This was my first CEDIA, which initially began as a show specifically for custom installers of home equipment, but it has since evolved to kind of a half-and-half show. It still has a lot of booths and such targeted at the CI, but then again it has taken on a lot of the consumer electronics feel.

This was my first CEDIA, and to be honest it was a bit of a yawn—then again, I'm not much of a home theatre junkie. Every company had their HD LCDs and HD projector. And even though they all seemed identical, every company had reasoning why theirs was the best. Monster's Einstein was pretty awesome, and the limited booth babes were always good. But overall, my favorite item of the show was the Logitech Harmony 1000 remote.

Check out all of the CEDIA 2006 coverage here. – Travis Hudson

CEDIA 2006 [Gizmodo]

No, the screen isn't built in, you dolt. The only things crammed into this box is the 480p res projector, a JVC DVD player, and tiny, impotent 10-watt stereo speakers. We like cubes of convenience, and this one ships with an 80-inch screen that the Moviemate can fill up from a little more than 6 feet away, in either 16:9 or 4:3 ratios. Even from strange angles, thanks to the set's vertical and horizontal lens shift. This update to the Moviemate line adds a VGA input and cables for component video in. Jump to see a side view and to read more...

The 3LCD projector puts out 1,200 lumens, and uses a triple LCD setup to control the picture. No word on contrast ratio, but for $1200 dollars with screen, you can bet it won't be high end.

Comes with an illuminated remote. Strange: Look at the power plug input on the front of the projector.
There are models with the signature of 30 and 32 that don't come with the screen.–Brian Lam

Epson Moviemate 33 [Stuff Magazine UK]

This plasma is now available waith a suggested retail price of $5,399.

The TPMC-8X Isys i/O WiFi Touchpanel is the higher end of the two remotes. This large, tablet-esque touchpanel remote has an 8.4-inch display. It operates on an 802.11 a/b/g proprietary WiFi network. This giant remote also has embedded Windows XP and can do web browsing, Skype, and more. The remote itself will set you back $3.800 on top of the cost of having a Crestron home automation system.

The TPMC-4X is a handheld version of the 8X mentioned above. It isn't quite as complex and fits in the hand a little bit easier, but it is still pretty bulky. It operates on an 802.11b WiFI network and has a 3.5-inch touchscreen. It is a bit cheaper (but not much) at $2,000 and will be shipping in a couple of weeks.

The Audio Design Associates' iHome Multi-Center is part music storage device, part media PC, part IP control server. Two 400gb RAID drives can hold music and hi-def video, and 750gb upgrades are on the horizon. The product's claim to fame, however, is its ability to remotely playback Apple AAC DRM-protected music from a PC, tablet or PDA through an Internet browser flash interface. ADA stands firm that they are the only company with this streaming technology. Not enough audio sharing? Try streaming Sirius, XM, standard and HD radio too. – Mark Wilson

It's all part of the glorious, buy it once and play it everywhere philosophy. Media creators should embrace this idea - it's much better than the buy it never alternatives.

Product PDF [via talkaboutcedia]

This is by no means official, but according to my hours of Internet browsing, SED technology is not at CEDIA 2006. You may remember SED from our posts during CES this year. It's built upon the foundations of phosphorus televisions, but Canon and Toshiba basically packed all that technology into each pixel of a flat-panel. The result is supposed to be the best thing ever and we were supposed to have it by now. Dinner is getting cold and I've finished the wine. No, the flowers aren't helping and don't even think about kissing me. – Mark Wilson

In addition to the 1080p models above Sony also added the KDL-40S2400 40-incher and the KDL-32S2400 32-incher. These two HDTVs will run at a 1366 x 768 resolution. These will be available next month for $2,600 and $1,700.

Press Release

LimeLight Audio is showing off their innovative, if a little ugly, speaker lamps - and supposedly they even sound "good" (whatever that means to the speaker world). They are 150-watt speakers blowing sound out of a 6.5-inch woofer and 1-inch tweeter in 360 degrees. Collect all six colors for your surround sound and tan while you watch movies. Now we just need someone, anyone, to come around, steal this idea and make my eyes better again. Seriously, I think they're bleeding, but I can't see. – Mark Wilson

Product Page [via talkaboutcedia]

This 1080p projector is powered by three SXRD micro-display chips. It has a contrast ratio of 15,000:1 and a brightness of 900 lumens. It is also somewhat of a "casual" projector working conveniently in a dark home cinema theatre environment or a living room environment. Best of all, this projector so far is the cheapest at $5,000, and it will be available later this month. Hit the jump to see some photos of the sexy connections (including dual HDMI).

