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The first ever Smart Home show ran from
14th to the 17th April 2005 in Hall 9 of Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre
– the NEC.
On arrival you could be forgiven for thinking
the show was disappointingly small, indeed if you wanted to you could have
probably walked all the isles and been out again in under 15 minutes. However,
on closer inspection there was plenty to keep you occupied. We spent six hours
there on the Friday, plus several more hours on the Saturday.
The show did have a strong bias towards AV so
there were plasmas, LCDs and projectors everywhere. Microsoft’s Windows Media
Centre Edition 2005 (MCE2005) was, as might be expected, featured on many stands
too.
Several people commented to me that there was a lack of “integration” at the
event. I suppose that’s up to the installation companies to provide though. It’s
understandable that the exhibitors that were manufacturers or distributors would
only be interested in promoting their wares. With the exception of
WebBrick and Comfort the more “techy” side of home automation was pretty much
absent at this show
The seminars seemed very busy, especially on
the Friday. The seminar theatre in the middle of the hall was usually full,
showing that the exhibition was not just being visited by the casual lookers,
wandering in from the Renovation and building show next door. These visitors
were focused on smart home technologies and were there to learn. Indeed one
exhibitor we talked to said he expected the first hour or two to be quiet on the
Thursday morning. However there was a queue of people waiting to get into the
hall before opening time. Several exhibitors told me they had given out their
entire stock of marketing leaflets etc within the first day of the four day
event.
The one word I heard more that any other as I toured the stands was of course
“Cat5”. Bus lighting, IR Distribution, Security, CCTV, Whole House Audio are all
products that, for the main part use Cat5e as their common wiring standard.
Despite the continued onslaught of wireless products, it seems the need for a
structured wiring system is still very real. While wireless can be a great help
in certain circumstances, especially retrofits, it still makes enormous sense to
flood wire a new build, whether a bespoke self build or a home in a development.
The Hitachi stand was my first introduction
to high definition TV. Having read lots on HDTV it was good to see it “in the
flesh”. The 55” plasma and its smaller siblings were running an HD demo from a
PC source. It had the usual boosted colours and images specially produced to
show it off, but it was damn impressive! We considered creating a diversion and
trying to make off with it, but we didn’t think we could outrun security.
On the WebBrick stand Andy showed us an
interesting touch switch system they are working with to develop a custom switch
plate. They hope to use it to trigger WebBrick’s functions and provide custom
colours on the switch.
A stand in the main hall that caught our eye was the EIS with a large poster
proclaiming multi-room audio at a cost of just £179 per room. On our initial
inspection it seems to require a bespoke 12 core cable.
Ben Geach from Simply Automate showed us a
few of the new products they are now offering. The Opus Octopus whole house
audio system requires only a Cat5 cable from the source to each bedroom/zone. It
then attaches to a keypad in the wall which has an integrated amplifier. The
ceiling speakers are then wired back to the wall keypad. Also on show was the
new touch screen for the Harmony system. It’s expected this will be released in
the coming weeks.
The LCD picture frame stand was one of those
you just had to stop and stare at. The frames featured a 1024x768 panel with a
media card reader for the most popular 7 types of flash card. An IR remote
allowed control of the device, setting the time intervals, and the transition
type. The single panel frame was around £550 while the impressive 3 image one
was around £1,500.
Siemens were there with the Siemens Bus that took part in our UKHA2004 Show at
Hatfield.
Several integrators showed small displays of Clipsal products. However Clipsal
themselves were conspicuous by their absence. It was disappointing that they
hadn’t made the effort to be there, especially as they put on such a great
display at our own UKHA2004 Show last year in Hatfield. Perhaps they will make
it next year?
Thanks to all the stands that helped “spread
the word” by taking some of our leaflets. We hope to welcome some new visitors
to the site and our mailing list and forums over the coming weeks.
As this year, next years Smarthome event will
be on at the same time as the Homebuilding & Renovation Show. The dates are the
2nd to the 5th of March 2006. The organizers tell us there were around 50 stands
at this years show and plans are already well underway for the next show with
120 stands, representing more than a doubling in size!
So all in all a very enjoyable and worthwhile
show. We look forward to next year!
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