Control Issues

Behind The Scenes! Building A Home Electronics System

2012-01-18T13:23:00.000-08:00

Step Seven: Hook it all together!

Now that we've discussed all the different parts necessary to totally integrate a home, let's see what it takes to put it all together and make it tick! First, we need a place to hold all the equipment and in many cases we use a rack like the one pictured below. Racks come in all sorts of shapes and sizes; some look very industrial and others integrate into a nicely designed room as a piece of furniture that hides the gear! We proudly use Middle Atlantic racks because not only are they Made in the USA, but they also offer an amazing variety of designs for any home or business!

This rack is going to hold the networking gear, main controller, audio switcher, video switcher, surround sound receiver and all the wires for security cameras, touch panels, keypads, fireplace control and even operating your garage door openers! We take great pride in wiring racks in our office well ahead of the installation date. Not only can we connect everything neatly, but we can label the wiring and test functionality so it's all ready to run when we arrive at the job site! Here's an example of how we started wiring the electricity, networking and audio cables with everything labeled so we know where things go!

To us, details really matter. Electricity cables run down one side, while audio, video and network go down the other side. We do this to keep the rack more clean looking and to decrease the chances of interference between different types of wires and signals. With a system tested and functioning at our office, we know that once it's in your home and connected it will most likely "just work". It allows us to be more efficient with our installation and decreases the amount of time we spend in your home.

Behind The Scenes! Building A Home Electronics System

2012-01-06T13:42:00.000-08:00

Step Six: Video Throughout Your Home

Most of us have cable TV, FiOS or a satellite dish. This means having a tuner-box for every TV in the house. Add in the DVD or Blu-ray players, again one for every TV. Now there's internet-streaming boxes like the Roku or AppleTV, again one for every TV. Pretty soon you have lots of remotes and lots of "black boxes" in every room. What a big mess and hassle! In this home electronics system, we designed centralized, or distributed video. Using Crestron's DM (Digital Media) solution we can share a few video sources to every TV in the house, watching different things at the same time. Two cable boxes, two Blu-ray players, an AppleTV and an Apple Mac mini - all can be quickly selected from any TV in the house. This setup accomplishes a few things. First, each room now has just a TV and a remote control, that's it! Second, movies or shows can be shared between different rooms. The bonus is the security cameras will pop up on-screen if someone rings the doorbell!

AppleTV and Mac mini are registered trademarks of Apple, Inc.

Behind The Scenes! Building A Home Electronics System

2012-01-03T09:54:00.000-08:00

Step Five: Music Throughout Your Home

So you have some in-wall or in-ceiling speakers throughout your home or office, but how do you listen to them? Do your walls have to be cluttered with those ugly volume knobs? Can you listen to different things in different rooms?

These are all excellent questions. In this distributed audio system, we're using an amazing new switcher from Crestron - it allows us to connect up to 24 different audio sources (think: cd player, iTunes, satellite radio, cable music, Pandora and so on). It can also drive 8 rooms of speakers, and you can have us tune the sound of every single room exactly the way you want! Instead of volume knobs in every room, you can use that fancy iPad to pick what to listen to, and of course, how loud to listen to it, if that's what you'd like. Since the switcher does all the work, you can play holiday music in the kitchen while your teenager listens to whatever-the-heck-that-noise-is in their room and everybody is happy!

You can read about Apple's Airplay in a home music system in a previous blog post here.

iTunes and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple, Inc.

Behind The Scenes! Building A Home Electronics System

2011-12-19T14:12:00.000-08:00

Step Four: The Control System

A home electronics system is only as smart and flexible as the system that controls it all! In our experience, nothing is better for controlling home electronics equipment than Crestron. As a Crestron Dealer with a Certified Programmer on-staff, we are in a unique position to help you create almost anything you can think of! Would you like to have a color touch screen in your kitchen area so you can see the front door camera? How about your iPhone - would you like to control the master bedroom TV with that? Perhaps you're in the backyard and want to use your iPad to turn on some music while you BBQ. With Crestron, you can do that, and we can make it all happen!

Here are some other systems in the home that can be controlled:

HVAC - heating and cooling
Sprinkler Systems
Lighting - indoor and outdoor
Shades
Pool Pumps
Security Systems
Home Theater
Music Systems
Garage Doors
Fireplaces

Especially convenient are automated functions where several things happen with the touch of a single button. For example your lights dim or turn off, garage door closes (if not closed already) and security system arms.

iPhone and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple, Inc.

