If you’re looking to stay on the cutting edge of home technology, check out the latest audio and visual design trends making our media experience better.

The Top Home Theater Systems of 2020

Smart Home Theaters

The top home theater systems are smarter than ever, making lives easier in so many different ways. No worries about fumbling around with a bunch of different remotes every time you want to change the channel or video input. Do it all from your centralized control panel. You can even run everything through your smartphone, to avoid learning how to work new equipment. Want more?  Dim the lights, close the blinds, start a projector, and connect to your favorite streaming device, too! You can even program all of those functions to happen simultaneously, sending your home theater into movie mode with one click of a button.

4K & 8K

4K TVs have been around for a while but the industry is finally catching up. In 2020, look for broadcasts and streaming services to upgrade their services as they adjust to smart home technology. Upgrade your hardware now, and you can expect video providers to help you get the most from it. Take it a step further with 8K, which quadruples the pixels for an even denser image.

Richer Sound

You may be surprised by how affordable it is to get the highest-quality sound experience in your home. Soundbars can deliver home theater audio that rivals the movie theaters. For instance, the Sonos Beam soundbar contains four woofers and a tweeter for the full range of home theater audio. Built-in microphones facilitate beam forming for auto-calibration and echo reduction. Plus, it can connect with satellite speakers for full surround sound.

Virtual Reality

Virtual reality (VR) has already revolutionized the way people use media like video games, and its popularity will only grow in 2020. Adventurous homeowners are now starting to enjoy it, too. There’s no better place for a VR headset than with the rest of your immersive entertainment at home.

There’s plenty of other home technology out there to discover, but if you get yourself set up with some of these, you’ll see the difference. Talk to your home theater installer today!

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But home audio installation isn’t what it once was. No more bulky, high-fidelity speakers and other assorted equipment that could easily cost you thousands of dollars. That setup has been reshaped into something more compact and less expensive. Wireless technology now powers smaller, portable and affordable components that give you more bang for your buck. And when it comes to entertaining, having a system is a must.

How Home Audio System Installers Can Improve Your Get-Together

Music just makes a get-together better, and when home audio system installers you can enjoy it like never before. Here’s just a few things a professional installation can offer.

Wireless Home Audio Installation

Home audio installers offer a series of wireless products that allow you to control what you want to listen to from your phone, tablet or computer and stream it wirelessly to any room. Plus, you can start with one and then add throughout your home.

Voice Activation

You’ve got plenty to do when you’re entertaining, so being able to control the music with your voice takes one thing off your plate. A home sound system is one of the best uses for voice-activated technology with many solutions working with either Google Assist or Amazon Alexa to leverage voice control in ways that guarantee unprecedented command of the tunes you and your family love.

Room to Room Enjoyment

Your home audio installation can give you the power to stream your favorite music to any room in your home from your phone, tablet or computer. Play the same song in every room, or different songs in different rooms.

If you love music and entertaining, a home sound system is a must have. There are many affordable options and ways to customize your experience. Contact your local home audio system installers to see the possibilities.

The post Just Add Food—Easy Entertaining with a Home Sound System appeared first on Home Theatre Connection.

Do you just have a standard TV installation? Do you have surround sound? How about automation? Having the right media setup is key to having an enjoyable get-together. Here are some of the top options in home entertainment systems when you’re ready for an upgrade.

4 Ways to Upgrade Your Home Entertainment Center for a Better Party

1. Build a media room

You’ll swear you’re in the crowd at the game when you have your own home media room with a multi-screen TV installation setup and surround-sound audio. It’s easy and affordable with perforated and woven screen displays that hide your speakers from view. Experts can also minimize space usage with small flat-panel displays and electronics-savvy furniture design.

2. Add automation

The best home entertainment systems make the viewing experience convenient. Today’s smart-home technology functions like a personal assistant – responding to your every beck and call. Have a big group and need to extend the experience? Go for room-to-room sound systems. Want to control the volume, lighting, and other components? That can be automated too. You won’t have to leave your seat to make your football party exactly the way you and your guests want it.

3. Take it outside

The weather is more unpredictable than ever, giving you the chance to have an outdoor football party. Your local TV installation company can provide outdoor audio and visual entertainment, offering a full home theater system that’s sure to keep things exciting day or night.

4. Mount your TV

Simply buying a new flat-screen TV can do wonders for a better party experience. But don’t just prop it on a television stand – have it professionally mounted. You don’t want to take any chances with wall mounting by attempting to do it yourself. TV installation really should be left to professionals who have experience with mounting brackets on wall studs, concrete or brick walls, and concealing wires.

