Electronic House Expo, also known as EHX, is this week in Orlando. It is perfectly understandable, given the current economic situation, if you're not making the trip. But especially in tough times, sharing knowledge, best practices, and favorite technologies can be worth the cost of a discounted plane ticket and a night or two at a cheap, clean motel. So off I go. Here's some of what I'm looking to learn.

1. More about the Consumer Electronics Association's State of the Builder study. I've blogged about the results before. At EHX, CEA will officially present the final results to the world. At the time I previewed the study with CEA researchers Steve Keonig and Chris Elly, CEA still intended to circle back with some builders to get feedback on some of the results. I'll be interested to hear, for instance, if builders are seeing anything for themselves in offering home technologies. We've established that most builders agree offering home technologies is important, but why is often not clear.

In conversations, we hear everything from a need to compete (keep pace), to a need to differentiate (get ahead). We hear some technology is a throw-in whereas others produced 30-point margins. Here's what builders told CEA (Source: CEA 7th Annual State of the Builder Technology Market Study):

Clearly, it seems the most popular reason is that someone asked for it. And so far (see below, same source), builders in general aren't seeing a big revenue bump from technology. How can we change that?

2. NuVo's Renovia whole-home audio system. I know perfectly well there will be great new products all over the show floor (I've got Control4, On-Q/Legrand, Lutron, and others on my "to-see" list), but I've gradually become a convert to powerline carrier technology. And that's what the Renovia system uses to distribute audio around the house. Granted, my home lacks the structured wiring to support other distributed systems, so of course I'm on the lookout for something fitting. I could go with a wireless solution, but for whatever reason, our home is not RF-friendly and I've taken to my electrical wires as a networking infrastructure. So I'll be interested to see Renovia up close. Here's a diagram, courtesy of NuVo:

3. Status of CEA's TechHome Rating System. TechHome is primarily CEA's installer initiative, hooking up end users with people who can set up systems in their homes. In a related initiaitve, CEA has a builder outreach program. As part of builder outreach, CEA came up with a TechHome Rating System, which started really as a way to raise awareness of home technology, but generated increased awareness through the NAHB's Home Technology Alliance (along with CEDIA), as a way of actually rating how "digital" a home is, sorta the way LEED or the NAHB Green Building Program rates homes' green-ness.

Establishing a rating system for digital homes is likely an uphill battle, and the initial rating system was somewhat simplistic, but CEA has been gathering feedback to come out with a significant revision, which I'll learn more about this week.

 4. CEDIA Training. This is kind of a big deal. It's a little like Coke serving a choice of Coke and Pepsi at its own corporate function. CEDIA's obviously the big dog when it comes to training and certification and EHX has always been something of a competitor to CEDIA Expo, where lots of installer training happens. So it's great to see so many CEDIA courses offered at EHX. And really, this makes a ton more sense than Coke serving Pepsi. Not only is the economy wreaking havoc on home systems shows (EHX Fall will eventually take place at the Consumer Electronics Show, and CEDIA's spring Electronic Lifestyles Forum had to be postponed), but both organizations need each other. They serve much the same audience.

If you'll be at EHX this week, maybe we'll run into each other. When I'm back in the office, I'll jot down some of what I saw at the show so you can get a little flavor. Keep boning up on the latest home technologies. As my wife keeps telling me when I cry over my 401(k) statement, things will get better. And when they do, it's important to be ready.