European Custom Installer

The Victoria & Albert Museum in London sees CEDIA name the winners of the 2019 EMEA Awards, with winners including UK integrator Perfect Integration, Indian CI specialist Sound Sense and distributor Habibtech.

The black tie event commemorates the best projects and companies in the AV industry from France, India, S. Africa, UAE, the UK and USA. The ceremony started with a drinks reception in the Museum Dome. Following that the 400 industry professionals in attendance headed through the Raphael Gallery, the largest and most famous part of the museum, where CEDIA global president and CEO Tabatha O'Connor opened proceedings before attendees enjoy a three-course meal.

URC gets further capabilities with the launch of a two-way IP module for Total Control of the Pentair IntelliTouch pool and spa control system.

The module allows customers using any URC Total Control interface to control all Pentair Pool & Spa products compatible with the IntelliTouch system, including pool pumps, cleaners, heaters, pool lights and water features. The integration requires a Pentair i-Link home automation protocol interface adapter. Installers can program macros with device events, status queries or set modes (such as "Party Mode" or "Romance Mode") using either URC Accelerator or TC Flex programming software, with activation using a URC Total Control 2.0 controller.

Amazon announces a lot of Alexa-powered devices at its September 2019 hardware event, with 15 devices ranging from the obligatory (such as updates on the Echo speaker range) and the somewhat weird (an Alexa-powered ring anyone?).

Front-lining the event are, perhaps obviously, the Echo device update as Amazon promises to have a smart speaker for just about everyone. Audiophiles get the Echo Studio, a take on the likes of the Google Nest Max and Amazon HomePod featuring five drivers, including a downward-facing 5.25-inch woofer, 1-inch front-firing tweeter and three 2-inch mid-range speakers aimed in different directions. It supports 3D audio and Dolby Atmos, and includes a 24-bit DAC and 100kHZ power amplifier for high-resolution music playback via, of course, the Amazon HD Music service.

Around 26% of the €225 billion Europeans spent in 2019 on Technical Consumer Goods is going for smart appliances such as cameras, air treatment, TVs, audio systems, robotic vacuum cleaners and smart LEDs, GfK reports.

In total, GfK predicts the smart device (excluding smartphones and smartwatches) market will increase by 9% in 2019, from €122bn in 2018 to €133bn. Smart home technology is changing at an "unprecedented" pace over the past decades, and it is not over. For instance, smart TVs account for 80% of TVs sold in Germany, UK, France, Italy and Spain in 2019, while robot vacuum cleaners make 12%. Around 4% of dishwashers sold also have some measure of smarts.

However, while the smart home dream resonates with consumers, the present reality is one of a collection of isolated smart devices. Despite 42% growth in smart appliance and H1 2019 revenue growth of 25% for smart energy and lighting, the largest smart category, smart entertainment and connectivity, accounts for €6.3bn turnover despite showing 0% Y-o-Y growth in H1 2019 in the 5 European markets (Germany, UK, France, Italy and Spain).

OnePlus follows on the drip-feed of details with the launch of two own-branded TV sets-- the Q1 and Q1 Pro, both featuring a 4K QLED panel with Dolby Vision and HDR10+ support running on Android TV.

The choice of OS provides for some interesting integration with OnePlus smartphones, as well as support for both Google Assistant and Alexa. A OnePlus Connect companion app allows users to input text and switch between Android TV apps using the smartphone, and it automatically lowers TV volume when one receives a call on the phone. Chromecast support also comes built-in.