Savant Home Automation Denver and Control4 Denver Home Theater

STOP! Don’t buy that Ford….yet

theavspecialist — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 06:11:22 +0000

Changes from model year to model year are an obvious and expected occurrence. In normal conditions these changes are almost always upgrades, feature improvements, or additional features. What happens when those feature improvements end up being a downgrade? What happens when you, the consumer, don’t know the change has been made, and the salesperson doesn’t even know about the change in order to tell you? In our business, feature changes aren’t just a yearly occurrence, they are a monthly occurrence. Mid-model changes in firmware, software, or parts can weak havoc on a design that has been created specifically for you. When you have to take some many parts and manufacturers into consideration, even we don’t often find out about the change until the device is being installed. That doesn’t even scratch the surface of the myriad of electronics that should never be purchased if you are ever considering to have an electronics integrator incorporate them into a whole house system. Now, of course, the last thing on your mind when you walked into Best Buy or Costco, is what will my integrator think about this choice? Will it work with the system I haven’t decided or even thought about purchasing yet? And even beyond the “last” thing on your mind is what will my electronics integrator think of my new car purchase, right? Wrong.

Although traditionally I have considered myself a foreign car owner, I really can’t say that anymore as we have owned a Ford F-250 Van, Expedition, Mustang, Focus, and now the latest… and Explorer over the last few years. Beginning with the Expedition, I must admit that I loved the fact that the vehicle no longer needed a garage door opener. In fact, with three buttons we could easily program other automation functions from our Lutron lighting system. Ford has used Homelink for the last several years, and that system easily learns your existing garage remote. Lutron’s wireless remote, which replaces your garage door remote, also allows you to memorize various lighting scenes such as Home or Away. These scenes can do a myriad of operations such as turn on security lights outdoors, never return to a dark home by lighting exterior lights and internal pathways. Maybe you want to arm you security system or lock your doors. And since Homelink easily learns these programmable buttons, your Ford visor control can now open the garage door, activate home or away modes, or anything else you would like.

Enter 2012. Well, technically, Lear2U has been operating in models as early as 2007, but fortunately, or unfortunately, this is the first time we have run into one.

Buick Lucerne, Buick Rendevous, Cadillac CTS DTS, Escalade, SRX, STS, XLR, Chevrolet, Avalanche, Corvette, Impala, Malibu, Silverado, Suburban, Tahoe. Ford, Edge, Escape, Expedition, Explorer, F-150, F-250, F-350, F-450, Flex, Focus, Fusion, Mustang GMC, Sierra, Yukon, Lincoln, MKS, MKT, MKZ, Navigator, Towncar, Mercury Mariner, Milan, Mountaineer, Mazda Tribute, or Saturn Aura

Denver Interior Glass Concepts from Evergreen Glass

theavspecialist — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 21:10:14 +0000

Interior Glass in Denver Transformed Forever

The difference is in the details…

One of the reasons I came to Colorado is that I love rustic. Cover my home in log beams and antler chandeliers, and I am in heaven. As a result, I have never been a big fan of glass. It is too modern and contemporary for my tastes. That completely changed when I was introduced to Evergreen Glass Inc, which has set completely new standards for Denver interior glass. Just follow that link to go their site and check them out yourself. But wait…

Their site is fine, but pictures simply cannot do their work justice. You have to see the incredible color. You have to feel the texture. You have to see it change colors before your very eyes as you move around them. I will never be able to look at glass the same way again.

And how about durability? That was one of my first questions. It’s glass. It will break. According to the owner, Ron, their glass countertops are stronger than stone. Glass is non-porous, so you don’t have to worry about stains or sealing it over time.

The applications that Evergreen Glass can provide is immense.

Elegant and Natural Interior Design in Denver

For the complete solution, you need the full team to pull your vision together. Denver interior design has a new face, The Rocky Mountain Design Collective. Follow that previous link to see how they can help you transform any space into something unique and incredible.

Savant HVAC Scheduling

theavspecialist — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 19:31:03 +0000

Making it easy for the homeowner to create their own heating and cooling schedule has always been a little challenging. That has all changed thanks to Savant’s new HVAC iPad scheduler. I have personally worked with many systems and a variety of ways to handle HVAC scheduling. This has ranged from the simple thermostats that many of you currently own, up to incredibly complex HVAC systems with multiple thermostats, zones, and heating and cooling technologies all in the same home. I have never encountered a more simple, intuitive interface than this one. Want to add a new clock set point, so you can modify the temperature at that time? Just press the “+” button. From there move the small little circles from left to right to change when the setpoints will change. Move the little circles up and down to determine what the setpoints will be. It’s that easy. You can have multiple schedules for summer, winter, vacation, or anything else you want. And when you have a system engineered and designed by Denver’s Savant leaders, you know it will work fantastically for years to come.

