Extron Electronics introduces the DSC DP-HD A, a high performance, HDCP-compliant scaler that converts DisplayPort signals to HDMI.

It accepts DisplayPort video at resolutions up to 2560x1600, and offers high performance scaling with multiple output rates up to 1920x1200, including HDTV 1080p/60 and 2K.

The DSC DP-HD A features advanced Extron video signal processing with 1080i deinterlacing and Deep Color processing for optimal image quality.

The 5th edition of the International Digital Festival sees Legrand present a project it calls "Flocoon"-- a family of conceptual products acting as a proposal for a new means of home automation device control.

Seen at the Innovation Village at the Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris, Flocoon products are designed to be touched, with soft silicon dressing and control via natural gestures enhanced further through mobile devices

"The Flocoon family creates a new design language for home controls," Legrand claims. "They no longer communicate a technical or electro mechanical approach, but rather become a kind of a second skin that delicately dresses the walls."

Logitech Harmony Ultimate and Smart Control remotes get to control more devices-- namely Sonos wireless audio systems, with direct playback, volume and playlist control from anywhere in the home.

Such control extends to the Harmony mobile device app.

"We’re creating an even more robust Harmony ecosystem that makes it easier for you to create the optimum home-entertainment experience, including listening to your favorite playlists on Sonos wireless speakers, and setting your Philips Hue lights to the perfect brightness and color for watching a movie,” the company says. “With this update you can easily create the ideal entertainment experience, for the living room and beyond.”

In addition the Harmony app gets speech-to-text capabilities, allowing users to dictate queries in the streaming media app's search field. The voice recognition is powered by either Siri or Google Voice Search.

Nod Labs proposes a wearable means for the futuristic gesture-based control of connected devices customers desire-- the Nod, a "smartring" promising accurate and elegant control without need for remotes or cameras.

Crafted out of jewelry-rade stainless steel and powered by the combination of select Broadcomm silicon and Nexus-Trellis software, the Nod ring reportedly detects spatial motion with over 0.1mm accuracy point. It connects to devices via Bluetooth, and is already supports Windows, Mac and Android platforms as well as connected home solutions from the likes of Nest, Hue, WeMo and GoPro.

Control gestures include a familiar variety of swipes, waves, taps and pinches.

A rechargeable battery provides juice for up to a "day of active use," with  control signal range clocking at around 10m.

Calling it “The Industry's Most Powerful Configurable Control System Software,” Extron announces the immediate availability of Global Configurator Professional.

This dynamic configuration software is ideal for control systems and applications that range in scope from single projector classrooms to large, elaborate control system designs. Powerful features, such as conditional logic, variables, and macros provide even greater flexibility for more sophisticated control scenarios. The Controller Groups feature expands AV system design potential for much larger systems requiring multiple IP Link Pro control processors. Global Configurator Professional brings advanced configuration capabilities, enhanced features, and streamlined integration to your next control system design.

"Global Configurator Professional has been designed from the ground up to enable the greatest features and performance from the Extron Pro Series control systems," says Casey Hall, VP Sales and Marketing for Extron. "Whether you choose Global Configurator Plus for smaller projects or Professional for more sophisticated control system designs, you’ll have the same, familiar configuration approach, but now with more power and capabilities than ever."

HDMI Forum releases the Compliance Test Specification (CTS) for Version 2.0 of the HDMI Specification, the document by which Adopters can ensure that their 2.0-enabled HDMI products are compliant with Version 2.0 of the HDMI Specification.

Launched late in 2013, Version 2.0 of the HDMI Specification offers a significant increase in bandwidth (up to 18Gbps) to support new features such as 4K@50/60 (2160p), which is 4X the clarity of 1080p/60 video resolution; 32 audio channels; as well as dynamic auto lip-sync and extensions to CEC. Version 2.0 is backward compatible with earlier versions of the HDMI Specification.