Behind The Scenes! Building A Home Electronics System

2011-12-15T13:37:00.000-08:00

Step Three: Networking

We've discussed the growing importance of a properly designed network. With laptops, smart phones, tablets, online streaming services, Wi-Fi and cabled networking are becoming a requirement in daily life. While many homes are fine with a basic network setup, adding a control system or automation into the mix means the network product and design has to be robust in order to handle many more tasks. We used a mix of Apple Airports and Pakedge networking gear in this system. The Apple Airport Express is used as an AirPlay device, allowing anyone with iTunes, an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to play music wirelessly! Pakedge is another Made In The USA company that offers a variety of different network routers, switches and Wi-Fi access points depending on the needs. We chose a Pakedge router, two switches and two in-ceiling Wi-Fi pieces for this system. This network keeps the audio/video gear communicating, while also allowing iTunes to play music, Netflix to stream a movie and internet research for homework - all at once!

Airport Express, AirPlay, iTunes, iPad, iPhone and iPod touch are registered trademarks of Apple, Inc.

Behind the Scenes! Building A Home Electronics System

2011-12-12T10:32:00.000-08:00

Step Two: Power Protection

Often overlooked, proper power protection for your home electronics is essential for keeping your equipment safe and operating at their best! Of course this means not only being protected from lightning strikes, but also "cleaning" the electricity before it gets to your equipment. We chose SurgeX, which is a Made In The USA brand, due to the excellent build quality and circuitry involved - instead of being designed to sacrifice itself and blow up from a surge, the SurgeX simply absorbs any nasty power and filters it away, keeping your toys safe and happy! For the most important pieces, like a main house controller and networking, we use a battery-backup system. In the event that your home loses power, you can still operate the necessary functions like lights, gas-fired heat, things like that. You can also safely turn non-essential systems off, extending the backup battery.

Behind The Scenes! Building A Home Electronics System

2011-12-09T14:03:00.000-08:00

What does it really take to build a "do everything" home system? It depends on what you want to achieve! Let's say you want music in a few rooms of your home, 3 or 4 TVs that share cable boxes, Blu-ray players and an AppleTV, cameras for the front door and backyard. Naturally you have an iPhone and an iPad throw into the mix! You want everything to be easy to use, bulletproof and of course things have to look and sound great! We're going to give you a photo tour of some products and the process as we go through the assembly and installation of a system! Comments are always welcome and we hope you enjoy watching the process as much as we do!

Step One - The Rack

We start by designing one place for your equipment to live. In this type of system, we were tasked with hiding the electronics as much as possible. We built an audio/video distribution system, which means all the music parts and cable boxes, etc go into a rack out of sight; this way your room has a TV, a remote and some speakers - that's it! To pick the correct rack, we use an engineering program that allows us to enter all the client's equipment to assign proper weight support, ventilation and electricity requirements. You can read a previous blog post about remote locating equipment here.

HDMI cables - are they all the same?

2011-09-12T11:35:00.000-07:00

Why all HDMI cables are the same – CNET

This was a blog post we found today, and it gives us an opportunity to address a great debate, especially between A/V people and computer people. The idea that cables don’t matter — because “digital is digital” — is not new. Many believe high-end cables are just marketing fluff and represent nothing more than a way for the retailer or integrator to make a lot of money. While the actual differences between brands and grades of cables do vary, this theory is factually flawed. With HDMI, the differences are much more glaring than with a high end audio or video cable. It’s not a simple matter of 1s and 0s.

First we should understand the complexity of HDMI. There are 19 individual wires and connectors in an HDMI cable, so there’s very little room for error. Cheap manufacturing methods and low-cost, low-quality copper strands can actually render an HDMI cable useless. Inside an HDMI cable, you would find digital signals and grounds, handshake signal wires, voltage carrying conductors — even a wire to sense if you unplugged the cable while a product was powered on!

