All Products Filed in Multiroom Video

Thursday, November 10, 2011

In the modern world of electronics IR technologies are almost taken for granted. Generally beyond the mass market segment IR is not taken for granted however and with products like Vanco's new line of IR Kits and accessories, professional electronics installers have tools at their disposal to take care of IR control issues.

With the newly released IR products from the Batavia, Ill.-based manufacturer custom installers can use a component or system's existing IR-based remote controls as part of a broader, more powerful control solution. Vanco says the new array of products are available in a choice of four kits, as well as other accessories and the products are designed to work in a variety of environments that include CFL lit rooms.

The line of products include devices such as eight-port receiver hubs, brass-tube receivers for concealed installs and other components. With the IR products installers can provide control for everything from Blu-ray disc players and cable boxes, to A/V receivers and advanced powered subwoofers.

Monday, November 07, 2011

Adding to its line of HDMI signal distribution products, the Erlanger, Kentucky-based company TV One has introduced its new IT-CT-633 HDMI Repeater to the market.

The IT-CT-633 HDMI Repeater expands the company's IT-CT-630 line of HDMI Extender products and it can be used to increase the transmission distance of HDMI as far as 250 feet (76 meters) for 8-bit 1080p signals and 98 feet (30 meters) for 12-bit 1080p signals. TV One also says that electronics professionals can further extend the signal transmission capabilities of the product by cascading the units within the parameters of allowable Cat-6 cable lengths.

TV One says the full line of 1T-CT-630 Series HDMI Extender products can handle a variety of installation scenarios that range from traditional residential HDMI 1.3 A/V 1080p to commercially based 1900x1200 DVI signals.

Friday, September 23, 2011

TiVo is one of the most recognizable brands in their entire world and there's good reason why consumers know the brand: The company single-handedly created a new form of home entertainment.

The company's latest product is the THX certified Premiere Elite device and it brings together all of today's digital media technologies, as well as traditional broadcast television all within a single, easy-to-use platform. In the new unit TiVo incorporates four tuners, 2TBs of storage with USB inputs to add additional hard drives, Cable and FiOS CableCARD compatibility; support for HDMI splitters with options for compatibility with 16 HDMI ports, Ethernet and MoCA coax networking options, integration capabilities with control systems from Crestron, Control4, RTI and others, and control options for Apple iPad and iPhones.

At the heart of the Premiere Elite is TiVo's proprietary user interface that harnesses the many entertainment options consumers have available to them. Through the TiVo interface homeowners can access video content from the Web that includes Netflix and Hulu Plus, 1080p HD and analog SD broadcast content, and Web-based music services such as Pandora and Rhapsody.

Friday, July 22, 2011

The Rockleigh, N.J.-based manufacturer Crestron has one of the largest product lines in the entire consumer electronics industry and the scope of that product line provides its authorized dealer base with a solution for just about any installation scenario they encounter.

Crestron's new DM-RMC-200-C DigitalMedia 8G Receiver & Room Controller is the latest addition to its line of DigitalMedia products and according to the East Coast company, the unit features a built-in HD video scaler, an HDMI output and 30-watt per channel stereo amplifier. Crestron says the DM-RMC-200-C takes any video signal and scales it to HD quality levels no matter what format the original signal is in, and it's capable of extracting the audio from HDMI to enable installers to utilize a pair of external local speakers to create a higher quality audio experience than standard TV speakers.

The 3D-compatible unit can also be implemented in video wall systems and if employed in these types of systems the DM-RMC-200-C's zoom option allows installers to set up a display to show a portion of a source image. In total, Crestron adds that as many as 16 DM-RMC-200-Cs can be installed to form a complete image in a video wall using the zoom function.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

For years the home technology market has always been hesitant to accept Microsoft-based control and entertainment products because of the reputation of the Windows' OS reliability.

Several years ago Osterville, Mass.-based Savant came into the custom installation market with a line of control/automation and entertainment products that utilized Apple's proven OSX platform and since then the company has grown steadily within the market.

Recently the company introduced a new line of controllers to replace its existing ROSIE and PROTEGE products, and the series of products includes several new models that are engineered to provide professional electronics installers with a choice of products that handle their clients' control, automation and entertainment needs. The newly released SmartSystem family includes the SmartControl SSC-0007 and SSC-0025 control-only devices, as well as the SmartAudio SSA-3000 multiroom audio and control device; the SmartVideo SSV-1000 video processing and switching unit; the SmartMedia SSM-3100 whole-house audio, video switching and single-zone control unit; and the SmartMediaPro SSP-1200, SSP-2400 SSP-3600 units, which are designed for large home and commercial property applications. The SmartMediaPro products provide matrix video switching, HDMI 1.4 support, audio distribution and a scalable architecture concept to support full control capabilities.

