Posted By Richard Lawler Sep 15th 2011 on Engadget.com

Another CEDIA is in the books, and if you weren’t there, just know the story was — as it has been in many corners of the country — the economy. Oh sure, projectors that cost only $10k still seemed value priced, but everywhere you looked companies were extending their products a little closer to the mass market. Whether it’s a heavy duty wall mounts, wireless hi fi systems or, most surprisingly, $300 powered shades from companies like Lutron, custom theater equipment is getting cheaper and ready to work in more homes. Interested in remaking a home theater while spending less than $10k and without building an entirely new house around it? 2011 may be your year.

As far as the hardware on display, we also got a look at TiVo’s new Premiere Elite DVR (hint: it looks and runs like a TiVo) and Dish Network’s new Tailgater portable satellite dish. Another treat was an MHL-to-HDMI adapter from DVDO that could make hooking your celly up to pretty much any TV on the go and charging it at the same time easy. At the THX booth, it had its stamp slapped on LG’s newest Nano LED lit 3D LCD, as well as a new program for soundbar / subwoofer combinations it says will result in more accurate sound for implementations where surround speakers don’t make sense. We also got a demo of its new Media Director protocol that can automatically configure compatible home theater equipment based on the content being watched. The Star Wars Blu-ray discs will be the first ones to ship with the embedded metadata, while partnerships with chipmakers mean software updates could start rolling out shortly for manufacturers that choose to deliver them — the demo ran on an HDI Dune player — and next year’s new devices should ship with the feature included.

The usual slew of projectors included new models from Mitsubishi and Digital Projection, with automatic settings for ultrawidescreen viewing as one of the hot features (other than 4K) this year. For a better look at some of the things we spotted on the show floor check the gallery below, and details in their press releases after the break.

Click here to view the full article + image gallery.

Click here to learn more about THX @ CEDIA 2011.

THX has launched a new Certification program for Speaker Bars, ensuring that style and convenience don’t have to mean poor sound quality.

The new Speaker Bar Certification comes after extensive performance testing of the products available on the market today. THX established standards and benchmarks based on the results, and incorporating the unique characteristics of Speaker Bars.

Needing to fulfill the role of the left, center and right speaker channels, there are a host of acoustic challenges facing Speaker Bars. On the hardware side, there’s the added complexity of built-in amplification and processing, all in a single thin cabinet.

THX Certified models are designed to sound better over a wider listening area compared to their non-Certified alternatives. A flatter frequency response not only guarantees a higher quality of sound overall, but also better dialog intelligibility. Like all THX Certified Speakers, a low distortion, minimally compressed, and high output sound is mandated. Because no small speaker cabinet can produce deep bass, the THX Speaker Bar certification process includes testing a matching subwoofer. THX tests these two units for proper blending, with special care to minimize localization with the subwoofer.

As one of the fastest growing speaker categories, THX believes it is important to ensure quality sound even for those with rooms unable to support a traditional speaker system.

The first THX Certified Speaker Bar is the upcoming Cinebar 51 THX from German speaker company Teufel. The aluminum enclosure holds four, 4-inch woofers and two, 1-inch titanium dome tweeters. A THX Certified Speaker Bar subwoofer fills in the bass. The Cinebar 51 THX will be available initially throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

For more information about the Tuefel Cinebar 51 THX, click here.

The new active 3D models have a host of next-generation and Sharp-proprietary features. At the top of the list is the full-array LED backlight with local dimming. This technology dims the LEDs in accordance to what is on screen at the time, creating a better contrast ratio and black level. The 240 Hz refresh rate and FluidMotion circuitry improves picture sharpness, even with fast motion.

Sharp’s proprietary RGB+Y pixel structure is here as well. This adds an additional yellow sub-pixel to the traditional red, green, and blue found on other flat panels – allowing for more precise colors, and a broader color palette.

Making certain all of these features work together is the Intelligent Variable Contrast, developed specifically for these Elite LCD TVs. This technology automatically adjusts the picture and backlight for an enhanced color gamut and better black levels for the best possible contrast ratio and color depth.

Built-in Wi-Fi gives access to streaming services such as Netflix and CinemaNow.

THX 3D Certified

For proof that it all works, look no further than the THX 3D Display Certification. This shows that both Elite models pass the most stringent video testing available today, and are truly among the best in their class. Over 400 lab tests are performed, including specific tests for Left and Right eye images, cross-talk, viewing angles, video processing and more. THX certification follows the HD standards used by the TV and movie industries to ensure the images created are as close to what the director intended as possible, with both 2D and 3D.

The 60-inch PRO-60X5FD and 70-inch PRO-70X5FD Elite LED LCDs are shipping now, and are available only from select custom install and specialty high-end retailers.

For more on THX 3D Display Certification, click here.

For more information on the new Elite LED LCDs, check out elitelcdtv.com.

May the smart content be with you

Imagine this: You unwrap a shiny new copy of your favorite Star Wars movie (doesn’t matter which one, we won’t judge). You place the disc in your Blu-ray player, and in moments the player, your receiver, and your television all subtly adjust to correctly configure their various settings, allowing you to just sit back and enjoy the movie.

Such wizardry will be possible not thanks to the Force, but thanks to THX Media Director™.

THX Media Director works behind-the-scenes ensuring that your system will use the optimal settings to match the content. Embedded in the content at the source (the mastering studio), THX Media Director has information such as aspect ratio, surround sound format, 3D format, number of audio channels, and more. This data is read by the THX Media Director enabled gear, like future Blu-ray players, receivers, and TVs. Each piece then configures itself based on the information in the content.

THX was created to better the experience of moviegoers by making certain they were getting the best possible presentation of the movie. THX Media Director is a logical extension of that original goal.

With the THX Media Director foundation in place, THX also announced that the soon to be released Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Blu-ray will be the first Blu-ray disc with THX Media Director enabled content on discs 1-6, available across several territories, including USA/Canada. Marking an almost 30 year relationship, THX worked closely with Lucasfilm to identify and preserve the best possible picture and sound playback settings so fans can sit back and experience Star Wars as it was intended.

The Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Blu-ray is just the start of an increasing portfolio of THX Media Director enabled content, including a library of web streaming content. But as you can see, content is just the beginning of the THX Media Director chain. That’s where the silicon chip manufacturers come in.

All consumer products these days have multiple media processors (chips) inside doing all the heavy lifting. Chances are, at least one of those chips comes from Analog Devices, Sigma Designs, or Silicon Image. Each of these companies has recently announced support for THX Media Director. By incorporating THX Media Director at the chip level, it is easier than ever for easier for CE manufacturers to implement THX Media Director™ into Blu-ray players, AV receivers, TVs and projectors. Consumers can expect to see more products that support THX Media Director in the months to come.

For more on THX Media Director, click here.

To learn more about the Star Wars Blu-ray box sets, click here.