Innehållsförteckning för Vol 4/ Issue 3 från Residential Tech Today

As integrators work with technology every day, standards form a crucial foundation for our industry. SMPTE summarizes the role of standards very succinctly by saying it's “where quality meets interoperability” Poppy Crum, keynote speaker at CEDIA Expo 2021, advises that “standards ensure consistency of experience.” But then there's also the timeless quote from Andrew S. Tanenbaum: “The good thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from.” And somehow that quote, however facetious in intent, manages to be truer every year. While integrators are generally aware that there are numerous standards and may even be quite familiar with some of them, most frankly don't have time to really keep up with developments — or even have the inclination, for that matter. That's why we at CEDIA do.…

The latest advancements in lighting technologies give the average homeowner access to new categories of integration and automation that in the past were only reserved for luxury residences. Now, by blending fixture-level control with whole-home programmability, customers are able to both enjoy a better standard of living and enhance everyday experiences. As customized lighting solutions for clients move beyond lighting switches and dimming controls, integrators are faced with a major opportunity and a new market. However, these new opportunities also present challenges for integrators who need to learn how to navigate evolving design standards and approach client education. Improving Design and Aesthetics Integrators must keep up with evolving design standards and homeowner expectations to stay current. By offering customers more options, colors, and styles to meet the requests of a…

NETWORKING High-Tech on the Waterfront For an extensively remodeled 2,800-squarefoot house in Key Largo, FL, a high performing, enterprise-grade network solution was the only way to go. Why? This house may be modest in size, but it's big in technology thanks to the professional integration from The Premier Group based in Carmel, IN. “We installed every technology imaginable into this residence, to the tune of about $700,000” noted Premier's CEO Jason Barth. “The sheer magnitude of the smart systems consistently operating on all cylinders was something no ordinary networking system could handle. The music system alone plays non-stop indoors and outdoors. Dead zones were not an option.” Multiple mobile devices, computers, security cameras, motorized window shades and hurricane shutters, lights, thermostats, smart TVs, whole-house audio, and a home control system all…

Automated motorized window shades are the one smart home tech product category that had always alluded me. With the exception of trying out a single motorized shade that neither integrated with an app nor could be automated to a specific schedule, this coveted category has always been on my “someday…” wish list. Hunter Douglas, an established leader in the window coverings market, also has been gaining a foothold in the professional home integration business for the past several years, selling its diverse lineup of motorized shading products through a channel that traditionally focused on home AV, home control, and networking. But window coverings are a huge opportunity for CEDIA-type integrators because these products are problem solvers, they are aesthetically pleasing to interior designers, and with so many windows in a…

My brother Todd and his family upgraded their living situation recently by buying a larger home in their current neighborhood. The new house provided several upgrades over their first home but also a few challenges, so they brought in a contractor to spruce up the property a bit. One of the relatively minor upgrades was finding a proper mounting approach for their family room television. The 65-inch flat-screen had been on a TV stand in their prior home, but in the newer home Todd wanted it mounted in a niche above the fireplace. During a quick walkthrough of the property prior to their move in, Todd casually pointed out this TV location, and I said, “Oh no, you don't want to put a TV up there; it's a terrible viewing…

I've been searching for the ultimate virtual meeting hardware technology stack since the beginning of the pandemic. Cameras, microphones, wireless click dongles… you name it, I've probably tried it. While Barco ClickShare enjoys a dominant share of the wireless presentation space, I've made it my business to stay current on what else is out there. One of these shiny objects is the ScreenBeam 1100 Plus, a small network appliance oriented around wireless presentations, video conferencing, and signage with no hardware dongles. How would it perform? The ScreenBeam 1100 Plus showed up in a plain white cardboard box. I flipped open the cover to reveal a quick start guide, the ScreenBeam unit itself, power supply, HDMI cable, and an innovative looking magnetic mount designed to allow easy tool-free mounting behind most…

Windows are one of the most distinct design elements of any home or business. Legrand believes they should be outfitted that way. The brand has launched new fabrics for its shading systems that feature designer collections from Coulisse, Twitchell, and Phifer. The curated collections include new decorative, solar screen, sustainable, and roomdarkening options. With this latest release, Legrand now offers 753 fabrics in its portfolio. “Our latest collections have been expanded and curated to reflect today's style trends, delivering many decorative window covering options that can pair with black-out fabrics to create the most functional yet beautiful window treatments available” said Charlie Derk, Legrand's director of product marketing, shading, and residential controls. “They're the perfect solution for homeowners looking for something modern and different.” These new collections from Legrand Shading…