Press Release

The interface is also really unique. It is driven by a cross-bar icon-based system that is somewhat reminiscent of the PSP, kind of. The menu system also seemed very user-friendly with quick definitions of the technical jargon and what the adjustments actually do.

Another interesting feature is the picture-in-picture functionality. During my demonstation they were able to have a DVD showing then pop up a live stream of a video surveillance camera that was also attached to the receiver. The receiver as inputs for damn near everything—including USB. It will retail for $1,500 in October, when it is released. Hit the jump to see more pictures of the menu interface and the ass of this sexy beast—oh yeah baby, show me 'dem inputs.

Press Release

Aside from their innovation in mixing LED and DLP in their model numbers, NuVision has added a 52" LED-powered DLP set to their Deep Black line of televisions. While we've talked about this product before, we didn't mention the NuVision CEO had officially announced the release date to be by this end of this month - that's September for those not keeping up. We'll see if they can beat Samsung's version to the market that has been delayed from their initial May 2006 release date. Let's get LEDs in these DLPs ASAP before we all run out of caps. And anyone actually at CEDIA, let us know what you think about the picture quality. – Mark Wilson

[sound&video]

"Dude, your entertainment cabinet is the coolest!"
"Yeah dude, I know."

We're sure that most sufers/stoners/90s clich s don't need high-end cabinets designed to keep their components cool, but oh well. Salamander Designs has been showing off custom (translation: expensive) entertainment furniture with original options like internal cooling systems (translation: fans, maybe more). We don't know about you, but with all the crap stuffed into our AV stands, we would sleep better with some fresh air coming in. Or at least our receiver needs to start wearing deodorant because it's getting ridiculous. – Mark Wilson

[via hdbeat]

The LC-52D62U is the 52-inch behemoth. It has a 10,000:1 contrast ratio, 4ms response time and dual HDMI inputs. This TV will go for $4,799.

The LC-46D62U is the 46-inch model. It also has a 10,000:1 contrast ration, 4ms response time and dual HDMI inputs. It will retail for $3,499.

The LC-42D62U is the 42-inch LCD. It has a 6,000:1 contrast ratio, dual HDMI inputs and a 6ms response time. This TV will retail for $2,499

The projector is capable of playing 16:9 widescreen images in a full 1080p HD resolution. The unfortunate thing is that this projector will set you back a very-hefty $12,000. It will be available in mid to late October. The piano-black finish is quite sexy though, if I do say so myself.

Pioneer's practically run by engineers. Which means their stuff is good, but often doesn't come out til they've got it right. This Fall, their Elite Blu-ray player will hit, and we're sure that it's going to be a stunner, unlike the buggy first gen players.–Brian Lam

Pioneer BDP-HD1 Elite Blu-ray Player [AVS Forum]

The home networking lets you stream movies, music or pictures from your PC or DLNA device, but there's no mention of what kind of video codecs this thing can stream from your PC. Most likely MPEG2, but we'll see.

The plasmas all have dual HDMI, NTSC and ATSC tuners, and a CableCard slot. the 42-inch will be $4,000, the 50-inch will be $5,500 and the 60-inch will be $8,000.

We'll see what Travis thinks when he revisits TVs later today. – Jason Chen

Pioneer Elite Plasmas with Built-In Networking [Audioholics]

Hitachi announced their new 42-inch 1080p plasma television. It's world's first 1080p plasma of that size (LCDs of those specs have been around for some time), and is using ALiS (Alternate Lighting of Surfaces) technology to enhance the brightness, sharpness and longevity. Can you tell 720p from 1080p in this size? It's probably tough, but then again, we'll take native high def on a 3-day-with-no-bath hooker if you give us the chance. This model also has a 60" big brother, but other than what we assume is beautiful picture quality, he has no real claim to fame. We just find it refreshing to see not everyone has given up on plasma - yet. – Mark Wilson

[via avguide]

The actual TV that accompanies this motorized audio unit is a 32-inch LCD with a 1366 x 768 resolution. The official name of this is the TAV-L1/R and will go for $4,000. It is kind of a neat system, but $4,000 for a 32-inch LCD and fancy speaker? Sounds a bit expensive.

Panasonic jumped into the HD projector market with the AE900U DLP projector, they have since took that model and split it up into two revisions. This, the 1080p AE1000U and the 720p AX100. I got a chance to take a peek of the AX100 in action during my projector demos from Panasonic, but I'll get you folks a more "hands-on" look soon.