Several years ago, before it pulled the plug on its Oldsmobile brand (remember those cars?), General Motors launched an advertising campaign that attempted to reposition the brand as “not your father’s Oldsmobile.”
CEDIA 2016 in many ways reminded me of that Oldsmobile commercial. The show definitely wasn’t our fathers’ CEDIA.
Unlike in years past, when it seemed the event was the showcase for a lot of “me too” products, that isn’t the case anymore. The show was as diverse as its ever been with traditional exhibitors such as Stewart Filmscreen, SpeakerCraft and Lutron joined on the show floor by Mercedes Benz, Nissan, Ram Truck, Amazon, Comcast and Google Cast.
Welcoming these new exhibitors with open arms, electronics professionals are embracing a burgeoning new era of custom installation that covers a wide spectrum of products and services spanning traditional home theater and control to commercial and recurring revenue opportunities.
Narrowing down a list of 12 products that stood out was an extremely difficult task this year. In past years, I saw products from companies like Bose, Access Networks, Kwikset, LG, Screen Innovations (SI) and Anthem that would have made my list of best products (they will probably show up on someone else’s list), but this year the field was too deep to include all of the many standout products at the show.
Check out the list of 12 great new products from CEDIA 2016!