Knowledge : The Key to a More Efficient, Smarter Home

theavspecialist — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 19:19:27 +0000

ENERGY MANAGEMENT

Take Advantage of Green Technology with Smart Energy from Savant

The Green Initiative is not just a fad anymore. With the green message coming from everyone from President Barack Obama to GM, we are truly reaching a new age. Is it possible that last year’s gasoline spike will finally compel us as Americans to truly re-evaulate our energy consumption. The US only has 7% of the world’s population, yet we consume 25% of the world’s resources. Although some of us may have a blatant disregard to conserve, most of us really just lack the education on what we can do to make a difference. What things are simply marketing hype, and what things actually make a difference? Do you know how much it costs you to run your air conditioner for one hour? Do you know how much your kitchen light costs you per hour? How much does dimming really save? If you can’t answer any of these questions, you are not alone. I couldn’t either… at least I couldn’t before we started installing the home command center. Get a snapshot of how much energy your home really consumes. What devices take the most energy? Find places to conserve. How many pounds of coal are used or gallons of CO2 emitted on a daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly basis. The numbers may amaze you at first, but these numbers will become a powerful tool: knowledge. Only with real knowledge can we change habits and effect change.

Our intelligent control technology enables the homeowner to monitor and reduce energy consumption of smart home electronics, conserve resources, and save money— all without sacrificing comfort or convenience. Savant’s Smart Energy harnesses green technology and tailors your system to adjust usage based upon time of day, changing seasons, outside temperature, and any other triggering mechanisms to ensure that your smart home system’s energy usage is always at peak efficiency while quality of life and convenience are never compromised.

Green home automation is easy on energy:

Set your intelligent lighting to automatically turn on and off with the rising and setting sun by timing them to an astronomical clock.
Pre-set blinds to close, shutting out powerful sunlight and keeping the interior of your home cool while conserving energy.
Reduce the demands on heating and cooling systems with climate controlthat regulates thermostat levels based on outside temperature.
Press a “Lights Out” button to disable all intelligent lighting, making certain that no lights have been left on unnecessarily.
Green home automation integrates with occupancy and motion sensors to dim or turn off lights when a room is unoccupied.
Display power consumption levels to help you monitor energy use in your smart home system.
Remotely monitor and manage all of the whole-house audio/video components and other smart home electronics with your iPad®, iPhone® or iPod touch® to prevent unnecessary energy consumption.

Click here to read about an amazing Smart Energy project from Savant that utilizes green technology.

Savant is proud to be a member of the U.S. Green Building Council and to manufacture smart home products that are RoHS compliant.

Savant Launches New Handheld Remote

theavspecialist — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 02:49:23 +0000

SAVANT SELECT™

A Remote Control Revolution…

Never before has a hand-held smart remote been so innovative and versatile— so compact and easy-to-use.

From simple source control in any single room to complete two-way whole-home automation, the Savant Select seamlessly merges the familiar functionality of Apple’s® latest iPod touch® (featuring the new Retina Display) with easy-to-use push buttons, creating a sleek yet powerful home control interface.

Supporting Savant’s TrueControl iPod touch App and TrueCommand On-TV navigation, this powerful smart remote delivers the perfect balance of backlit pushbuttons and a 3.5-inch color touch screen.

Immediate and immersive home control system access, Smart Select allows you to control everything from intelligent lighting, home theater or media room,whole-house audio and media, security, and climate—any home appliance connected to a Savant Smart System.

Key features & benefits

3.5-inch Multi-Touch™ Retina display, 960 x 640 pixel resolution
Wireless communication, 802.11b/g/n
31 backlit buttons with key transport keys
Multi-tasking, switch from TrueControl to thousands of Apps
Customizable graphics
View wireless video from network cameras
Front and rear-facing cameras
Includes a Lithium-Ion battery and elegant charging base

Could Sony Follow Pioneer Elite and Exit the TV Business?

theavspecialist — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 03:47:05 +0000

Sony to Restructure TV Business

Big changes are a’comin to Sony’s TV business, according to a recent article at Bloomberg.com. After eight straight years of losses, the company plans to “overhaul the business” to reduce costs and more effectively compete with the likes of Samsung and LG. Last week, Sony replaced its home-entertainment unit head, Yoshihisa Ishida, with the current president of the personal imaging group, Masashi Imamura–right around the time the company lowered its sales and profit estimates because of sluggish U.S. and European sales.

