Bigger than ever?
     The Festival du Son et de l'Image is now 20 years old, assuming you don't count the one in 1984. The name has shrunk slightly, to...well, as you see in the logo.
     This is the second of those shows to be held at the Centre Sheraton, in downtown Montreal, and also the first without organizer Marie-Christine Prin. who last year brought some partners on board. She wanted to make the Montreal show a sort of mini-CES, which comparison is of course unfathomable, but certainly there is room to branch out into other areas of consumer electronics: iPods, digital photography, home automation, etc.
     The first year of the renewed Festival looked promising. Even Apple Computer (as it was known, before becoming Apple Inc. this year) showed up, even though it doesn't even go to CES. There were cameras as well, and in fact we got a good hands-on demo of one and subsequently bought it for UHF. This year? Well, Apple is not listed, and the number of brands beyond the usual suspects are those of Sony, Samsung and Yamaha. You can see the full list at the Festival site.
     The Sheraton had been selected because it has a number of the large rooms favored by deep-pocketed companies, something that was not true of the Delta, which had been the Festival venue for many years. However the actual hotel rooms, used by the high end companies that were once the mainstay of the Festival, are not without problems. They are mostly smaller than the Delta room, and the narrow entranceways make access difficult. For that reason, UHF did not exhibit in 2006, nor will we this year. Instead we set up a virtual room, as we did at CES 2007. It has the advantage of being accessibly worldwide.
     The Centre Sheraton, shown at left, is right downtown, and easy to get to, though it's costly if you come by car. Fortunately it's near the Métro, still the most sophisticated way of getting around Montreal. Well...assuming you want to go where it goes.

UHF's coverage
     As last year we have no exhibit, and so we will have much more time to tour the show. We will be doing our daily reports, with text and photos, which you can get to by clicking the links at upper left. And of course there will be a major report in our next issue, which is due out in June. In the meantime, don't forget to visit our virtual room. Unlike the others, it remains open through May 15th.
     Our best wishes go with this year's edition. See you there, possibly.

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