Invision UK Home Technology Showcase 2016 the biggest yet

In only four years, Invision’s Home Technology Showcase has established itself as a must visit destination for anyone involved in integrated AV solutions for the residential, commercial or marine markets.

Held for a second time at the Mercedes Benz World in Weybridge, the showcase had 30 exhibitors and 370 trade-only visitors over two days. Keynote presentations punctuated the show, providing insights from different manufacturers. For the occasion, there were at least 10 exclusive launches and previews.

LG stand, with its OLED G6 flagship model was drawing everybody’s attention as you entered the show. Launched at CES, LG has partnered with Dolby to bring Dolby Vision HDR (High Dynamic Range) support to its OLED range this year.

Unlike LCD TVs, OLED uses self-emitting pixels - organic molecules based around lines or rings of carbon atoms. The resulting technology is paper thin and light, allowing LG to create an illusion that the glass and the telly are one. These screens are ideal for residential installations, having no hot spots and a real any-angle viewing range.

James Meredith, Wyrestorm Enado product manager, showed us the company’s new NetworkHD touch app. This free app for the NetworkHD system has a live video previewd and can connect with any devises on the HD line up, ‘The best AV controller ever,” according to Meredith. WyreStorm's NetworkHD is a robust and highly scalable HDMI over IP solution designed for the distribution of high definition AV content over a standard Ethernet network featuring two compression technology options.

The simple drag and drop app program can also connect with Enado. Now on version 4, Enado has new features and capabilities, such as new remote access permanently, so you don’t need to set up dynamic DNS; pop up button groups for a better UI and the possibility of launching IOs and Android app through the interface, allowing integration to Sonos, Nest, Autonomics, etc.

Aquavision was demonstrating its range of water resistant screens and a new partnership with Bang & Olufsen, that allows clients to use an B&O remote control with any of Aquavision’s screens.

“B&O makes TVs from 40-inches upwards, which leaves a huge whole on their portfolio for smaller TVs, as well as the swimming pool and bathroom TVs that we have,” explained Alistair Benn, director at Aquavision. “B&O approached us to see how we could collaborate so that customers could use Aquavision screens and get the best B&O experience. To accommodate this we created an special circuit board integrated on the screens that allows you to use a B&O control on any of our TVs, no need for any external infra red receivers.” This B&O approved product is available worldwide.

The company has also introduced a range of solutions to fit its standard TV line-up, which makes them seem to be bespoke. This is the Aquavision Tailored Collection, which offers more affordability and a shorted lead time. The other announcement was that all Aquavision’s Nexus products have now IP control; they will start shipping from July.

There was no water to be seen at the Aquavision stand, but instead, American company Screen Innovations (SI) was splashing all over their sample projection screens to demo their resilience.

Premiering at the HTS, this was SI first UK appearance. Blake Vackar, VP of sales at SI summarises the company's moto, “SI is about showing what is possible with a screen and a projector, while leaving the lights on.”

A good example is Screen Innovation's Black Diamond product, which has been a top seller in the US for 10 years. The lenticular type screens are easy to clean. Vackar also introduced us to SI’s motorized or roll up TV. This screen, called the Zero G, can be installed in front of a window and it will not let any light through.

Specially for customers of Invision's home cinema division, Anthem AV Solutions, there was a fantastic home entretainment showroom with Sim2's AR projector, SI screen and Paradigm speakers. 

John Soden from Anthem and Paradigm brought along Paradigm’s concept hybrid speakers, which coincidentally proved an exact match with a Mercedez Benz car on show. The indigo blue speakers have specially designed grids, and an active hybrid speaker.

Soden explains: “These speakers are our new flagship speakers. They give you two front bass drivers and two rear firing bass drivers. These four are powered by 1400 watts of amplification each, which will give you 2800w on a pair of speakers, covering the nass section of the speaker, leaving the top half passive for the user to complement with whatever amplifier he chooses. They also come with two brilliant twitters.”

Invison’s new partner, Comelit, added another piece to the puzzle of a fully integrated home, with its door entry security systems. The Italian manufacturer has been designing and manufacturing original systems and products in the field of video and audio door entry systems, telephones, access control and closed circuit TV for over 50 years. With the ability to integrate with RTI, Crestron and other control systems, visitors to the Comelit could see the company’s offer on home automation.

LILIN group VP, Jason Hill, gave one of the keynote talks. With 50 per cent of its revenue coming from the home automation market, this is an important sector for Lilin. Hill highlighted that 90 per cent of consumers say personal and family security remains one of the top reasons to purchase a smart home system, followed by entertainment, according to the 2015 State of the Smart Home Report, published by iControl.

“If you look at Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, an in-depth study on what motivates people, security comes second on the pyramid, so quite essential. Now, having IP devices it is a lot easier to satisfy this need,” remarked Hill.

However, he warned, being on an IP network makes some systems vulnerable to hackers and ‘IP camera trolling.’ “LILIN cameras are secure and very difficult to spot by IP trolls,” Hill said.

The company has attended the show for three years and it always had a very good response to its stand. Amongst the products LILIN was showing a stylish and very heavy silver camera, aimed at the maritime market, Itcaught our eye. Hill explained, “I wouldn’t usually highlight a product that is not yet ready to sell, but this product was created as a response to the requests form the CI industry. This marine rate camera is a 1080P HD camera, with infrared sensor and a one piece solid stainless steel case.” The product should be available in July.

We met the larger than life audio legend Jeremy Bukhardt, CEO of Origin Acoustics. This is the second time Origin has participated at the HTS and Bukhardt said he was very impressed by the quality of the attendance and the great support Invision UK provides to manufacturers.

Origin presented its AcoustaScape garden speakers, with a separate subwoofer and tweeter. AcoustaScape AS41 Hi-Fi Landscape Audio System features four 4-inch satellite speakers, four 7-inch mounting spikes, and one 8-inch dual voice coil in ground subwoofer. This comes on an attractive retail box and “at a price range that has never been achieved before,” remarks Bukhardt.

Invision UK staff were very busy talking to clients and promoting their training academy and incentive scheme.

Peter Alloway, Invision’s UK Sales Manager (pictured above) was more than happy with the exhibition, the keynote speakers and the show attendance. “Most of our suppliers have something new to show to our clients, and this is a great way to demonstrate that we are indeed at the forefront of the industry. We have overseas visitors and exhibitors too, and we are most grateful for their support.”

For more stories about Invision UK's product portfolio and services, visit our partner page here. To see more from HTS 2016, watch our video coverage on Inside TV