CEDIA REPORT POST #7
So I didn't hear them, but dang this is a sexy looking speaker:
This booth was just cool:
So I head back to the JBL Synthesis demo area, and get ready to wait in line. I find out that they are doing a "special" demo and it might be a little bit. I go to the other side of the booth and after a few minutes, *this guy* walks out with about 4 other people, including at least 1 of his minions. I am not naming names because if I do, then this thread will just get pestered by his other minions. It was crazy seeing how some people acted like he was the worlds most amazing person. I'm talking about the guy in the middle.
Here is another shot. I was trying to be in stealth mode as I didn't want him to realize that someone was taking his picture and have it boost his inflated ego. I just happened to get this funny look on his face. He was more "you aren't worthy of talking to me" before and after this shot.
So anyway, I make it into the demo that sat a LOT more than the 5 or so people that were in there for his "special" demo.
These folks have the most speakers out of any setup. They have it set for a dedicated Atmos, or DTS:X (notice the *or*), or Auro 3D. They were using 14 base level speakers, 11 height speakers, and 4 subs. The demo was loud, and my gosh were the speakers PAINFULLY "bright." Ears wanting to bleed just so that the blood clots could block the sound type of bright.
They played a wide mix of their own demo material, and were the only ones to demo all 3 of the sound formats. They too played the DTS:X Cymatics video.
Next up was the Sony booth. This booth had a long line all day, but at this point, it is getting later, and I have an "AVS Forum" demo at Epson at 5:00 to get to. Sony was demoing their new 4K, HDR, laser projector. It was throwing a massive 240" diagonal image and it...looked...AWESOME. Nice and bright, lots of contrast, super high resolution. Wow wow wow. No price tag was given, and honestly, like most of this stuff, I didn't get model numbers. Just know that this sucker has to be majorly expensive.
So then I hop almost right next door to the Epson booth and see some people from AVS that I've known or known about for several years. I even was recognized (by face, not name badge) by one of the AVS sales guys. Crazy since I've only bought like 2 things from them ever, and the last was my JVC projector 4 years ago.
So here we demo their laser projector, and it was nice, but it was 1080p and nowhere near as bright as the Sony. Then again, this price tag was around $8000 MSRP, so probably a tiny fraction of the cost. It looked good for sure, and Epson was bragging about how not only do they have XXX white lumens, but that they have the exact lumen level for colors. I don't know how unique that it, but the picture looked like a great 1080p projector.
The reason that we were given that Epson isn't in the 4k market yet, or how they aren't "bleeding edge" is an obvious one, but we heard this straight from their V.P. of Marketing. They basically shoot to have products for the "90%" and leave the bleeding edge 10% to others until technology gets cheaper, and then they try to beat their competition with better implementations at a lower price point.
My last picture is of some of the swag I got.
My wife likes those cloth bags, so I picked up a few (there are more "Dish" ones inside the Dish bag that you see).
Moving to the right, there is a NHT Speaker t-shirt, the 2015 CEDIA Show Book, a deck of cards, some pens and small tools, a couple of stuffed Dish "Joeys", the DTS (including DTS:X) and Atmos demo discs, a fabric Atmos "sticker" (I thought it was a drink coaster), the James Loudspeaker flyer that showed their speaker layouts, a ton a magazines, oh and after the Epson demo, everyone from the AVS forums got an Epson Runsense SF-110 watch. These suckers have GPS and Bluetooth in them, and tie in to a fitness app. Online they sell for $140 from Epson, or $170 everywhere else. Not bad.
