAD, features three projectors, including the new entry-level HD2200 and the new top-shelf HD8600. (In the middle is the HD8200 that flew under the radar at CES.)

Beyond Media Center.

One of the more exciting CEDIA demos I saw involved a product that doesn’t exist…yet. Pioneer gave us a glimpse at its new network entertainment platform, dubbed ETAP or Project ET.

ETAP unites your major entertainment and automation systems into one box, with one high-def user interface and a ZigBee-based remote (plus iPhone control). First and foremost, it’s an A/V server (the demo sample had a 1TB hard drive), upon which you can store your digital music, photo, and movie files.

Don't be seamly.

Traditional speakers, wall plates, in-wall speaker volume controls, keypads and touch panels can really look ghastly when they're mixed together on a wall in a stylishly decorated room. TRUFIG is an ugly name, but it eliminates the ugly wall because...

So you say you want a revolution?

Hunter makes ceiling fans. Soundolier makes wireless audio systems. Put them together and you get...

Up, up, and out of the way!

Why suffer with just having a flat-panel TV on a low-boy cabinet in your home theater when you can have a flat-panel TV on a low-boy cabinet for the day and a smokin' front projection system in the same space for the evening?

Toshiba’s first LED-based LCDs have arrived.

Toshiba is demoing its new SV670 Series, highlighting the black-level improvements of the LED design in a head-to-head comparison with its own traditional CCFL LCD, from last year's line.