Signal degradation with longer cable lengths also play into the equation, especially when you need an HDMI longer than 10 to 12 feet. There is a 5 volt carrier wire inside an HDMI cable, and there is little room for variance. If the exact voltage measurement at each end is different by less than half a volt, you will get no picture. If the ground connectors inside aren’t shielded properly among the signal connectors, your picture can suffer from “snow” or the inability to hold a steady picture. This is just the beginning. Add in different connector types, and an ever-changing software version system, and HDMI becomes far more than “just digital”.

We have our own feelings about HDMI, and we’d be happy to talk about your needs and make realistic recommendations that allow you have an up-to-date and cost-effective system. There are times when a lower cost HDMI cable will work perfectly well, especially when pieces of equipment are located close together where short cables make sense. AV Awakenings takes this into account when building a system that works properly for you.

For a detailed understanding of the complexities of HDMI, look at the Wikipedia page for HDMI.

If you have questions about HDMI, how we approach system designs with HDMI, or would like to discuss your own needs, let us know!

Wireless Music Streaming to Your Audio System

2011-08-19T15:40:00.000-07:00

Play Your iTunes Music Throughout The House

Storing your music library on computers and mobile devices is so common that CDs are almost a thing of the past. We are already seeing a host of manufacturers include technology into receivers and other products to stream music wirelessly to home music systems, eliminating the need for add-on devices like docks or cables.

By licensing Apple's AirPlay, a receiver manufacturer can allow users to stream their music from their computer, iPhone, iPod, iPad or other device directly to an audio/video receiver through a network. Have all your songs and playlists - anytime, anywhere!

Click here to read about Pioneer's AirPlay integrated receivers.

Just bought a receiver? Some recent receivers may have a firmware upgrade that will give you this capability.

If you would like more information on iTunes, AirPlay and integrating your music system, give us a call at (503) 941-0150.

Why Your Home Should Have A Network

2011-07-26T17:17:00.000-07:00

Nevermind the computer.
Sure, we all surf the internet and check email but you probably use, or have heard of, home entertainment services like Netflix streaming or Xbox games played over the internet. Increasingly our home internet services are being asked to do simultaneous tasks and all these things together use a lot of bandwidth - especially video streaming. A robust home network will allow you to do your streaming, surfing and playing without the headaches of slow load times and even worse, stalling or crashing.

What is to come.
Services like On Demand, Xbox streaming video and gaming as well as Netflix are pushing consumers to tap into the pipeline for your home entertainment needs. Watching movies on your media room system is great on a Blu-ray but soon you may be connecting to the internet instead of popping in a disc. Video rental stores are almost gone, Nexflix is changing its pricing structure, and the availability of titles in the "red box" is limited so we turn to streaming content. It is only a matter of time before the streaming video is of Blu-ray quality and every movie is available in this way.

Don't Go Cheap!
Picture your frustration when you sit down to watch a movie and your network crashes. A $49 router could easily cost you more in the long run with constant problems, crashing networks or calls to your computer fix-it guy. Spending a little more and having your network properly designed will save you this picture of frustration.

Security
Lastly, a properly designed network will help protect you from hackers and other malicious attacks.

Here are some components of a good network:

Robust router with a firewall for security
Password protected network
Wireless access point(s) with complete coverage throughout your house
Wired connections for more secure browsing
Parental controls for children

Mac OS X malware - this time it's actually true.

2011-06-27T16:36:00.001-07:00

Don't click that pop-up!

If you get a popup or re-directed web page on your Mac that says anything about having a virus, or needing to download a free virus scanner, don't do it. These are deceitful tricks - it is impossible for any website to magically see that your Mac has a virus. That said, if you have downloaded anything called MacDefender, MacProtector, or MacSecurity, these are the malware and are not legitimate programs. It's easy to take care of, and Apple will have a software update shortly that will clean it off any machine that has it, as well as help protect you from getting it in the future.

There is no emergency, and no you should not run out and buy Anti-virus software for your Mac. Below is a link to information from Apple about how to check your computer, just in case. Of course if you have any questions or concerns, you know how to get ahold of us!

