Inside CI Tech Talk - News, Reviews and Interviews

Send us Fan Mail Sign up for our weekly newsletter - https://linkly.link/2gPF0 Barry just launched AV8 Distribution, and the real story is not a logo or a press release. It is what happens when someone with decades in the custom AV and home cinema world decides to bet on relationships, service, and performance, then has to deliver from day one. We talk about the leap from employment to ownership,...

Send us Fan Mail Sign up for our weekly newsletter - https://linkly.link/2gPF0 Your next client might not need a full rebuild, they might just need the right upgrade in the right place. We kick off with real-world install updates, including a bespoke media wall build with hidden speakers behind fabric, a tight-but-mighty 3.1 approach, and the kind of practical design constraints integrators deal w...

Send us Fan Mail Sign up for our weekly newsletter - https://linkly.link/2gPF0 The fastest way to learn what’s changing in custom install is to listen to what integrators and manufacturers are actually solving on the show floor. From the CEDIA Tech Business Summit, we bring you short, practical conversations packed with real install takeaways: what’s new, what’s working, and what to keep in the va...

Send us Fan Mail Sign up for our weekly newsletter - https://linkly.link/2gPF0 A surprising amount of perfectly usable AV equipment gets tossed every year, not because it’s broken, but because the industry moves fast. At the CEDIA Tech of Business Summit, we sit down with Ian Morrish to talk about two ways the AV world can reduce waste and accelerate impact: Together for Cinema and GivingBack.tech...

Send us Fan Mail Sign up for our weekly newsletter - https://linkly.link/2gPF0 Your outdoor speakers worked fine last year, so why do they suddenly fail the minute the sun comes out? We get honest about the unglamorous side of custom installation: springtime service calls, weather exposure, amps that finally die after years in an outbuilding, and the kind of “you cannot make this up” issues that s...

Send us Fan Mail Sign up for our weekly newsletter - https://linkly.link/2gPF0 A studio build is fun, but the bigger idea is even better: we’re creating a place where the AV industry can actually talk like humans. We start with a quick walk-through of Studio One at our East Sussex head office, which will become part of a two-studio setup designed for unboxings, first looks, interviews, and reviews...

Send us Fan Mail Sign up for our weekly newsletter - https://linkly.link/2gPF0 You can tell a lot about an AV company by what they choose to demo and what they choose to hide. We’re back at CAVD Distribution in Marlow to see what’s changed since last time, and the answer is clear: they’ve rebuilt the showroom around systems that look and behave like real homes, not fantasy installs. Jamie and Mel...

Send us Fan Mail Sign up for our weekly newsletter - https://linkly.link/2gPF0 A home cinema can be the most exciting room in the house, or the most frustrating, and the difference often comes down to choices that nobody sees: the right speaker approach, the right support, and a system that matches how you actually use your home. We’re back at CAVD Distribution in Marlow with Jamie and Mel to hear...

Send us Fan Mail Sign up for our weekly newsletter - https://linkly.link/2gPF0 A home cinema business announcement turns into a full tour of what’s changing across UK AV. I’m sharing the news that I’m joining InsideCI as owner director, working alongside founder David Slater, with Steve May continuing to steer the editorial direction. If you rely on InsideCI for weekly trade news, reviews, and rea...

Send us Fan Mail Sign up for our weekly newsletter - https://linkly.link/2gPF0 A lot of home cinema builds fail for one boring reason: they start with a shopping list instead of a design. From Meridian HQ in Huntingdon, we sit down with Barry to get into what actually makes a system feel cinematic, and why the “made in Britain, built-to-order” mindset still matters when you’re spending real money...

Send us Fan Mail Sony is partnering with TCL for Bravia manufacturing. Panasonic is handing European TV production to Skyworth. Barco is moving to acquire Focal and Naim. If those headlines made you stop scrolling, you’re not alone, and we wanted to talk through what they could actually mean for premium home cinema, custom installation, and the screens and sound systems we put in real homes.  We’r...

Send us Fan Mail AudioControl just drew a bold new map for high-end home theater, and we walk through what it means for anyone building serious cinema rooms or installing them for clients. I’m Ron, and I’m breaking down the company’s Hyperion series, a new lineup that blends decades of audio engineering with modern video handling and networked audio thinking. The headline is clear: Hyperion is des...

