Control Your House Through Your iPhone

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We spend a lot of time away from our homes. Whether it’s school, work, or all the commutes in-between, there are a lot of opportunities for you to worry about if you locked your doors, if you turned off the stove, or if the A/C is on too high with no one home. But home automation systems are making it easy to find those answers without you having to imagine the worst, and Crestron, in particular, integrates with Apple devices so you can change whatever you want with a swipe of your finger.

Control Your House Through Your iPhone

How do home automation systems integrate with your iPhone or iPad?

Crestron offers hardware that works with your devices so you can access media and control your home automation system. Their Network Stream Players wirelessly hook up to your iTunes and your podcasts so you can listen to them in your garage, in your kitchen, or anywhere in the house. You can create playlists, dedicated access to different family members for individual lists, and have units throughout the house so anyone can get crystal clear audio even if someone’s listening to the TV in the next room.

Crestron also has docking stations for whichever Apple devices you want to use to access your automation system’s control panel. These docking stations charge your device as you pull up information about your energy use, your watering schedule, and even a daily report of changes in your home. Because these stations are designed to form a sleek silhouette, they even integrate into the look of your home theater system and home’s design.

Whether you have multiple music-lovers in your home or want to make sure you can easily monitor your home and control your house’s settings, adding Crestron hardware to your home theater system is a great way to interconnect. Contact Audio Video Solutions here to ask a specialist how we can modify your existing system or create one.

4 Tips and Ideas for Setting Up Your Media Room

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Setting up a media room in your home? A media room allows you to relax and enjoy the “going out to the movies” experience without ever leaving your home. Here are a few tips and ideas for your media room.

4 Tips and Ideas for Setting Up Your Media Room

Decorate It

If you’re just setting up a screen on one wall, you should not neglect the other walls. You can hang up movie posters, pictures of famous Hollywood or television stars, or anything else that will enhance your media room. Putting up the right light fixtures on your walls is also important for the feel of your media room.

Add Amenities

Besides the screens, speakers and other equipment, equip your room with the best theater amenities. Put up a mini popcorn or ice cream and slush machine. You can even get a small soda bottle machine. Make it feel like you’re in a real movie theater.

Consider the Style

The style of your media room will shape the entire experience. Find a style that you like, and go with it. For example, you might want to go for the darkened movie theater look. Besides installing the right light fixtures around the room, you can get dark brown or black chairs, sofas, and other furniture.

Get Help

A media room is best set up by a professional. A lot of technical aspects need to be taken care of. For example, the screen must be in the right place and angle so that everyone has an optimal view. The speakers must be set up so that there is a perfect surround sound that enhances your viewing experience. For help with setting up your media room, contact us today!

What Are the Key Advantages of Lutron Home Automation?

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Homes are becoming more and more automated, and they sync up to our devices for easy control and monitoring. With so many systems available, it can be difficult to pick the one that offers the best service for all of your different devices, systems, and family’s preferences.

What Are the Key Advantages of Lutron Home Automation?

What does Lutron offer that makes it the best fit for your home automation?

  • You can pick from a wide range of integrations to make a custom automation plan. There’s nothing like being able to prepare your home theater from your phone as you’re making the popcorn or walking up to the door after work. It means you don’t have to fiddle with settings or wait for anything to boot up.  But if you want that same readiness to extend across your house, with air conditioning control, lighting adjustments, and even the ability to open or close your blinds with a push of your screen, a Lutron system can offer that, too.
  • You don’t have to restart your technology collection. If you like syncing up your devices for cross-functionality, you already know the headache of having an iPhone but also a Windows computer, or an Android phone and a Mac. but Lutron’s home integration system doesn’t demand that you stick to a certain brand or operating system. It can connect and work seamlessly with a wide range of third-party devices and ecosystems.

Home automation systems are designed to be convenient, and that means giving you full control over your home’s technology to work seamlessly for you. Go to Audio Video Solutions to learn more about Lutron’s features and custom solutions. Whether you are interested in lighting control, home theater control, or combining all of your home automation needs, we can help.

How Are Speaker Systems Arranged?

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Part of a professional home theater installation is fantastic audio. Professionals know the best spots and optimal arrangements for crystal-clear surround sound, and they can work with you to make any room a great home theater. But knowing the basics of surround sound and how different speakers should be placed can help you make more informed decisions about the best place in your house for a media room, what system you want, and how you want to style the room to draw attention to the central focus: the screen.

How Are Speaker Systems Arranged?

What are the basics included in a sound system?

