With so many new technologies on the market today, you may wonder if it's really worth it to upgrade your home theater system with the newest features in your Charlotte, North Carolina home. We are here to tell you that 4K TVs and the Kaleidescape Movie Server are some of the best products you can add to your family room right now that are well worth the effort. Read on to learn about why 4K is here to stay.

SEE ALSO: Enhance Your Home Theater with a Control4 System Installation

4K TVS

You may be wondering if upgrading to 4K is really worth it. After all, why do all the work of setting up a new home theater system if you like the one you have? The truth is that the newest models of 4K TVs have all of the latest enhancements, including high-contrast, brightness, depth of color, high frame rates, and of course – high resolution. TVs that are in UHD have four times the amount of pixels than HD. This means that you can sit just a few feet away from the screen and not see any of those 8 million pixels. UHD TVs are so detailed and clear that they almost look 3D, like the picture is popping out at you. Also, available 4K content is growing at a rapid pace. UHD Blu-rays were released at CES 2016, and Netflix, VUDU, and Amazon Prime have already started developing 4K content beyond what they already have available for viewing. You can also purchase many 4K movies through the new Kaleidescape Movie Server Strato.

Kaleidescape

Technology is never stagnant. Innovation requires that every gadget or device should constantly be improved upon, and your smart home automation system is no exception. We make sure that you have the latest tech at your fingertips. In this blog we'll cover some of the newest features you can experience from our top partner Control4.

SEE ALSO: 3 WAYS A CONTROL4 SYSTEM CAN TRANSFORM YOUR CHARLOTTE, NC HOME

Wearable Technology

The first time you saw someone talk into their watch to issue an important command, it was probably on Star Trek or in a James Bond film. But today this technology has been realized with the Apple Watch and various other models. According to Forbes, 245 million wearable devices are expected to ship in 2019. People want to wear their tech because it's portable, convenient, and just plain cool. Control4 just released news that you can now control your Control4 smart home with the Apple Watch. Open the Control4 app on your watch and enjoy these features:

• Media: See what audio or video that is playing in each room in your house and change volume, add additional rooms, or turn things off.
• Thermostats: See all thermostats in your home, adjust the temperature, and apply presets.
• Lighting: Control individual lights in any room of your house or activate lighting scenes that control many lights at the same time.
• Security: Check status of locks, unlock or lock doors, and open or close garage doors.
• Local or Remote: Control your home from the comfort of your couch, or use your watch when you're away at work or traveling.

The holidays are an especially beautiful time of year. Lights brighten the neighborhood and make trees glitter. December is the best time to light up your home with seasonal décor and displays. Home lighting control makes managing your decorations and lights easy and fun in your Charlotte, North Carolina home. You may already be familiar with how dimmers, automated lighting, and mobile controls work—but we’ve come up with some ideas on how to use lighting technology to make this season (as well as all of them) extra special this year.

Make a Spectacular Holiday Display with Automated Lighting

If you love Christmastime, it’s likely you won’t forget to turn the lights on. However, with automated controls, you can pick the time you want the lights to go on every night and let it turn on itself—giving you more time to manage other important items. Simply open the Control4 Composer Home Edition software, select the zone of lights that are hanging on the house outside and the Christmas tree, and then pick a time for them to turn on every night. Our team can automate your system remotely so that all of your decorations come on at once—not just the lights—but the toys, videos, and music too. When you can control everything, you don’t have to take up lots of time unplugging every electronic before bed.
Do you want to leave the Christmas lights on late into the night, but you need to hit the sack early? Use timers to schedule the lights to go off later so that the whole neighborhood can enjoy your beautiful showmanship—even while you’re sleeping.

Enhance Decor With Dimmers

Lighting levels are a big part of setting the mood in your home. Bright lighting can invigorate you while soft lighting can make you feel relaxed. Lutron and Control4 dimmers make it easy to enhance your lighting and control your environment for every occasion. We offer wireless solutions for automating and controlling LEDs, track lighting, floor and table lamps, sconces, spotlights and outdoor lighting. With this technology, you can access every lighting fixture in your home and dim lighting levels from your keypad on the wall, smartphone, or other mobile device.
When it’s time to have your holiday meal, hit a button on your phone or tablet to dim the lights down for an elegant atmosphere. Your decorations will really shine bright when the rest of the house lights are dimmed down darker.

For years, gaining access to your favorite entertainment was quite a process. If you wanted to watch a movie or listen to a record, you had to take a trip to the local store and hope they had the one you wanted in stock. Today, however, things are different. Virtually infinite amounts of audio and video content is available to stream through your whole house at any given moment. You simply need a system in your Concord, North Carolina home that can access the content with high-quality picture and sound. In this blog, we highlight a couple of our favorite solutions for streaming entertainment with a whole house audio/video system.

It’s simple: a Control4 system is easy to use, fun for the whole family and practical in every situation. We’re frequently asked why we are a Control4 integrator and why it is our number-one smart home automation system of choice, so we’ve decided to provide our top three reasons of what makes Control4 so great for The Integrated Home and the families in Charlotte, North Carolina we serve every day. Here is our list, focusing on ways the Control4 system can enhance your home:

1.       Control4 Brings the Family Together

Control4 is known for simple, user-friendly interfaces. That means that your kids have command of the entertainment center when they get home from school. And your technology-phobic grandparents won’t have any trouble accessing the lighting controls in any room of the home. Gather the whole family in the home theater for an unforgettable movie night. Use a single device to dim the lights, raise the volume on the surround sound system, select and start the feature presentation. With Control4 integrated into your home, all the control is at the fingertips of your entire family.

2.       It’s a Scalable System

Smart automation is not a monolith – each component is capable of functioning on its own, as well as a with other subsystems. That means that you don’t have to start large to step into the world of integrated technology. Featuring both wired and wireless installation options, Contro4 is very scalable. Pick a room you want to invest in first, and then add on later. For example, craft the automated kitchen of your dreams. Let music from your Sonos system envelope you as you prepare an elegant meal for the family. Follow recipes as they appear on your smart television, unobtrusively installed behind a cabinet façade. Then call the family into the dining room via an HD intercom when it’s time to eat. Once you experience and understand the benefits of Control4 within your kitchen, you can easily expand the experience by installing more smart components throughout your home using your existing network infrastructure.