Our team of professional audio video installers look forward to attending CEDIA every year as we get to discover new and trending smart home products and systems, as well as connect with other expert in the field. This month the CEDIA 2016 conference showcased many new products ranging from new 4K TVs to convenient chargers for smart home touchscreens. In this blog, we’d like to share with you some of the top products nominated this year for the CEDIA Awards, which are manufacturers we carry and install in homes in the Lake Norman and Charlotte, North Carolina areas. Keep reading to learn more about these innovative solutions for your home theater and home audio. We’ll let you know on social media who the winner is!

SEE ALSO: Dedicated Home Theater or Media Room? What’s Right for my Lake Norman Home?

Screen Innovations Zero-G Rollable Screen

Our partner Screen Innovations has developed the first rollable TV, the Zero-G. When getting ready to watch a sports game or your favorite movie, the Zero-G drops out of a hanging case on the wall and expands to give you a levitating image suspended by cables. This revolutionary screen can be placed in front of bay windows, an art deco wall, or anywhere in the room. It gives you the flexibility to choose where you want the entertainment to be placed instead of conforming to the constraints of the room’s layout. Before, there were only a number of places you could hang a flat-screen TV, but now you have the freedom to put it anywhere in your home. SI even sends crayons along with the screen so you can color the cables to make the screen look as if it’s hanging in mid-air.

Seura Storm Ultra Bright 84” Outdoor TV

Dropped calls, unreliable phone reception, and fuzzy conversations…do these sound familiar? If you ever have to say that popular Verizon tag line, “can you hear me now?” or walk around your Lake Norman home looking for the best cell phone signal, this blog is certainly for you. It may not be as simple as getting a new phone plan, or getting an upgrade. The Integrated Home can help you solve this issue, but first, read these steps to get an idea of the situation and how we can help with our cell phone boosters.

SEE ALSO: How Can You Boost Your Home’s Cell Phone Signal?

Step 1: Check Your Cell Phone Carrier

The commercials you see on the TV are partly true, you may simply need to switch cell phone carriers. In most cities, there is a dominant phone tower that has the best signal. It could be due to a mountain range, or other local situation where one brand has better signals than the others. Due some research or ask your friends and family if they have the same problems with dropped calls and then try another carrier to see if the situation improves. If not, move on to step two.

Step 2: Check Your Location

Smart lighting has so many benefits, from saving energy to adding convenience. It’s definitely a simple yet stylish luxury. You may be familiar with dimming the lights to create ambiance and turning all your lights on or off by hitting one button, but you may not know about some of the other lighting features we offer in Charlotte, North Carolina homes. Customers sometimes ask us, “what else can it do?” We know you like to stay up to date on the newest home technologies, so in this blog we’ll share a few of the newer functions you can add during our lighting installation – including colored lighting, customizable keypads, smart watch control, and car control.

SEE ALSO: 3 Tips on How to Enhance Interior Design with Automated Lighting

Add Color Both Inside and Out

Today, you are not limited to picking from either white light or yellow; The Integrated Home can incorporate any color of the rainbow in your home. Colored LED light fixtures are often used outside to highlight gardens, fountains or other landscaping details, and inside for special occasions. Since fall celebrations are on the way, you could plan to decorate your yard with fun fall décor, or spooky Halloween decorations and use smart lighting to show every detail. Inside, pick orange or green lights to display pumpkins or monster characters throughout the house. Of course, Control4 lighting scenes can be created for all of your holidays or family gatherings throughout the year. Using an app on your smartphone or tablet, select a color and the room you want to display it in. Tie in other features, like shading and audio, and then save the scene for later. You can also select a different setting for every light. Choose red for the front porch during Christmas or dim the lamps in the living room for a soothing evening in. Control4 lighting controls are in one convenient location on your mobile device, or are accessible using your in-wall keypads.

Stylish Keypads

Control4 keypads eliminate the wall acne created by too many switches and dimmers by simplifying your buttons and displaying them in a stylish and simple way. Our keypads can also be customized to any setting you like, such as “Welcome”, “Movie”, or “Entertain.” They have over 35 different configuration options. In addition, the engravings are backlit so you can see the titles easily. You won’t have to try every switch to figure out which one turns the kitchen lights on. Every button is named. Not only can you customize the names of each scene, but you can also pick your keypad color and style to match your personal interior design taste. You could stick with a basic white or choose a sleek chrome. It’s all up to you how you want your home to look and feel – and even the buttons on the wall are included in that effort.

There are many home theater systems on the market today, which can make it difficult to figure out which one is best. We’ve even written a blog all about your options and the premium brands we offer in the Lake Norman area.

SEE ALSO: The Best Home Theater Systems for Your Charlotte Living Room

In this article we want to cover what type of space is best for your system. Your preferences and needs will determine if a multipurpose media room is better for you, or a dedicated home theater. Continue reading to discover all your options for home entertainment.

Multipurpose Media Rooms

A media room is a great option for families who want to include their home theater system in common areas. A lot of interior designers today are using an open concept in homes so that rooms aren’t divided, which can make the home seem smaller and more confined. Open areas give parents the ability to watch their kids as they cook or clean since they can glance from the stove to the living room. Open concepts are also beneficial for entertaining. You could be preparing drinks in the kitchen and still have a conversation with your company in the dining room or media room. People can also flow from one space to another easily, and all of your décor pieces can be coherent. A media room comes into play by allowing your friends and family to enjoy a variety of activities at any moment. For example, we could hide a TV behind a piece of art or in a mirror so that a living room turns into a home theater instantly with the press of a button. You can have a cocktail party one moment or simply read a book, and then get ready to watch a movie or play a video game the next. Media rooms are both practical and pleasing to look at. One important factor to note is that the quality of your home theater system will not be compromised when we install it in an open area. We can install speakers in the ceiling and in the walls in front of you and back to create the surround sound effect. We also have special projectors and screens that display defined, vivid images even in bright light. The black diamond screen by Screen Innovations can be enjoyed in broad daylight. Be rest assured you’ll get both quality and beauty in your media room.

Today’s security cameras are incredibly smart with many high-tech features that will protect your Charlotte, North Carolina home. But you don’t want to just choose any security company to work with or any surveillance brand. We want to assure you that our products are of the highest quality and that working with a smart home professional is the way to go – even when installing just security and surveillance. Here are some of the best features of our surveillance cameras. 

SEE ALSO: How to Protect Your North Carolina Home with Security Cameras

Experience High-Definition Viewing

Snap AV has enhanced their Wirepath series of surveillance cameras to create a brand new, better-than-ever system called Luma. The Luma HD-TVI analog cameras can capture images in high definition, which is three times the pixels of typical analog models. It’s perfect for indoor ceiling installation in small or medium-size rooms, and can be tilted so it can pan around the room as needed. This series also delivers smooth video at up to 30 frames per second so the video is clear and smooth as you are watching it. And, thanks to the 1MP sensor, the cameras can show a true widescreen view, giving you a wider view of the action to fill your TV or mobile device screen. Snap AV also has outdoor models that are protected from spraying water or dust and are even resistant to intentional damage. With many high-quality surveillance cameras in different shapes and sizes for any application, Snap AV is our recommended brand for top-notch security.

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