LATEST ADDITIONS

Kaleidescape, the company that literally invented the movie server category, is looking to remain on top with the launch of a new product line called Encore. This new line-up of movie players and servers will target aggressive price points designed to attract new customers as well as feature cutting-edge, industry leading performance in the new Strato Movie Player; the world’s first 4K Ultra HD, HDR player for the home to cement the company’s position at the top of the luxury home cinema market.

Before EXPO, the folks at SunBriteTV told me that they would have a BIG announcement at CEDIA. Often when a company says that, it means they’ll have some sort of incremental upgrade that really doesn’t mean diddly squat for most people. SunBriteTV’s big announcement is indeed big. It’s two big announcements, actually. First of all, SunBriteTV announced two new outdoor TV models that are “among the first 4K-enabled weatherproof televisions available on the market.” The 55-inch diagonal SB-5574UHD is part of SunBriteTV’s very slim Signature Series and has a maximum depth of only 3.5 inches. The other announcement is that the 2nd 4K UHD from SunBriteTV—the SB-8418UHD—will be part of the Pro Series and will feature an 84-inch diagonal screen. Although a working prototype of the 84-inch TV (shown above) was on display, pricing and availability dates have not been announced.

Wednesday's CEDIA 2015 Keynote Address at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center paused just long enough to celebrate CEDIA's 25 years of success and unveil a new logo before futurist Michael Rogers took the stage. The author and consultant is MSNBC's Practical Futurist, Futurist in Residence of the New York Times, and consultant to Fortune 500 companies. "There's a certain liberty when there's a futurist in the room," he said. He then dazzled us with a cavalcade of internet-related technologies and filled the tall order of relating them to the audience of custom installers.

TiO stands for Turn it On, and the company is looking for ways to breathe new life into existing, outdated audio systems with a system that is incredible retrofit friendly. Imagine turning your old, lame analog only volume control system into a state-of-the art streaming music system with multiple zones and app based control over all of your favorite music services including high-res audio up to 192/24-bit and you have an idea what TiO is bringing to the table.