CEDIA 2014

Reach Out and See Someone Video calling is certainly nothing new, in fact with iPhone and Android devices most of us carry the ability to video chat with someone around in our pocket. But the home intercom is still a popular request, especially in larger homes where you want a more elegant way to find everyone than, “HELLO?!? WHERE ARE YOU?!? HELLO!!!!” New company, Nucleus, has one of the coolest intercom systems I’ve seen in a while and at a price that is pretty startling.

While the JBL Atmos demo remains the champ at the show (at least through the first two days) for shear impact, undistorted output level (in a good way), and immersion from 39 speakers, it's not likely to find its way into too many homes. The Atmos demo from GoldenEar, however, was a more conventional 5.4.4 setup with five conventional channels, 4 true ceiling speakers (no reflective Atmos here), and four subs. It was both impactful and at the same time subtle in a way that will please many audiophiles with at least some interest in home theater. Not that a lot of audiophiles wouldn't covet the JBL (I'll take the JBL for my big room when I win the lottery, and something like the GoldenEar for the smaller!), but the GoldenEar is more practical.

The GoldenEar system used an Oppo Blu-ray player, an Integra Atmos-ready pre-pro, three Pass Labs monoblock amps for the front channels, six other amp channels for the two surrounds and two ceiling speakers (I didn't catch the make for the latter, but it was far more modest and less pricey than the Pass amps). The speakers were the GoldenEar Ones left and right, a SuperCenter XL, GoldenEar Twos for the surrounds, and four Invisa HTR 7000s for the ceiling channels. The four subs were the powered subs built into the GoldenEar Ones and Twos. The levels chosen were loud enough, but sensible, and the experienced convinced me, at least in these fledgling days of Atmos (I remain open minded on this), that true ceiling speakers just might produce the best Atmos results.

Pioneer announced the BDP-88FD Blu-ray player, at $2000. Not only is it a universal player, but offers advanced audio and video circuitry--the most advanced Blu-ray player yet from the company. It can also play back DSD, though multichannel DSD is limited to its HDMI outputs, as the analog outs are 2-channel only. It will be available by the end of this year.

Elite Screens introduced its DarkStar ambient light rejecting screen. It claims a good balance between gain, contrast, and viewing angle. Available only in fixed frame form, its price was not specified, only that it would be a fraction of the cost of the current market leaders in such screens.

The NC 900C 2K, 3-chip DLP shown here is offered by Digital Projection in cooperation with NEC, at around $50,000. It offers the D-Cinema color space, and is said to be one of the smallest pro-cinema certified projectors. The NC 900C is also the projector used for the JBL Atmos demo, which shows that it can hold its own in a high-end home theater setting. Finally, it doesn't use a Xenon lamp, making lamp replacement less expensive.

Video Processor maker DVDO is to be commended for spending all of its press conference discussing Ultra HD in general, instead of flacking its own products. Shown here is a summary of what is at present the "roadmap" to full Ultra HD. As you can see, there's much work to be done (and not universal agreement on everything, particularly Rec.2020 as the color gamut of choice). While we'll see more and more Ultra HD material in the coming 18 months or so, initially its major benefit will be 4K resolution. The color enhancements we ultimately hope to see will take longer.

…who you might run into at a trade show but there he was—Buddy Valastro (aka The Cake Boss), surrounded by throngs of camera-crazed showgoers. America’s favorite baker delivered the massive cake shown above to help home automation powerhouse Elan celebrate its 25th anniversary. The base of the cake is modeled after the company’s next-gen g1 system controller. The globe…well, we’re not sure what it signifies—perhaps the desire for world domination? (Actually, it’s probably a nod to Elan’s tagline: “Your World Made Simple.”) Valastro is no stranger to Elan. His 7,000 square foot New Jersey home (next door to Tony Soprano) and state-of-the-art bakery production center are both equipped with an Elan g! system.