If your electronics don’t stream content directly to your living room, they’re just plain lazy.

TV, Blu-ray player, receiver and media server manufacturers are pairing up with content providers to cut out the middleman — that being the consumer who actually has to go to a store to get movies or music.

Manufacturers at CEDIA Expo 2009 announced partnerships with Netflix and Vudu, showing off the fruits of their collaborations.

Vudu had a huge presence in LG's booth. LG kicked off the show by announcing that it's BD390 Wireless Network Blu-ray Player now has Vudu access.

Vudu, along with Netflix, YouTube and Yahoo Widgets, can also be streamed via LG’s line of Broadband TVs. The following components represent just a sample of the digital streaming products at CEDIA…

LED TVs certainly had a strong presence at CEDIA Expo 2009 in Atlanta.

Manufacturers are embracing LED TVs because they use a lot less energy and are much thinner than normal LCD TVs, providing consumers with a more energy-efficient display that also can be aesthetically pleasing.

You couldn't get away from LED TVs in Sharp's booth even if you tried, while LG's booth also had LED TVs throughout.

There were no OLED TVs on display at the show. A Sony spokesperson attributed its lack of OLED TVs to the fact that Sony had nothing new to show, while others manufacturers speculated OLED might never take off.

While the following is only a taste of what was on display, we round up LED TVs from the following companies:

• LG
• Samsung
• Sony
• Sharp
• Toshiba

Click here to view 7 LED TVs at CEDIA Expo 2009.

A new LED TV line was the centerpiece of Sharp’s CEDIA Expo 2009 booth.

And why not? “Eventually, we’ll probably be all-LED,” said spokesperson Melissa Non.

Sharp’s Aquos LED LCD TV Series, which began shipping in August, flanked a waterfall at the entrance of the booth. Attendees could take a closer look at the 32-, 40-, 46- and 52-inch models.

Demoing its LED technology, Sharp showed a stripped down TV with the “UltraBrilliant Full Array LED backlight” exposed. It was part of an emphasis on energy efficiency.

Sharp says its LED approach provides uniform brightness and color purity with higher luminance per watt so less power is needed. It adds that the series is mercury-free and exceeds the EPA’s Energy Star criteria for power consumption by up to 67 percent and has a long lifespan of 100,000 hours.

There was…

CEDIA just announced its annual Manufacturers' Excellence Awards, and CE Pro announced its first annual BEST winners.

Did they get it right?

CEDIA Awards

Of the CEDIA finalists, I'm surprised Anthem Statement D2v with Room Correction didn't get a nod. Anthem cannot make these fast enough for its dealers.

The Trak-kit system is also wildly creative and deserves some recognition.

CE Pro BEST Awards

On the CE Pro BEST Awards for Media Servers, the judges were correct to recognize Crestron for its ADMS-BR server with WorldSearch. But it should have tied with S1Digital's Digital Entertainment Platform, the only Media Center solution that lets users stream copy-protected CableCard content across a home network.

For security,…

LG Electronics kicked off CEDIA Expo 2009 by adding Vudu to its BD390 Blu-ray player.

Vudu isn’t new to LG. The on-demand movie rental service was recently added to LG’s Broadband TVs, a line that also includes Netflix, Yahoo Widget and YouTube streaming.

So between the BD390, the Broadband TV line and a demo of the Vudu interface, LG’s booth had Vudu pretty well covered.

LG also showed several LED TVs, including the SL90 line that is slated to ship in October, featuring 42- and 47-inch models with Edge LED lighting and depth of only 1.15 inches.

OLED TVs were one thing missing from LG's booth. It was recently reported that LG plans to launch a 15-inch OLED in Korea and that a 40-inch model is planned for the “not too…

If your customers love AMX, but not the price or the button configuration of its touchscreens, they can use Philips Pronto remote controls instead.

Former AMX dealer Brian Anderson of Axis Control has created Emulinx for Pronto – software that basically turns a relatively affordable Pronto into an AMX touchscreen.

In a demo at the Philips booth during CEDIA Expo 2009, Axis demonstrated the emulation software pitting a Pronto TSU9800 Web-enabled touchscreen against an AMX Modero touchpanel.

Sure enough, the two touchscreens tracked each other perfectly.

Anderson said he got the idea last year at CEDIA when he visited the Philips booth with a friend who was a heavy Pronto user.

"I didn't really understand how powerful ProntoScript is," he says of the Pronto JavaScript programming environment.

Emulinx is not necessarily plug-and-play but Anderson says, "If you can program AMX and you…

How would you like to distribute multiple HDMI streams over your home IP network? It seems you can do that with a new solution from Just Add Power.

At the CEDIA Expo 2009 I found the company tucked away at a tiny booth in the corner of Exhibit Hall B.

Their product? Projector Connector: a solution for HDMI matrix applications that leverages a managed network switch to distribute multiple HDMI sources to multiple displays.

Because it's all IP you don't have to worry about exceeding the ins and outs of a typical matrix switch; and that's good because the limited offering for large frame HDMI matrix switches has handicapped the entire industry for years.

Here's how it works: an encoder unit (VBS-HDMI-308A) converts the HDMI signal to IP packets. This information passes through a managed switch on a specified VLAN. A networked receiver unit (VBS-HDMI0108A) decodes the signal at the display device.
…

New and greener shading solutions have been announced by Lutron Electronics at CEDIA Expo 2009.

The company's Sivoia QS wireless solution includes a clock that allows the programming of "scenes," much like lighting scenes that bring certain lights on at certain levels for specific tasks like art or mood lighting.

Lutron will promote energy-saving shading scenes such as winter warmth and summer cool. A "winter warmth" scene, for example, would open shades or drapes to let in light to warm a space and use less lighting. A "summer cool" scene would close the shades to keep a room cooler on hot days and conserve energy.

Motorized window treatments have long been a great way to conserve energy by warming or cooling a room and using less lighting, but until now the ecological advantages of motorized shading has gotten little traction.

"People are now realizing the benefit of solar heating in the…

LG Electronics and on-demand movie rental service Vudu are covering their bases pretty well these days.

LG announced at CEDIA Expo 2009 that it's adding Vudu to its full-featured BD390 Blu-ray player via a firmware upgrade later in September.

That just adds to the crazy amount of video streaming and viewing options available on the wireless BD390 ($399), which can also stream YouTube, Netflix, and CinemaNow. It also supports networked video files and, of course, 1080p high-def Blu-rays and regular ol' DVDs.

For Vudu, it gives the service a pretty nice trifecta of recent partnership activity — we’ll count the one it already had with LG. Prior to CEDIA, the company had announced it would be able to stream its videos (plus other services it features such as Pandora web radio and Flickr photo sharing) directly from the latest LG…

You've seen the Sony advertorials peppered through CEPro.com, and some of you are giving the company flak.

I'd say, give Sony a chance. They may have lost touch with the custom community over the past few years but the company seems genuinely committed today.

At CEDIA 2009, Sony has a giant wall demonstrating its two-way integration with third-party controllers. Sony products, most notably the company's new BDP-CX7000ES Blu-ray megachanger, now integrate seamlessly into AMX, Control4, Crestron, Escient Vantage and other control systems.

So, for example, all of the discs in your Blu-ray changer appear among the other titles in your media library – all in one seamless interface provided by the automation company.

Neal Manowitz, director of Sony's home audio and video business, tells me the company's new STR-DA5500ES is the first receiver certified by Control4 for two-way IP communications.

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Posted by Julie Jacobson on 09/11 at 03:09 AM
News, Product News, Displays, CEDIA, (3) Comments, Permalink