European Custom Installer

On 29 September the 2017 EMEA CEDIA Awards celebrated the excellence and professionalism of members from all regions in with the Global Awards in 3 categories, Best Home Cinema, Best Media Room and Best Integrated Home.

Hosted at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London - The Making of Harry Potter, the event hosted 430 industry professions for an evening of networking, fine dining and toasting the award winners.

Best Buy puts smart home as the cornerstone of a renewed retail strategy-- Best Buy 2020, a 3-year plan based on 3 tiers, specifically smart home, assisted living and in-home tech support.

“Our Renew Blue transformation was about improving the customer experience and fixing what was broken,” CEO Hubert Joly says. “Building on what we have accomplished, we are excited by the opportunities we have in this next chapter to grow the company by helping customers pursue their passions and enrich their lives with the help of technology, which is a much bigger idea and one that is rich with opportunities.”

As part of Best Buy 2020, the American retailer plans to enhance the smart home areas in all stores, roll out the Best Buy Smart Home Powered by Vivint automation and security offering to 450 stores, and add 1500 dedicated smart home employees. Another related expansion involves an in-Home Advisor program with 300 specially-trained advisors providing customers free in-home consultations related to home automation.

The Echo Show-- the touchscreen-equipped Echo device-- heads to Europe, as the online retailer turned device maker Amazon opens preorders in Germany and the UK.

The Echo Show does everything regular Echo devices do, only with the addition of a 7-inch touchscreen and a camera. Thus it allows for video calls, fullscreen cards for answers to queries and online video viewing (but not YouTube videos, since Google blocked access on the Amazon device for some reason).

Finally the device also pairs with home automation products via Alexa Skills, including baby monitors from Ring and Arlo, Philips Hue smart lights, and thermostats from the likes of ecobee and WeMo.

Video doorbell maker Ring is the next company to take on home security with Ring Protect-- a means to tie together the company's cameras, lights and doorbells into a single home security solution.

The Protect package includes a hub device, a door/window contact sensor, an IR-based motion sensor, a keypad (for arming/disarming) and a Z-Wave range extender. Customers can add more sensors to the system and, following a firmware update, security devices from 3rd parties such as locks, lights, carbon monoxide detectors, thermostats and sensors.

The Roku streaming device lineup gets a refresh-- one complete with no less than 5 new players, ranging from low-cost options for first-time customers to a 4K-capable Streaming Stick.

Aimed at first-time streamers or as addition to another room, the 2nd generation Roku Express and Roku Express+ promise a 5x power boost compared to the previous version. The Express+ is also ideal for use with older TVs, since it includes composite AV connectivity.

On the streaming dongle side side, Roku offers two options. The first is an updated Streaming Stick, now featuring a quad-core processor, 802.11ac dual-band MIMO wireless connectivity and a voice remote complete with TV power and volume to control compatible TVs as well as the stick. Owners of 4K TVs get the Streaming Stick+, with a more powerful processor able to handle 4K HDR 60fps streaming.