Exact details of the reorganization could be decided this month, says Tokyo-based spokeswoman Mami Imada. The plan may include partnerships and reorganization of procurement, product development, and sales operations. The company has already sold three factories in the past two years to help cut costs.

In related news, The Wall Street Journal reports that Hitachi may decide to end its TV-production operations and outsource the production of Hitachi-brand TVs to Taiwanese and other overseas manufacturers. According to the story, in the last fiscal year, overseas manufacturers already produced 70 percent of Hitachi TV models. The company currently has just one TV factory in Japan, which produces TVs only for the Japanese market, and Hitachi is trying to decide whether or not to discontinue production there, as well.

Fox Makes It Harder to Cut the Cord

theavspecialist — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 03:45:00 +0000

Fox Makes It Harder to Cut the Cord

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that, beginning in mid-August, Fox will no longer offer free streamed episodes of hit shows like “Glee” and “Family Guy” the day after they air. Both on Fox.comand via Hulu, fans will have to wait eight days to view free episodes–unless they can prove that they are a cable/satellite subscriber or that they subscribe to the premium Hulu Plus service. “Paying” customers will be able to watch Fox shows the day after they air, just like before.

Dish Network is currently the only company that has made a deal with Fox to allow its subscribers to access the content; subscribers must verify that they receive the satellite service in order to view content at Fox.com, Hulu.com, or Dishonline.com. Negotiations are ongoing with other cable/satellite providers.

The WSJ also reports that Time-Warner is talking with other broadcast networks, like ABC, about taking a similar path.

Clearly, TV content providers and distributors are trying to figure out what to do about people who have decided to “cut the cord”–those who have cancelled their pay-TV service and instead opt to get their TV content via online streaming sources. Even though free streamed episodes usually have ads in them to help generate revenue, the loss of traditional viewers still affects Nielsen ratings and consequently ad rates…and it certainly doesn’t benefit the pay-TV providers, who also contribute revenue to the content producers.

Of course, part of the reason that Fox and other networks began to offer free content (again, with ads in place) was to discourage the illegal downloading and sharing of content. We’ll see how fans respond to this new approach: Will they wait eight days, re-subscribe to a pay-TV service, or just revert to their former file-sharing ways? Time will tell…

Is Wireless always the answer?

theavspecialist — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 19:50:30 +0000

Wireless, A Solution or a Problem?

By Steven Stone

Wireless can be a great thing. It’s easy to like wireless, because on the surface it seems so simple. And as the increase of wireless devices continue to bombard the market, there is no doubt that there is a place for it. However, it’s also way too easy to forget that wireless connections were created as a solution to a problem. That problem was how to get a signal from point A to point B when you can’t run a wire between them.

In the world of audio we are offered many wireless solutions, from Wi-Fi music servers to wireless rear speakers and subwoofers. In most cases a wired solution is a cheaper, more reliable, and sonically superior connection scheme. But sometimes wireless does make sense, particularly when you are facing ground-loop hum and interference issues.

Ever since I turned on my first subwoofer it was obvious that it’s hard to keep a subwoofer from humming. Even high-quality subwoofers will hum if the ground loop conditions exist. The old-school solution – floating the ground by not attaching the center ground plug, is potentially hazardous, and sometimes floating the ground and reversing the AC plug’s polarity, still doesn’t work to eliminate hum.

Soon Definitive Technology will be launching their answer to the wireless subwoofer solution. Over the years their products continue to amaze me, and it will be interesting to see how it turns out. SInce there is no physical connection there is no possibility of hum.

When is a wireless “connection” a mistake? Whenever you can use Ethernet cable instead. Ethernet virtually guarantees more robust throughput and a lower percentage of transmission/receiving errors. Except for the Sonos system, which uses it’s own closed and separate Wi-Fi network, music over a Wi-Fi network will always be at the mercy of the nearest microwave oven or teen’s must-see uTube video. And even in the “rock-solid” Sonos system, I have seen connectivity problems arise and dropouts occur.

Just remember that wireless should only be an option, when there is simply no other alternative. Never go there first.

Fox Home Greenover Project

theavspecialist — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 19:49:37 +0000

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR NEW HGOP FAMILY!

We are so excited to be working with our HGOP family to help make their home more energy efficient by providing the powerful Command Center to help them understand their energy efficiency.

Welcome to The Audio/Video Specialists. Don’t let the name fool you. Although fun toys are certainly a part of what we do, fully integrating your home is our specialty. Offering a simple to use interface, anyone in the family can easily control everything from lights to security to television and music.

Our solutions are completely customized to your needs, as we offer a full suite of products and services to fit your lifestyle and your budget.

Give us a call now to show you how we can make your home convenient, efficient, AND more fun all at the same time.