I think it’s great that you iPod-toting, Hulu-watching home theater addicts like Gary are all excited about CEDIA. But take the white earbuds out of your ears for a minute and listen, because I’m not as excited. For the Rental and Staging guys out there, much as we love the gadgets, CEDIA is a pain in the ATSC.

Every year, following CEDIA, one of my clients is going to show up at a show with some amazing pocket gizmo (most of which are destined for immediate obsolescence) with some critical portion of his presentation on it. It will have a half-charged battery, they’ll have forgotten the wall-wart for it, and it’ll use some proprietary connector – just introduced at CEDIA.

I think part of it is the level of hype in the home theater industry (thanks again, Gary) and the starry-eyed believers who march along to it’s beat, which is heard through bluetooth mega-bass earbuds. How do you navigate an industry FULL of “universe-changing”, “revolutionary”, “never-before-seen” devices?

Look, I’m a nut for the stuff, too. most of the above labels apply to me as well – at home.

And I totally recognize that in many ways consumer devices now drive development in the professional industry.

But leave it at home until there’s a rackmount version, OK, guys?  😉

JRR