Monday, February 14, 2011

In the world state-of-the-art audio/video connected services are all the rage.

N.J.-based Crestron Electronics has taken its digital multimedia ADMS system and added these increasingly popular Web sources to the ADMS' feature set to provide homeowners with a bigger, more diverse choice of entertainment options. The company says the new ADMS Intermedia Delivery System now includes Web connectivity to sites like ESPN, CNN, ABC News, the NFL, the NBA, Fox News and MSN.

This multimedia content joins Crestron's existing list of content choices that includes Netflix, Hulu, Netflix, iTunes and Youtube, and as an additional measure, the company now also offers Sony's 400 Disc Blu-ray/DVD ES MegaChanger (CEN-CX7000ES) to further diversify the choice of content a homeowner has to entertain themselves through the installation of a Crestron home entertainment system.

Crestron says the system can be controlled with Crestron touchpanels and remotes, as well as iPads, iPhones, iPod Touches and Android devices.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Falling into the category of--"tell me something I don't already know"-- the prices of flat-panel televisions have fell so low that consumers have become very sensitive to the price of accessories to their TV purchases.

Knowing that no one wants to pay 35 to 40 percent of the cost of their flat-panel television for the investment into a mount, Calif.-based WallWizard has introduced its latest additions to its product lines. The company's newly introduced $159 DM65 Manual Tilt Wall-Mount is said to help dealers addressing applications where the client wants their slim flat-panel TV mounted as close to the wall as possible. WallWizard says the DM65 works with TVs ranging from 42 inches to 65 inches, and it can hold weights up to 150 pounds.

The next product the company introduced is the TA55 Low-Profile Motorized Tilt Mount. This product is also a low-profile mount, but unlike the DM65, it adds motorization. WallWizard says this $300 mount can be used for install scenarios such as the placement of a flat-panel TV over a fireplace. The motorized TA55 includes an IR remote, an optical trigger and a USB port to support the company's ControlWand and Apple app accessories. The TA55 works with TVs ranging from 37 inches to 55 inches and it has a weight capacity of 100 pounds.

The last product WallWizard announced was the SA52 Motorized Swing-out Mount. WallWizard says this mount offers 90-degrees of swivel at the push of a button, and the $379 mount also includes the same IR, optical and USB provisions as the TA55 mount. The SA52 is compatible with TVs ranging from 32 to 52 inches and it can handle TVs weighing up to 80 pounds.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

With video technologies in both the residential and commercial sectors developing and evolving so quickly, custom electronics professionals need devices that can reliably keep pace with these changes.

RT COM USA's new OBHD-2C and OBCA-2C fiber-optic transmitter/receiver combination utilizes the speed and proven track record of fiber-optic connectivity technologies to provide the professional electronics community with a set of extender devices that can be used as long-term signal transmission solutions.

According to RT COM USA, the devices can safely transmit video signals without suffering from performance-related disturbances such as ground loops, external magnetic interference, network traffic or compression issues. The products are capable of handling 1080p signals with 36-bit Deep Color and high-bit rate audio signals to enable the full support and distribution of HD audio and video signals.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

It doesn't get talked about often enough, but system testing can save installers a lot of time and hassle, and it can go a long way to building a loyal client base.

Atlona's AT-DIS7-PROHD is a 7-inch HD Testing monitor that is engineered to provide custom electronics professionals with a display that can be used for the testing and verification process when a monitor isn't present.

The AT-DIS7-PROHD incorporates provisions to allow installers to test for all digital formats, including DVI, HDMI, and other popular video formats such as VGA, component and RGB-HV. Other features built into the testing display include the ability to view signal information for the display data channel (DDC) such as HDCP compliance, resolution, frequency, digital format and audio information.

Atlona says the product can be used with 3D installations and its tripod input allows installers to position the monitor anywhere there's room for a tripod-based setup.

Wednesday, September 08, 2010

It's been said before and it remains true to this day: content is king.

VidaBox's new 4U RackServerV2 is a dedicated media server that installers can set up to distribute Blu-ray, DVD, music, photos and video throughout a home to as many as 10 media extender devices.

