CEDIA Expo has become my home electronics candy shop. Two home electronics categories might border on obsessions for me, and CEDIA helps fulfill that: displays and lighting.
If I lived by myself in a 20-room house, I'd have 15 displays. Each would be of the highest image quality available at that time and would be a combination of projectors, flat panels, and video walls. They would be switched out every few years, which admittedly, I do on a small scale now.
In my modest eight-room home, there are four outstanding TVs. I own a combination of LG, Samsung, and Sony. My husband and I thoroughly enjoy watching 4K movies on our Sony 65-inch A95K. Thanks to Sony's XR OLED Contrast Pro, its pure black contrast and a massive pallet of colors, the depth and detail from the brightest colors to deep shadows and everything in between deliver a breathtaking image. Plus, we've also got an outstanding surround sound system with an 18-inch subwoofer. Together, our audio and video movie-watching experience rivals a trip to the cinema.
On the rare occasion, I am willing to share my personal space, I head to my local IMAX theater, where I am reminded of just how spectacular and truly immersive the big screen and big sound deliver. Last weekend, my husband and I saw Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and the IMAX experience was worth enduring, the few glimpses of annoying bright lights from cell phones and the errant chatter.
I like Sony's tagline that was front and center at its booth at CEDIA, "Cinema is Coming Home." For the first time at CEDIA, Sony showcased its Crystal LED (CLED) video wall in a home theater setting. Of course, I've been seeing CLED at InfoComm and imagining how it would fit in my home. Pretty nicely, I'd say. I've got to be more patient for the prices to come down because I don't have the budget of someone who lives in a 20-room home.
Recently, home theater design and integration firm, CinemaTech had an opening at its new Florida showroom featuring Sony's CLED. "It was so immersive that when the dealers saw it, you could hear an audible gasp," said Jeff Goldstein, head of sales for its Custom Integration channel at Sony Electronics. "Sony is uniquely positioned to deliver the best cinema experience." In 2021, Netflix added a CLED video wall at its Los Angeles headquarters.
Fine Tuning My Lighting Obsession
Nearly every August for more than 20 years, I join my editor friends from competitive publications and participate on the panel of judges for the Lutron Excellence Awards. Since 2003, Lutron Electronics' chief corporate brand ambassador, Melissa Andresko, has spearheaded awards. It's here that I developed my passion for all things lighting.
Custom integrators submit projects for consideration in various lighting and shading categories. The winners are announced at CEDIA. Check out the list of this year's Lutron Excellence Award winners.
Between reviewing and being inspired by well over 100 award entries, meeting with Lutron product managers, and seeing new products at CEDIA, I am even more focused on a new lighting solution for my kitchen.
Lutron recently announced the Ketra D2 and Rania D2 architectural downlights which were shown at CEDIA for the first time. D2 ushers in a new chapter for the company, making Ketra and Rania available in a smaller form factor than ever—a new two-inch aperture downlight.
"Ketra provides the best quality of light out there for white light and it can also do full saturated colors and follow the color temperature that the sun would have throughout the day," said Ben Bard, VP of luxury residential business at Lutron. "We have dramatically reduced the form factor to a 2-inch downlight. It represents a major shift for Lutron.
If color temperature in your home is important to you, you've got to check out Lutron's Ketra. With the combination of Ketra technology and the small form factor of Ketra D2 architectural downlights, I'm getting to work on planning lighting that will transform my kitchen experience.
It's a good thing I am not attending the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January. My home budget can only take so much in one year.
