AliceWith less than two weeks to go, CEDIA (The Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association) is calling custom install, design and home technology professionals alike to join it at its first ever Tech Forum.
This new format combines education, a keynote presentation and the annual AGM. The two-day event will be held at the Grange Tower Bridge Hotel in London.
CEDIA’s Tech Forum will provide a focused training environment for installers to get to grips with the latest thinking and practical support on two industry hot topics: 4K and HDMI and the design and deployment of wireless technologies in the home.
AWE, Crestron, Future Automation, Habitech, HDanywhere, Invision, Leaf, Pulse Marketing, Savant Systems Europe and WyreStorm have been named sponsors of the event and will be showcasing their latest products, while a selection will also hold hands-on product training on the first day. These sessions will support the two intensive new CEDIA training courses to be held on day two.
Day One
WyreStorm’s distribution and control expert James Meredith will lead an informative training seminar on ‘Applying HDBaseT, JPEG & H.264 technologies’ which will run alongside a presentation led by Pulse Marketing, focusing on the ‘Emerging Trends in Home Cinema’.
The next hour-long presentations will be held by Habitech and HDanywhere. The Habitech session will be focusing on the Pitfalls and Best Practice for IP, whilst HDanywhere’s MD, Chris Pinder will be talking about the complexities that will accompany trying to distribute native 4K content, once it is widely available, in a residential context, amongst other leading topics surrounding 4K.
Meanwhile, UK distributor AWE will be informing attendees about the latest updates in Wired and Wireless Multi Room Audio, featuring HEOS By Denon and URC. Running alongside this will be the Leaf session which will cover 4K – HDMI 2.0 – HDCP and HDBaseT technologies.
Completing the training session for the day will be Crestron, which will be discussing its wireless solutions – particularity the launch of Crestron Pyng. Invision UK will discuss the benefits of integrating LILIN IP Video Surveillance with control solutions such as RTI, Elan g!, Crestron, AMX and Control 4.
Keynote and AGM
Day one will conclude with a special keynote presentation from Maria Ingold, CEO of global tech consultancy, Mireality, ahead of the CEDIA AGM at the close of day one.
Maria’s presentation, entitled, Home Technology (HoT): A Connected, Smart, Sustainable Future for Living – At Home and Away will explore how communications, audio, video, smart home, efficient energy and wearable tech are all combining to provide advancements in home technology.
Day Two
On the second day, two dedicated workshops covering Ultra HD and Wireless Technology will be running side-by-side.
These two workshops, led by CEDIA’s education director, Simon Buddle and featuring subject matter experts from within the CEDIA community, will each comprise four separate sessions, allowing installers to explore these topics in greater depth and detail.
Attendees will gain hands-on experience with real products, experience the functionality aspects of relative approaches and be able to prove and disprove misconceptions. They will also get the chance to also probe, question and explore the products’ capabilities and particular manufacturer claims.
The Ultra HD workshop will start by looking at HDMI 2.0 and HDCP updates and specifically their data rates. It will also include audio in the matrix world (including ARC), 3D and lip-synching, HDBaseT, H265 and other transmission technologies.
In the Wireless workshop Frequency vs. Wavelength vs. Data rate will be covered in the first session followed by a session asking ‘802.11ac – what does it deliver?’
The session will then move on to testing wireless, channel and spectrum analysis and ping vs. throughput measurement.
Finally, a session entitled ‘fit for purpose’ will look at which services can be expected to reliably work over wireless.
For more information or for CEDIA members and non-members who wish to attend the CEDIA Tech Forum and Keynote, tickets can be purchased online at www.cedia.co.uk/cedia-events.
AGM is only applicable to CEDIA members.