I'm an editor for CE Pro magazine working on a post-CEDIA story. I'm curios what dealers thought about the products, technologies and other stuff on display. Showstoppers? Underhyped? Overhyped? Your comments on or off the record are appreciated. If you want to discuss personally, please contact me at [email protected] or 651-275-9564. I'd be happy to share my thoughts as well.
Thanks in advance.
-julie

Indy still sucks! Not all companies can exhibit there because of lack of available space. Otherwise it was the same as any other year. Nothing tickled me this time around.

Julie, I will have to agree the show did seem rather bland this year...Less new product, less swag, less party's...weird...is it just me or did everyone else feel this way..Like our whole industry is behind on payments..LOL...I for one am excited about the move to Denver 2006.. I like Indy but having to book room's a year out to prevent taking a 30 minute shuttle is getting old..If your company is like mine you may not know how busy you will be or just who you may want to take in a year from now...2006 CEDIA I forsee as a blast....

THXRick

Just tried to book for the Hilton for next year, no space available. WTF.

I'll really agree on the need to move the show out of Indy.

1. The hotel situation is absolutely pitiful.

2. Not enough room for the amount of vendors that want to display.

Will Denver be any better? That remains to be seen.

1. Will the hotel/transportation issues be better/worse?

2. Will air travel be better/worse?

I'm still thinking that Vegas, with the vast amount of space available, is the place to be. That venue would allow for continued show expansion without the constant relocation to a new city from time to time.

Now here's a man who knows what he's talking about! Vegas would be an excellent spot, and would force me into taking a real vacation! But AVDude promises Denver to be a good time. I hope the people at cedia seriously take Vegas into account. Plenty of places to stay and you can find rooms for good deals. My other vote is for NYC, just for my own personal convenience.

Mike

Julie
As I have already posted my thoughts, as have others, you may wish to search and read them. I would hesistate to impose upon the tollerance of board members by subjecting them to those thoughts again.

However, the highlights in breif- but in no particular order
Netstreams showing of Digilinx
Crestron showing its new Somfy shade interface ( this is the geek in me ) which appealed to me more than the new I/O panels.
Control 4
The raise of 802.14 in various guises and products
Less expensive test equipment ( by magnitudes of 10 )
Improvement in lower price ( under 4k ) DLP projectors both front and rear.
Less expensive ( again by powers of 10 ) DVD servers ( but will they survive the law suit? )

Alan

Anybody see Xantech's new dual tuner, rs232 router, ect, ect?

Julie,

Polk IP speaker (Netstreams)
Digilinx (Netstreams)
5805 (Denon)
Duet (AMX)
Dark Chip (TI)
Free CEPRO subscription (Thanks EH)

You are never going to get me to go to Indi. Blah. Only 1 good restaurant in the whole town. Denver might be OK. If Cedia got real smart and moved the show to Vegas, I can almost guarantee that every installer in the USA, their laborers, accountants, aunts, uncles and dog, would show up.

I like Indy! Of course, I can drive there, so I'm somewhat biased.

As much as I enjoy the parties, I don't go there to party. I go for the reasons in this order:

#1 To see products that I don't normally get a chance to see and demo. Even if it's not a new product, chances are that there will be more then one or two things that most people have only seen in magazines and brochures. CEDIA is a chance to touch and feel those things.

#2 To get a personal feel for the companies that I consider doing business with. If I visit a booth with less than enthusiastic people; chances are that the support that I'll get from that company will be less than enthusiastic too.

#3 To meet people whom you normally only deal with via the telephone or email. Establing face to face contact with these people makes for a stronger dealer/manufacturer relationship.

I have never been to Denver..My partner just got back from a vacation there..From his input and looking at the city on-line, They seem to have way more downtown hotels withe 400+ rooms or more..The town seems well laid out with ton's of restaraunt's and shopping, and bars..The Go-Go scene also looks quite interesting..The only close person I know of is AVDude.. Come on man give us some input..

THXRick

Denver....

ok, but I'll make it very quick as it's not the reason for this thread...

Denver has about 5000 hotels rooms within 5 miles of downtown, and they are planning (don't know completion date) a MASSIVE new hotel to accomodate the huge expansion they're completing on the convention center here...

there are 11 breweries downtown, about 40-50 clubs/taverns...

there are about 300 restauraunts again within a five mile radius of the convention center. We have Rock Bottom (HQ in Boulder), Hard Rock, Chilis, PF Changs, Wolfgan Puck, Ruth Kris, etc... etc... etc...

the Regional Transportation District (RTD) was recently voted #1 rapid transit system in the country...they combine busses, light rail and vans, and you can get anywhere in Denver for a couple bucks, in about 5-10 minutes.

My house is 20 minutes away, and will accomodate thirty of the most elite here...

now, since the show is two years away from here, let's get back to the oringinal reason for this thread...

I heard Jeremy Burkhart completely lost his brain, and hired a band that got shut down, and then fired up his Harley in the show hall...

I hate his speakers but that is AWESOME! Talk about livening up what sounds like a rather bland expo!

Wish I coulda been there...

This message was edited by avdude on 09/15/04 11:00 ET.

I heard Jeremy Burkhart completely lost his brain,
and hired a band that got shut down, and then
fired up his Harley in the show hall...

... twice. While I was sitting in Runco's money seat 15m away.All I could think about was:
a) the VX2 with anamorphic lens was visual bliss,
b) how disappointing the Krell package was (to be fair, we had just walked out of the JBL demo), and
c) getting my hands around the neck of the ass with the Harley.

Other highlights:

Control4: Need to deliver as soon as they get their hands on the ratified 1.0 ZigBee chips. We suspect, however, that they will continue to hand-pick their dealers for some time after that to protect the margins.

GoldLine: Unbelievable pricing. I just ordered a prokit 30 because the nice lady at the show wasn't taking orders.

Triad: Repositioning and tweaking almost the entire line, I'm ordering some in-room gold's just for me since they didn't demo any of their line.

Philips Pronto: Anyone else take the complimentary advanced programming class? My pick for Best Freebie.

As for Denver:
You'll have to be comatose to not enjoy Denver's food/nightlife/transportation. Downtown hotels will be tight just like Indy but the outlying hotels are plentiful. For those of you who think Vegas will offer a "vacation" as well as a good show, book an extra few days (week?) before you need to be in Denver. Vegas has absolutely nothing on Denver unless all you want to do is see showgirls, gamble and see the Grand Canyon. Here's a short list:
Air Force Academy and Garden of the God's in Fort Collins
Red Rock's Amphitheatre and Coor's tour in Golden
NCAR, climbing, hiking, touring, hippie-watching in Boulder

We have CES in Vegas already. Hopefully, the renovations at the convention center and new hotel rooms will be finished by then.

This message was edited by Wagz on 09/15/04 15:08 ET.

But wouldn't it be nice to go to a party, and not have to worry about how the heck you'll manage to get back to your hotel room that is a 30 minute drive away?


I'll definitely agree with this one. If only the reps would get out of my way.....lol


MAN! You really hit the nail on the head with this one. All the reps standing around talking with each other, rather than asking if I might have a question.

I've left booths, that had products I might possibly have bought, just because the reps weren't courteous enough to be bothered with a potential customer. It's like they can't see someone standing in front of them.



Yup, Nice to actually meet someone you talk to every few days.

A good example of this? Fred at Capitol Sales. Great guy. Was nice to see him again this year.