The N.Y.-based company offers the server with and without RAID protection, and it can be configured in a number of ways to provide as much as 32TB of storage with the use of one of the company's RackServerV2+Plus expansion units.

VidaBox also equips the server with its 1-Step Drop-n-Rip feature, which enables users to rip unencrypted discs easily, and its DualRip feature, which VidaBox designed for audiophiles. According to the company, the DualRip feature rips CDs in the uncompressed WAV format for playback in a typical home audio system without having the distraction of listening to low resolution audio files and in the MP3 format so the same music can be stored on an Apple iPod.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

There's no question that powerline technologies have advanced far beyond the Clapper.

A good example of how far the technologies have advanced can be found in Western Digital's WD Livewire Powerline AV Network kit.

Western Digital says the product is compatible with the HomePlug AV powerline networking standard and it allows CE Pros to retrofit a home with network connections by using its existing electrical outlets.

The Lake Forest, Calif.-based computing company says the system offers 200Mbps of data transfer speeds and enough ports to support the connection of seven networked devices, which could be anything from a console gaming system, to a Blu-ray Disc player with BD Live technologies.

Western Digital adds the powerline solution also supports 1080p video streams and its set up is plug-and-play to facilitate quick installations.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Within the world of custom electronics the mere reference of the manufacturer VIZIO usually elicits a variety of opinions.

There is however no disputing the company's popularity. The Calif.-based company is one of the most popular manufacturers in the entire world of consumer electronics.

On Aug. 20 the company announced that its Xtreme VIZIO Technology (XVT) TruLED LED LCD televisions have started to ship. The line of products includes a range of five screen sizes: 32 inch, 37 inch, 42 inch, 47 inch and 55 inch, and they incorporate the company's Smart Dimming LED dimming technology, dual-band 802.11n wireless Internet connectivity, VIZIO's Web apps, and multiple HDMI inputs.

In addition, all of the TVs offer VIZIO's Smooth Motion video processing, IR/Bluetooth remote controls that include QWERTY keyboards and full backlit LED lighting for improved contrast ratios.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

With devices like Blu-ray players, HDTVs and streaming devices becoming commodity items, these products are more accessible than ever to a broader range of consumers.

Audio Authority's new HXE-11 HDMI over Coax system provides installers a simple way of connecting those devices and facilitating their clients' high-definition home theater needs.

The system is capable of transmitting and receiving 1080p video and lossless audio over a single RG-6 cable for more than 200 feet.

The Lexington, Ken.-based manufacturer says that the system, which is comprised of a Model 1341T Transmitter and the Model 1341R Receiver, provides installers with an alternative to balun-based Cat-5 solutions.

Audio Authority adds the coax system is HDCP compliant, and that it's set up is plug-and-play with no programming required.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Vaulting ahead of the other media server companies, the N.J.-based Windows Media Center (MCE) company, S1Digital has updated its product line through the addition of 3D video playback, lossless audio and the announcement of its new P250 MCE client.

S1 had addressed its ProLine Series, which includes the S800, P600 and P500 by adding 3D Blu-ray disc playback capabilities and HDMI 1.4 connections.

The company has also added 10 terabytes (10 TBs) of internal storage with six hot-swappable RAID drives, along with the latest Intel Core i7 processor and Microsoft's Windows 7 64-bit operating system (OS) to its flagship S800.

Beyond the 3D options for the P500 and P600, S1 has added DTS Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD lossless audio and HDMI Deep Color video capabilities to its mid-level Media Center machines. On top of those additions, the N.J.-based manufacturer has added RAID-enabled internal storage, Intel Core i5 processors, and the Windows 7 OS to the P500 and P600 to ensure the products' performance.

Rounding out its product line is the P250 client. This unit supports HDMI 1.3, the Dolby and DTS lossless audio formats, 1080p video resolutions, and seamless network access to the company's ProLine Series of products to allow the device to playback Blu-ray, music, videos and photo media.

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Over the years Extron has built a reputation as a premium manufacturer of commercial audio/video equipment.

The company's new SSP 7.1 Surround Sound Processor should continue to reinforce its reputation through its inclusion of many installer-friendly features.

Highlighting some of the processor's features are a seven-channel, nine-band parametric equalizer, operating modes like "Live" and "Emulate" with file saving capabilities, 100ms of lip sync correction, a full choice of Dolby and DTS surround processing modes, RS-232 and the company's 2.0 setup software.

Extron designed the rack-mountable processor for use in commercial and corporate environments, and it's included a full selection of inputs to provide installation flexibility.