The first part of your speaker system is the front three speakers. The first is the center channel speaker. Whether your center speaker is above or below the screen, it should point directly forward but be tilted up or down to reach your ears when you’re sitting. You will generally have two front speakers, one on either side of the screen and pointed directly towards the seat in front of the television. They are also usually placed at the ear, or headrest, a level which is why they’re either built into stands or installed on the wall.

What about surround sound systems? 

The first number in a surround sound speaker system tells you whether you have five speakers (5.1 surround sound) or seven (7.1 surround sound). If you have the first system, then the remaining two speakers are usually placed to the left and right of the main chair or couch. With 7.1 surround sound, your four remaining speakers are arranged in two pairs: one to the left and right of the main seat, and the second pair is behind you. All of the speakers should be angled towards the audience, and, unlike with the front two speakers, they should be installed a couple feet above ear level.

Sometimes sound systems also come with subwoofers, additional speakers for oddly-shaped rooms, or even sound bars that direct sound in multiple different directions. No matter what the shape of your media room or the level of complexity you’re looking for, our specialists at Audio Video Solutions can help get you what you’re looking for.

Before You Mount Your TV Consider This

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Television setups have a large impact on the room around them. They decide where people sit, the range of activities you can do while watching a show, and your furniture layout as you rearrange to keep your DVR and devices tucked in a cabinet nearby. Here are three things to keep in mind as you think about where your television should be mounted.

Before You Mount Your TV Consider This

  1. Where will you be? You might sit down to watch your favorite show on the couch across the room, or you might be watching it as you cook. If you subscribe to a fitness channel, you’ll be watching the screen as you’re up and moving. Your installation service will take care of all the factors for hardware, structure, and the television’s weight, but make sure you have a spot that lets you use your television the way you want. And if no position seems quite right, get an adjustable mount.
  2. Can you use the television easily from where it will be mounted? While the remote will do most of the work, sometimes you need specific ports, jacks, or buttons to set up a new game system or to access the Internet. Make sure you can reach the ports without a problem and that the ports aren’t blocked off by the wall.
  3. Is there room for all of your devices? One of the benefits of a wall-mounted television is that you have a sleek, sharp-looking setup because your TV can go anywhere. But make sure your cable box, DVR, and game systems have a spot nearby. The cords need to reach the TV ports and an outlet, so try rearranging the room with the TV in mind to check if you like the look.

Mounting your TV to whichever wall you like is easier than ever, but that doesn’t mean you want to do it twice. Contact an expert from Audio Video Solutions who can help evaluate your potential spots and who can quickly and easily install it according to your choice factors.

Using Lutron Home Integration To Create Cool Home Ambiance

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Lutron Home Integration can provide you with many incredible benefits. For example, you can control the lights in all of your home from a single device and create schedules to save yourself money. However, you can also create a pleasing home ambiance that will look great in a variety of situations. Here are a few different types you can create and when they are useful.

Using Lutron Home Integration To Create Cool Home Ambiance

The Moody Candlelit Look

Dimming your lights to their bare minimum will create an engaging look that creates a candlelit ambiance. This look is perfect for those romantic moments with your spouse or partner. Make sure that the kids are out of the house before trying out this lighting style.

The Movie-Night Look

When having a movie night with your family, it is important to dim the lights as much as possible. Turn out all the lights in the area where you are watching the film. However, you can also dim the lights in the rest of the house to keep things appropriately dark. Keep the halls to the bathroom and kitchen dimly, but correctly, lit to make it safer to move through the home.

Party-Time!

During a party, you should try to keep the lights as bright as possible to make it easier for everyone to interact. However, you can also dim other parts of the home for moodier lighting or even create a fun light show to make your party even more exciting.

If you are interested in Lutron Home Integration in your house or need help installing a new system, please don’t hesitate to contact us today. We can give you the insight you need to implement this high-quality system quickly and efficiently.

Your TV Projector Checklist

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If you’ve decided to try out a TV projector in your media room, you’ve made a good choice: projectors gives you a lot of options with placement, size, and picture quality. But figuring out which projector is a good fit for your home is a bit tricky, especially if you’re used to looking at flat screens and traditional televisions. Here are some features and numbers to check potential projectors against when you’re browsing.

Your TV Projector Checklist

Brightness: If you have a dedicated home theater room with blocked off windows or no windows at all, brightness is less of a factor than if you’re using a room with windows and ambient light or your central living room. The three general tiers of brightness for your projector are:

1000 Lumens: Darkened home theater with no ambient light

1500 Lumens: Rooms with shaded windows and some lighting

3000 Lumens: Rooms with a high light level such as living rooms

Image: One of the best things about projectors is the image quality. Higher pixels make for a better picture, so aim for 1920 x 1080, the general resolution for HD projectors, instead of 1280 x 800. Your image quality will be even better if the projector and media’s source material, such as HDTV or Xbox 360, have matching resolution values. Aspect ratio is another important set of numbers, and 16:9 is the most common aspect ratio because its proportions match most DVDs and television signals.

