The CES is the year’s biggest event in the Consumer Electonics Industry. This gives rise to a gathering including manufacturers and their products as well as the key personalities who provide the impetus and creativity that make our industry thrive. It is a time when partnerships are sealed, where sales get initiated or are brought to a conclusion. But this abundance of technology everywhere should not overshadow the purely human aspect involved, which remains one of the fundamental factors in this market. It’s a time to get to know each other better, whether it be in the strictly professional framework of the trade fair or not.
That’s why so many parties
are organized during the CES, usually under a manufacturer’s aegis, but
also by Home Theatre fanatics, who simply want to gather and share ideas
around their common passion.
THE AVS FORUM PARTY
That’s notably the case of the AVS FORUM, who represents the biggest online community about Home Theatre. Created by David Bott and Alan Gouger in 1995, the AVS Forum started as a "Question / Answer" section on the AV Science website, before finding its current form in January 1999. Since then, this forum has become a "Must" for any English-speaking Audio / Video enthusiast, Since then, with over a million post since last year.
This is already the third
party organized by the AVS FORUM
within the CES, in addition to the one held at the CEDIA EXPO 2002 last
September. Once again, the “Golden Room” of the Sahara Hotel was conscripted
to welcome more than 500 people.
The event was cosponsored
by Runco and Stewart
Filmscreen, in presence of the charming Lisa Ortega, who went through
a great deal of efforts to organize the whole thing. The two brands had
joined efforts to present various demonstration systems throughout the
evening, and treated us all with gorgeous pictures. Also, such an exceptional
event wouldn’t have been complete without the presence of several emblematic
figures:
Anthony Grimani, acoustic
specialist and former employee from the Dolby
Laboratories and THX, who is now
chairman of PMI.
Tony Grimani on the left
& Don Stewart by his side.
The majority of the staff from U.S. magazine Widescreen Review, including chairman Gary Reber.
Gary Reber on the left
& Geer Ramault on the right.
Mark Hunter, chairman of Milori Inc., best known for his video calibration system, Colorfacts.
Mark Hunter.
And just so we wouldn’t feel homesick, people from Europe were also present, such as Tom Vanthuyne and Geert Ramault (cf. photo above) from the Home Theatre Barco Division.
David Bott & Brenda
The evening was a fantastic time: First of all, David Bott greeted us with the usual welcome speech, before Don Stewart (President of the same company) expressed his views and was awarded for his constant contribution to AVS since its creation.
The full crew from Stewart
Filmscreen
Finally, the last speaker made a remarkable entrance, dressed as Hannibal Lecter: Sam Runco appeared before an astounded audience for a surprising 40 minutes speech filled with anecdotes. What a showman!
Sam Runco as Hannibal.
Finally, Sam and David invited us to the Runco party, which was to be held on the next day, where many guests were challenged by Sam Runco on a billiard game, in order to raise money for the Elf Foundation, a worthy cause to offer Audio / Video equipment to children in hospitals.
Sam Runco
THE RUNCO PARTY
“The Beach”, a local nightclub facing the Convention Center was the "site" for this memorable evening. As expected, the party opened with a press conference including with a demonstration of a brand new line of RUNCO video projectors.
Like the day before, this was another occasion to talk to the leaders of the Home Theater Industry including :
Joe Kane, creator of the DVD Video Essentials ; Joel Silver, chairman of ISF (Imaging Science Foundation) which, for the novice, is the video equivalent of what THX is to sound;
Gary Reber & Joe
Kane
Your humble servant on
the left with Joel Silver on the right.
Jim Burns (ISF), Cliff Plavin (Progressive Labs), Mark Hunter (Milori-Colorfacts), Mark Stein (Runco), and many others….
From left to right: Mark
Stein & Jim Burns.
This introduction was followed by a quite surreal moment which we witnessed: A white pattern was broadcast from a video projector (the top of the RUNCO line). A crowd gathered around, apparently taking measurements with the help of previously installed sensors on tripods. In the end this "Private Party in the Party" is called THE “Shoot Out”, where different video calibration system were tested and confronted by their respective manufacturers : Sencore, Colorfacts and Progressive Labs, in the presence of the Home Theater video specialists.
Mark Hunter & Perry
Sun (Widescreen Review) on the right.
From left to right: Tony
Grimani & Cliff Plavin.
The results obtained by the
three color analysis systems where compared using a spectroradiometer (a
tool of reference for the industry). The three of them gave results which
will be the subject of long discussions, but in any case all of them were
beyond the capacity of the human eye.
Once these tests were over,
we could finally admire our billiard champion at work, namely: Sam Runco
himself! He was untiring confronting throughout the evening more than 30
contestants including some young ladies from our industry, while never
losing, but offering a great effort for this noble cause.
Finally, we decided to relax
while the party was still going on, and made the best of this "haut lieu"
of the Las Vegas nightlife, including: lots to eat and drink, good music
and… showgirls! ;-)
In conclusion, we must take
off our hats to our American hosts who, with all their know-how, where
the best of all hosts and never took themselves (too) seriously. A real
example for us Europeans follow!