CEA and CEDIA’s R10 Residential Systems committee announced Thursday...

CEA and CEDIA’s R10 Residential Systems committee announced Thursday two new standards for home theater design and installation of smart grid devices. The revision of CEA/CEDIA-CEB23 outlines theater installation and performance recommendations for the design of high-performance home theaters to “meet or exceed the commercial theater experience,” said Dave Pedigo, senior director of technology at CEDIA. Pedigo told us the home theater standard includes a “minor tweak” of the original standard, addressing industry experts’ concerns about suggested viewing heights of screens. Primary seating distance is still referred to as generally three times the height of the screen, Pedigo said, adding that viewing distance is also a function of a client’s preferred seating in commercial theaters. Because the document has ANSI accreditation, a revision requires a formal process to make any changes, Pedigo said. Regarding wording in the document about a home theater “exceeding the performance of a commercial theater,” Pedigo said the standard, which covers video quality, now includes a recommendation for brightness as measured in foot-lamberts. While a commercial theater has a foot-lambert rating of 14, the recommendation for the home theater is 28 foot-lamberts to take into account the degradation of lamp brightness that happens “pretty quickly” following installation of a projector, as well as the effect of 3D glasses, which reduce the brightness of an image. “If you can double the light you have a better 3D experience,” Pedigo said. CEA/CEDIA-CEB29, meanwhile, a standard for the installation of smart grid devices, provides a basic understanding of issues covering the proper installation, protection and connection of smart grid devices, according to the trade groups. The groups position CEA/CEDIA-CEB29 as a “a starting point for consumers, installers and companies involved in the buying, developing or installing of smart grid technologies and devices.” Pedigo said the standard is largely directed toward manufacturers to ensure that signals running over power lines aren’t corrupted by electromechanical interference. “It’s a little early for our members to utilize what’s in the document,” Pedigo said, referring to electronic systems contractors. “The smart grid still has a long way to go,” he said, “but this was written in advance of products so that we're ahead of the game when products do start coming out in the next couple of years.”