Send us Fan Mail A great home cinema is not a shopping list. It’s a chain of decisions, from the room and the wiring plan to calibration and long-term support, and one weak link can ruin the magic. From Rayleigh, Essex, we walk through Monitor Audio’s brand-new Experience Centre and ask a simple question: how do you make high-performance sound repeatable for real homes, not just show demos? We’re...

Send us Fan Mail Ever wondered why some systems make you forget specs and just feel? We sit with Steinway Lyngdorf UK’s Charlie and Simon to unpack the craft behind statement audio: the brand partnership with Steinway that lends instant cultural weight, the all‑in‑house engineering that keeps signal paths pure, and the calibration smarts that let a system sound like itself in any room. From Essex...

Send us Fan Mail What turns a room with a big screen into a place where stories breathe and families gather? We take a clear-eyed look at what “home cinema” really means today, separating design-led experiences from out-of-the-box shortcuts and explaining how to get immersive results without wasting budget. We start with the blueprint: seat-to-screen distance, viewing angles, and speaker locations...

Send us Fan Mail A global TV shake-up rarely feels this clear: Panasonic is partnering with Shenzhen Skyworth Display Technology to gain manufacturing scale while guarding the crown jewels—AV processing, quality assurance, and premium performance. We break down what shifts, what stays the same, and why this move reframes competition without diluting Panasonic’s high-end identity. We walk through t...

Send us Fan Mail Bright rooms, big screens, and bold colour—our latest Tech Talk breaks down Optoma’s UHZ78LV, a triple‑laser projector aimed at people who want theatre scale without turning off the lights. We dig into what 5,000 lumens actually delivers in a living room, how RGB laser light helps sustain saturation and contrast, and why wide colour coverage up to 96% BT.2020 and 98% DCI‑P3 matter...

Send us Fan Mail Ceiling audio that installs faster, covers more space, and welcomes everyone—this conversation with Amit at ISE 2026 puts a spotlight on practical innovation. We walk through an 8-inch Bluetooth and Auracast ceiling speaker with a built-in 60 W RMS amp that can broadcast a master signal up to 100 meters, creating a mesh of receivers across the room. That broadcast advantage isn’t...

Send us Fan Mail What if your home cinema could shift from quiet, pin‑drop dialogue to a dance‑floor moment where vocals float overhead and drums punch from the walls? We sit down with Nick from L-Acoustics at ISE to unpack how polished showroom magic becomes everyday reality, and why usability—not specs alone—wins hearts in the residential space. We start with the pain point everyone knows: clien...

Send us Fan Mail Crowded floor, brighter screens, and a surprising focus on simplicity—that’s what stood out as we walked the Sony stand with Adam Dover. We unpack how the new Bravia BZ Key Series and a thoughtfully positioned Crystal LED range push professional display quality while cutting setup time and reducing waste, all without losing sight of what clients actually see on the wall. We start...

Send us Fan Mail What if the best-sounding speakers are the ones you never see? We head to the Amina stand with Matt to explore the Sapphire range of invisible speakers and the stealthy ALF 100 sub, which can disappear into plaster or sit quietly behind wood panelling. It’s a masterclass in design-first audio: slim panels that vanish into the surface, wide dispersion that fills the room evenly, an...

Send us Fan Mail Want a cleaner, smarter path to reference home cinema? We sit down with David to unpack the European debut of the Altitude CI and why a license-based, Dante-ready processor can save time, money, and headaches without compromising sound. Instead of locking projects into fixed channel counts, the CI scales in twos—start at eight channels and expand as rooms and ambitions grow. With...

Send us Fan Mail Big systems don’t have to mean big headaches. From the floor at ISE 2026, we sit down with Stephen Rhead to reveal how AMP Multi rethinks distributed audio for custom installers, bringing true flexibility, cleaner racks, and smarter control to projects that span from a single living room to sprawling multi‑zone estates. If you’ve ever juggled legacy ZP stacks or wrestled with fixe...

Send us Fan Mail A switch brand that shaped generations just showed how the smart home is finally growing up. We sat down at ISE to unpack how Niko’s century of reliability evolved into Niko Home Control , a platform that makes lighting, climate, shades, audio, EV charging, solar, and battery storage work together without drama. The big reveal: Motif, a new brand and design layer that turns energy...

Send us Fan Mail A twentieth anniversary should feel like forward motion, not a museum tour. We brought that energy to the floor with a reborn P8, a new Uno series of sealed subwoofers, and Immersio, our approach to uniting DVLED screens with uncompromised sound. If you’ve ever wrestled with dispersion, seating distance, or the compromises of non-perforated displays, this conversation offers a pra...