Making sense of the 1s and 0s
Electronic House Expo Fall 2004
Summary
The Fall 2004 Electronic House Expo was a fun show to attend, although I really don't see why they need to have the show twice per year - once is probably enough. Maybe they should nix the Fall show, and just have the Spring event, that way they aren't sandwiched between CEDIA and CES. Mmmm. CES.
It is definitely an exciting vision for the products and technologies available today for new home builders, installers, and technology/media enthusiasts. All the products we mentioned above are either on the market, or coming in the next few months. Based on what I saw here, it looks like the world of whole home entertainment, automation, and control is moving closer and closer to something people will want in their homes.
But now it's time for… the first ever LIVEdigitally show awards.
The Janky Award
Typically, this award would go to the worst product we saw, either due to poor user interface, poor design, or some other reason it just plain doesn't make sense. At CEDIA, for example (although we never posted our show report), the Janky Award would have gone to the Buttkicker system. The Buttkicker puts a vibrating motor in your reclining chair and responds to low bass events during your movie. After about 90 seconds in this thing, I was nauseous. But hey, "chicks dig it" claims the company, so what would I know?
At EHX, there really wasn't enough janky stuff around. So, I'm going to give the award to the guys at Kef, because they spent the entire time I saw them talking on, playing games with, or emailing people using their mobile phones/devices. Not only were they on the dreadfully empty second floor, they made it perfectly clear to onlookers that they had no interest being there. Hey - working tradeshows can suck, but if that's your job for the day, then at least feign some interest in the audience!
Best High-End Product
The system from Leviton and Dedicated Devices, Inc., holds some of the best promise and potential to bring the installer market out of the doldrums that Crestron/AMX/Phast/Control 4 has held captive for years. It isn't shipping yet, but I really liked their approach to solving the problem. It's flexible and powerful, yet easy to use. It provides access to media, and works with the digital media files the consumer may already own (unlike half the solutions I've seen, like Yamaha's, that force the user to re-rip their CD collection). I hope the installer market pays close attention to this solution.
Best of Show
Honestly, it was a challenge to pick a single solution. My three finalists for this are:
Our winner is the Sonos Digital Music System.
Beautiful, rich user interface.
Well-designed aesthetically pleasing hardware.
Clever technology approach.
I really do hope they ship it, because I want one!
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