Denver battles the downturn

No sooner had Barack Obama left Denver, Colorado after sewing-up his party’s nomination at the Democratic National Convention, than the city was awash with dealers, custom installers and the technocrati to see just what this year’s CEDIA US Expo had instore - and whether the dreaded recession had started to bite.
The city’s third CEDIA in a row, and last for the time being (Atlanta, Georgia will host the 2009 show), was perhaps a little more subdued despite its vast manufacture booths. There were few notable product launches from the major brands, but plenty of exciting developments.

The key area seemed to revolve around home cinema projectors, and more specifically the embryonic anamorphic market. Epson revealed two Full HD projectors that can be fitted with an anamorphic lens, while JVC’s new D-ILA models can also indulge in anamorphic vertical stretch processing.

Toshiba announced that the end is nigh for the annual product refresh so beloved of major brands, predicting that six-monthly overhauls of its flatscreen TV range was inevitable in such an aggressive market.
Elsewhere, SpeakerCraft displayed their wares from a jungle-style stand that had just arrived from Nevada’s Burning Man festival, while Microsoft de-camped to Denver’s Coors Field baseball stadium to announce the winner of its Windows Media Ultimate Install Contest.

For a full report on CEDIA Expo US, see our special 50th issue (electronic edition available here)