The 2010 CEDIA Expo has come and gone for another year, with this one proving successful for many exhibitors.

For the first time in 13 years the show returned to Melbourne, this time to co-locate with DesignBuild. Once again the Expo offered an ideal platform for exhibitors to show off their wares, network with attendees, and further promote the industry.

If you couldn’t make it to the show, here’s what you missed:

3DTV… Where the bloody hell are you?
It’s no secret that I am not yet sold on the idea of 3DTV – there’s a lot of hype, yet no substance. I suppose you could say that it is the Avatar of the home automation industry. That being said, I couldn’t help but notice a serious lack of 3D and 3D-realted product at this year’s show.

For nearly a year now we have had 3D rammed down our throats. We’ve been told about how at last year’s CEDIA Expo in the US and the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas there were walls and walls of 3D panels, but at CEDIA in Melbourne I only counted two screens and little fanfare.

Samsung, which has been quite vocal in the promotion of the technology, was possibly the most notable of the manufacturers that opted not to demonstrate the technology that we have been told will be the saving grace of this industry in 2010-11. But perhaps there is some logic to this.

From the conversations that I have had with several installers at the show and in the field, the only people interested in 3DTV appears to be the manufacturers and the box shifters. In fact, according to the results of a survey we conducted at the show, when asked if 3DTV will be a driving force behind home automation in the next 12 months, 78.2% of the responses were disagree or strongly disagree.

RBH is coming to town
To many, a speaker is a speaker. Yes, there are varying levels of quality, but the technology is so commoditised that it’s a difficult to justify spending a lot of time trying different speakers, particularly as audio quality is very subjective.

Exhibiting for the first time in Australia this year was RBH Audio, a company that has been around in the US for 30+ years. The company was out here with a very simple, understated stand and a primary goal of securing a distribution network in Australia.

In speaking to John Fenn, it was clear that RBH is bucking the increasing trend of quantity over quality. He explained that when dealing with its distributors and dealers, the company had very stringent guidelines, including the rule that if any RBH speakers are found for sale online, the dealer will receive a letter of warning to remove the listing, with failure to comply being treated as a breach of contract. Further, these speakers must never be seen in an audio retail outlet.

From where I sit, this company appears to understand that perception is just as important as sales. RBH is ensuring an air of exclusivity around by making it so. This mystique can then be leveraged by an installer through the promotion of a high-end, high quality speaker system that can only be obtained via the CI channel.

While it’s still necessary to stay “mum” on who the distributor of RBH will be, rest assured that RBH loudspeakers will soon be available in Australia. Further, I managed to get my hands on a pair of its entry-level, ‘recession busting’ Impression loudspeakers so stay tuned for a forthcoming review in the September edition of Connected Home.