Music is a touchpoint of life, whether you're at home or at a business, and RTI wants to make it easy and enjoyable to access music playlists and streaming services from within the RTI control experience. RTI has expanded its family of music control solutions with the new MS-1 Music Streamer which was designed as a single-stream solution for RTI control systems in residential or commercial settings. It also can add a stream to an existing RTI Music system. “Together, the MS-1 and the threestream MS-3 give the integrator options to cost-effectively get the right number of streams into a project,” said Neal Ellsworth, RTI director of product management. Like the three-stream MS-3, the MS-1 delivers high-resolution audio (24bit/192kHz) from the most popular streaming music services or from a local…

COVER STORY Investing in the Future Deontay Wilder has experienced many highs and a few lows in professional boxing. Although his career has made him a materially wealthy and famous person, he is determined to avoid the pitfalls that can come from a sport that involves repeated blows to the head and business associates who may only have their own best interests in mind. The former WBC heavyweight champion is shrewd about these things. The 36-year-old embraces the knowledge and wisdom that comes with age, stating “unless you apply knowledge” you pick up throughout your life, you run the risk of becoming “an old fool.” As he shares this bit of wisdom about aging foolishness, he laughs and adds, “And, I've known a few of those” Wilder says that he has…

THEATER SOUND With its new Cinergy dedicated home cinema audio system, Monitor Audio is putting professional installers center stage. The British-owned and managed brand has channeled 50 years of creating life-like sound to bring everything it knows about audio to the big screen. Cinergy's flexibility gives theater designers and installers infinite possibilities, enabling them to deliver the extraordinary sound and refinement that luxury customers expect. The highly adaptable system has been designed with the knowledge that no two installations are the same. Features include a modular design that rotates when required, allowing the user to easily adapt to a horizontal or vertical install. It also includes a choice of isolation and fixing methods to help achieve the exact results required. Flexible options allow for integration into stud walls, fitting onto…

At the dawn of home theater, the only way to enjoy crisp, bright, true-to-life images on a large projection screen was to sequester it into a dark, cavernous room such as a basement, where no sunlight could spill in. For some folks, this arrangement was perfectly acceptable, if not coveted, as it established home theater as a special entertainment destination intended to be savored only during special movie nights. Other times, the well-appointed room remained sadly unused. These types of occasionally used, intricately adorned, dedicated theaters still resonate today, though technological advancements have pushed the boundaries into other areas of the home, even to the outdoors. Paired with the appropriate video projector, projection screen materials can render near picture-perfect images in any type of room environment. Options are available for…

I never thought I'd be sitting here writing a product review for an HDMI balun (those little blackboxes which magically transport HD video over long distances). Thats always ranked right up there with watching paint dry or listening to the sweet music of nails on a chalkboard. Yet here I am, about to tell you about the AVPro Edge ACEX40-444-KIT. I know what you're thinking; “That's got to be some story…” You'd be right. For years, I've lived with an intermittent video issue in the Clifford family room. I chased the gremlin up and down the hardware and software stack with the intensity of a madman. My own family would lovingly encourage my efforts, reminding me that I own a custom AV business and why didn't anything ever work in…

The varied interests and use cases for smart home products among multifamily property managers open up many new opportunities. Consumers seek value from connected devices, integration, monitoring, and always-on services, and property owners need ways to differentiate and add value to drive higher rental rates. At the same time, many service providers are struggling to redefine the service bundle as households abandon traditional cable TV packages in favor of OTT services. According to latest complimentary whitepaper from Parks Associates and SmartRent, titled “Smart Solutions – Boosting Revenue in Multifamily Properties,” property owners are exploring security and other smart home solutions as new offerings to bundle with broadband services, and the multi-dwelling units (MDU) sector is a prime market to introduce a broad swath of people to these value propositions —…

