RE: NEC Smarthome show

["Keith Doxey" <ukha@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> From: Paul Gordon
>
> Not long got back home from Birmingham, so thought I'd add my
> thoughts about the weekend to those already posted.
>

Got home mid afternoon myself.

>
> I definitely feel it was worth the visit, - it's always interesting to
see
> (and occasionally touch) all the nice shiny things!
>

Absolutely, even if I didnt manage to sneak the 61" Plasma out :-)

> The Smarthome part of the show was absolutely dwarfed by the
> selfbuilding & renovation part of it
>

I did noticed a couple of stands in the selfbuild show that would have been
more appropriate in the SmartHome show but there was just so much to see.
Interesting to notice that the organisers used some sort of random number
generator when numbering the stands.

Looking through the list of exhibitors in the brochure helped you identify
stands you wanted to see and told you what number stand they were on. You
then had to spend ages searching the floorplan to find the number on the
layout!!!!

>
> The exhibitors within the Smarthome show seemed to fall pretty
> broadly into just two camps: -
> ....about 50% of the entire exhibition was AV equipment, -
> ....Another 40% was all "fancy lightswitches"

> The remaining 10% was (IMHO) the main area of interest, -
> including our very own favourites like Comfort & Simply
> Automate, and a few niche/new products like the Web-brick and so on.
>
> Most are interested mainly in selling a complete, closed system.
>

Having seen some of the prices they were quoting you can see why they
wouldnt be interested in selling someone a couple of X10 moudules !!

>
> As ever, the most enjoyable, (and in actual fact the most productive)
> element was getting to meet up face-to-face with fellow UKHA-ers,
> - I think it's true to say I learned more about CBUS by chatting to
> Kwong Li over breakfast in the hotel and with Rob Mouser in the bar,
> than from any of the exhibitors at the show.
>

Agreed, some very good discussions and several ideas gleaned from the show.

> Would I go again next year... well, yes. of course! I can't
> resist all those nice shiny toys!
>

The organisers are planning to double the number of stands in the SmartHome
part of the show next year.

> Would I go to it in preference to a UKHA2006?? - Absolutely not!
>

If it was only possible to go to one event then it would have to be
UKHA2006
but I would also go to SmartHome 2006 for a day if I could but preferably
not at the weekend as there were a lot more people blocking the stands on
the Saturday.

Great weekend meeting up with friends again :-)

Keith