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4650

Remote Locating Your Home Theater Equipment

2011-04-06T14:55:00.000-07:00

When you relocate your receiver, amplifiers, cable or satellite box, Blu-ray player, gaming system, etc into a remote location like a closet you should consider:

Ventilation. Home theater equipment generates heat and needs to have good airflow around each piece as well as moving cool air into the area. This is also especially true for cabinets - leave ample room. Equipment that gets too hot will degrade faster over time or just quit on you.
Use a reliable RF remote control system. Because remotes that come with typical home theater equipment are IR based and need line-of-sight to operate the piece, a good RF remote will allow you to have one remote that can be used without pointing it at your gear.
Have your electrician install a dedicated circuit (or two) to your equipment room. Electronics and amplifiers draw a lot of power and having inefficient supply really hurts performance and lifespan. It also saves you the grief of having equipment shut down unexpectedly when someone runs the vacuum!

Disguising Your Home Theater or Media Room

2011-03-28T10:53:00.000-07:00

Your home entertainment system doesn’t have to be the “focal point” in your home. While you and your family may spend a lot of time using the gaming system, watching movies or listening to music in a family room or media room, much of the equipment can be hidden from view until ready to be used.

While dedicated home theaters are great, most folks: a) don’t have the square footage for a separate home theater or, b) don’t want the sometimes cave-like atmosphere. We have installed home theater systems in countless “multi-purpose” rooms that are used for lounging, reading, billiards and more. This brings us to many not-so-good opinions about the black boxes required for your home entertainment system. Here are some tips for hiding your home theater equipment:

Locate equipment in a closet or equipment room. This option makes it easy to have enough room and ventilation for equipment but usually takes some pre-planning with regard to the wiring.
Have a cabinet built to house speakers and equipment. Working with a cabinet designer to have proper speaker placement and space for gear is always best. Typically, pre-made cabinets at furniture stores don’t work as well.
Install a motorized lift for televisions. These can be placed in cabinets, under beds or even dropped down from ceilings - the cool factor is big here.
Specialty artwork and frames for televisions. For wall-mounted flat panel televisions there are many options to cover the screen when not in use.
Install a motorized screen. For rooms with a projector, a motorized screen that drops down is an easy install.
Hide the home theater projector in a box or room behind the seating area. A nice feature that takes the projector from above your head to a nice out of the way place.
Consider in-ceiling or in-wall speakers. Now pretty common, flush mounted speakers come in all ranges of sizes, shapes and performance levels. You can have them painted to match as well.

All of these options are ideal in a new-install environment but can also be retro-fitted to your existing system with a little creativity.

An Easy Way to Play Your iTunes Library Throughout the Home

2010-12-13T13:48:00.000-08:00

Apple has approximately 200 million iTunes users and most likely you are one of them. A little secret you may not know is that you can distribute your iTunes music throughout your home or to a media room for as little as $99. Apple's Airport Express can be added to virtually any home A/V system to create a wired or wireless stream of iTunes. For every Airport Express added, you have another individual stream of your iTunes library. With very few exceptions, computer speakers just don't do your music justice. This is a simple and easy way to bring your tunes to the room you want to listen and relax in.

What is the AACS and what does it mean to you?

2010-12-13T13:38:00.000-08:00

On January 1, 2011, the AACS (Advanced Access Content System) will be imposing restrictions on analog video playback. Now that is a sentence full of words that may not mean anything to you, but may affect how you are required to watch Blu-ray movies in the near future.

Basically what this means is the AACS licensing agreement will be active and any Blu-ray player manufactured after the set date of December 31, 2010 will not have active high-definition component outputs available, only HDMI. So, if you purchase a Blu-ray player after the beginning of the new year and your television only supports HD component inputs, you will need a new TV that has HDMI inputs. Now for those of you who already own a Blu-ray player, this is not an immediate problem as this is not retro-active. However, a new potential problem is also inserted on Jan.1st with the introduction of the ICT or Image Constraint Token. The ICT will be available to Blu-ray disc manufacturers and MAY be included if the manufacturer chooses to do so. What does that mean? Glad you asked. The Image Constraint Token is embedded into the Blu-ray disc during production. When the disc is placed into your player, the ICT automatically turns the HD component output off, rendering it useless. If your player is wired with a component cable or is distributed throughout your home with a component switcher, the video will no longer work.

Now we know that a lot of you are unaware of how your Blu-ray player is hooked up and this is not intended to frighten or concern you. We are trying to get the word out because most consumers have no idea that this is coming. We have done a lot of research on this and have procedures in place to remedy these problems. If you have any questions about your installation or what you can do to avoid any down time, give us a call.