The C SEED M1 appears as a sculpture-like column rising silently from the floor, unfolding an enormous 165-inch 4K MicroLED TV display with a high precision frame machined from a solid block of aviation-grade aluminum alloy to provide the ultimate TV experience. The M1 continues the C SEED legacy that started with the company's 201 TV by Porsche Design Studio. While 4K MicroLED technology creates vibrant colors and fine resolution, a special screen surface treatment displays the all-important deep black color. In addition to on-board HDR Plus (High Dynamic Range), C SEED's Adaptive Gap Calibration Technology (AGC) renders borders between the display's wings totally invisible. “Trendsetting, contemporary, uncluttered, free from all visual ballast. In these environments, big wall-mounted TV screens are an anachronism in modern interior design,” said C SEED…

“Designing a comprehensive lighting plan can quickly become complicated when trying to find a controller that is beautifully appointed, compatible, and will yield the results light fixture manufacturers have worked tirelessly to achieve,” said Dave Keller, business development, Legrand Residential Shading & Controls. Thats why the Vantage brand of Legrand's Building Control Systems (BCS) division has formed strategic alliances with tunable white lighting fixtures manufacturer PureEdge Lighting and No. 8 Lighting, a brand of architecturally inspired recessed and surfacemount fixtures. The alliance with No. 8 Lighting ensures that the company's fixtures pair seamlessly with Vantage's LHUMAN human-centric lighting solution to offer an even better design experience in residential and commercial projects. The PureEdge Lighting partnership pairs Vantage's customizable lighting controls with PureEdge's tunable white, ranging from 2200K to 6500K, RGB,…

Imagine a home that exists simultaneously in the real world and the metaverse, one where you can seamlessly move from one version of reality to the other, entertaining friends and business associates in person or as avatars. Such a home would solve many challenges related to space and time. How do you get together with friends who are scattered around the country or around the world? How do you meet socially with business associates from Europe, Asia, and Africa? And how do you socialize virtually without —let's be honest here — the two-dimensional dreariness of one more video call? “It's just another step in an evolution that has been going on for many years now,” said Gabe Sierra, director of operations for luxury home builder Sierra Development and founder of…

FEATURED Saving Water With Smart Home Tech There have been a lot of stories in the news lately about the “megadrought” the western U.S. is currently facing. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, as of April 4, 2022,67% of the U.S. is facing some level of drought conditions and 94% of the Western U.S. is in some level of drought with 37% of the Western U.S. experiencing extreme or exceptional drought conditions. With rising temperatures in the U.S. and around the world, these drought conditions are not expected to change anytime soon. With this in mind, I thought it timely to look at how smart home technology can help people save water. Start by Stopping Leaks Water leaks in a home waste a tremendous amount of water. According to the U.S.…

Kaleidescape, the Mountain View, CA, manufacturer of premium movie servers and movie players, has been busy over the past two years with new hardware releases and marketing partnerships, trailblazing a new frontier for entertainment experiences in the home. Tayloe Stansbury, a longtime Kaleidescape customer before joining the company's board, was appointed CEO in late 2020, after serving in executive roles at Watermark Insights, Intuit, and Ariba. Although his background in applied math and computer science is a less traditional route into the home theater market, his insights as a technically astute Kaleidescape enthusiast and lover of movies already have proven invaluable to the company as it charts its path into the future. The company has focused on improving performance and scalability discontinuing allin-one products and moving to the server and…

As we near the end of 2022, let's hope that we are also approaching the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. One positive sign is that the total “Work From Home” (WFH) model has gradually been shifting toward a more hybrid model that for the purposes of this article we will call “WFH 3.0/WFA.” Yes, hybrid has turned into “WFA,” or what one might call “Work from Anywhere.” To survive in WFH 3.0 you will have to work, conference and present in a way that is equal to what we all used to do pre-COVID in person or in the office. Further, the “A” in WFA” means that you have to be able to do (almost) everything you were able to do in the office or in front of a live…

The Somfy Clever Tilt Motor is Sonify's first interior do-it-yourself motorization solution, enabling homeowners to motorize their existing 2-inch to 2.5-inch blinds and integrate them into their smart home. The Somfy Clever Tilt Motor comes packaged with seven adapters for connecting the drive motor to a blind's tilt rod, three sets of adapters for securing the drive motor in a blind's head rail, and a detailed instruction manual There are two different battery packs for powering the system. First is a rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack. Second is a reloadable battery tube that holds eight AA batteries. Somfy also offers a handheld remote control. The above can all be purchased together in kits for motorizing between one and four shades. The Somfy Clever Tilt Motor can optionally be paired with the…