A good projector will make your home theater one of your favorite places in the house. Make it even better by looking for the right projector for your media room and image quality preferences, and contact Audio Video Solutions here to get it installed and ready for watching movies.

Projector vs. Flat Screen: Which Screen Gives You More Options?

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The best part about modern films and television shows is their high-definition and production quality. The camera catches everything from fast action to infinitesimal details, and the right projector or television can bring them back to life. If you’re thinking about upgrading your current television for a new home theater, you might be debating between a projector and a flat screen. Here are a few factors to keep in mind:

Projector vs. Flat Screen: Which Screen Gives You More Options?

  • How large do you want the screen size to be? Flat screens and projectors with the same specifications give the same crisp quality so you can choose what class of screen you’re interested in based on your preferences, audience, and budget. But one key difference is in the size of the screen: projectors can blow up the image even larger without taking away from the details or giving you blurry or pixelated images. You can even change the size of the image for when you’re watching a movie with just your family or you’re watching a game with lots of moving guests.
  • Do you want to experiment with different rooms for your home theater? While flat screens can be installed quickly by any professional, it can be tedious to reposition and move them around whether you’re making minute adjustments or shifting to a new media room. But projectors can easily be moved across the house, into your backyard, or even over to a friend’s house for any occasion.

As every sort of television, whether on a flat screen, monitor, or projector, increases in clarity and definition every year, it’s important to consider all the factors behind your media equipment. If you’re looking for a larger screen and even a mobile home theater, projectors are an excellent choice. Contact Audio Video Solutions today!

Home Surround Sound With Dolby Atmos

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The latest big thing for surround sound for home theater setups is called Dolby Atmos. The technology was rolled out in 2012 for cinemas and was first used in Pixar’s “Brave.” Now Dolby Atmos is available for home theaters, and Netflix is starting to produce programming that takes advantage of the technology, according to the Verge.

Home Surround Sound With Dolby Atmos

The way that Dolby Atmos works is that it configures sounds as objects rather than restrict them to individual channels. In a movie theater setting, this involves setting up speakers along the walls and the ceilings of the auditorium. Sounds then seem to originate from the direction they would in real life and then move in the appropriate direction. Hence, an aircraft engine would appear to come from above and move across the sky. The sound of people speaking would move from one side to the other with the characters.

In a home theater system, the set up comes with an AV receiver that is capable of processing Dolby Atmos sound and up to 34 speakers, though most can get away with using fewer. To get the effect of sound coming from above, one has a couple of options. The first option involves using speakers that can bounce sound off the ceiling, thus gaining the effect. For hardcore enthusiasts, specially designed speakers are available that can be mounted on the ceiling. The ideal setup consists of 12 speakers at floor level and two to four on the ceiling as an upgrade.

In the meantime, programming that uses Dolby Atmos is just starting to be available. Netflix has released a film called “Okja” that uses the new surround sound technology and will be rolling out other feature-length films configured the same way periodically in the future.

For more information contact us.

TV Mounting Can Help You Transform Your Living Room

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Right now, your television might sit on a television stand or entertainment center, and you might have never really thought about changing things. However, TV mounting can be a good way to instantly transform and improve your living room. Here’s why.

TV Mounting Can Help You Transform Your Living Room

Take the Focus Off of Your Television

Even though you and your family might love watching TV, you might not want your television to be the main focal point in your living room. If it’s sitting on a big and bulky piece of furniture, however, it’s only natural that people’s eyes will gravitate toward it. By mounting it on the wall, you can make it less noticeable and can instead make another part of the room the focal point, such as the fireplace or a nice picture that is hanging on the wall.

Get Rid of Outdated Furniture

Right now, you might be using an outdated entertainment center in your living room. This can make your living room look less modern and can be an eyesore. By mounting your TV on the wall, however, you can finally get rid of the outdated furniture that might be cramping your style.

Enjoy More Space in Your Living Room

A TV stand or entertainment center can take up a lot of space. If you don’t have much space in your living room, consider mounting your TV on the wall. This can help you open up the room so that you have room for other things.

As you can probably see, TV mounting can be a good way to transform your living room in no time. Instead of doing it yourself, however, contact us at Audio Video Solutions. Then, we can help by ensuring that your television is mounted properly and securely, and we can help you improve your home theater system in other ways as well.