Enjoy Your Home Entertainment Center Year-Round

While your football party may have gotten you thinking about home entertainment systems, moving forward with purchase and installation gives you entertainment to enjoy year-round. You can even take things a step further working with a professional company like Home Theater Connection to turn your home into a smart home. If you can envision it, you can have it!

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How to Harness Hometech

Picture this. You’re ready to watch a movie, and with the sound of your voice, your lights dim, your blinds close, your Blu-Ray player turns on and the surround sound engages. Or imagine you’re about to leave for a trip, and your voice commands engage your home security and surveillance system, which you can view on your smartphone anytime you want. This and more is possible with smart home technology.

You can turn your house into a home automation hub with features like Control4 technology, one of the best smart home system options. Hometech not only enhances audio and visual experiences, but it makes everything work together for a more comfortable, convenient and enjoyable lifestyle.

There’s never been a better time to enhance your home with the power of technology and automation. Here are just some of ways you can do it on any budget.

• Tying together the lights, climate control and music under one master control system that works on its own.
• Setting up multiple-screen video with surround sound, all controlled with a smartphone or tablet.
• Incorporating electronics-savvy furniture design, along with hidden screens, wiring, and speakers
• Utilizing the best smart home system technology for security and surveillance systems that can be easily integrated with home or business automation options, controllable from anywhere.
• Streaming music from room to room through Bluetooth, WiFi and other audio capabilities
• Extending the WiFi range so that you’re never disconnected
• Adding an outdoor media room using smart home technology to create the ideal entertainment for the backyard enthusiast and added benefit to any gathering of family or friends.

Partner with a Local Hometech Professional

Connecting your lifestyle with smart home technology offers the best of luxury, time-saving efficiency and safety in one dynamic resource. It also enables you to go green and save money by reducing your energy use. Whether you travel frequently and want to know and control what’s happening at your home while you’re away, or simply adjust lighting and temperature controls to enjoy your favorite movie, you can find exactly what you’re looking for with a professional media company.

Partner with a professional installer of smart home technology, and you can relax and entertain in a home that’s enhanced with automation—indoors and out. With one touch, or the sound of your voice, you can dim the lights, play music, turn down the heat, lock your doors and even arm your security system. Your house will become the home automation hub you always dreamed of.

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5 Ways to Boost Wifi Signal

Dealing with wifi connection issues can be extremely frustrating, especially if you have kids. While you gotta love them, hearing their voices yelling, “Mom, I got knocked off my tablet,” or “Dad, the wifi is down,” every couple of hours can get pretty old. Plus, losing your wifi signal when you run a business can have disastrous effects on client relationships and experiences. Good news is, there are ways to ensure a wifi range increase in your home. Here’s how.

1. Find the best spot for the router. This little unit is the biggest issue when you’re looking to boost wifi signal. While it’s not the most attractive thing to display in your home, you need to keep it out in the open. Don’t go hiding it in the closet. Instead, try to find a logical central location for it. 

2. Look into wifi extenders. You can achieve a huge wifi range increase by investing in extenders. Working with a professional company, you can have your signal repeated over a longer distance, or better yet, take advantage of powerline networking, which uses the electrical wiring in your home to transfer bytes to and from your router. The latter is a bit more expensive than repeating the signal, but it’s still affordable and way more effective. Plus, you’ll no longer have to feel strapped to your router. 

3. Control the quality. When it comes to good wifi, quality is key. Today’s routers are accompanied by Quality-of-Service tools which limit how much bandwidth your apps use. Do you stream a lot of video or use voiceover IP often? Don’t let downloads drain your wifi experience. Take the time to specify which services and apps get priority. The Quality-of-Service settings usually reside in the network’s administrator interface under advanced settings. Many routers eve offer gaming or multimedia settings, which helps a great deal toward having a strong wifi signal in all rooms.

4. Avoid interference with other devices. Did you know that microwaves and cordless phones can cause wifi connection issues? Improve your signal by purchasing a dual-band router or another band for your cordless phone. If you’d rather not buy new hardware, move the router farther away from any interfering appliances.

5. Prevent wifi thieves. Even if you’ve set up what you think is a strong wifi password, hackers may be able to figure it out and their usage can affect your signal. If you’re looking for ways to boost wifi signal, a professional IT company can help you find out if someone is stealing your wifi. However, an even better tactic is to install better security to lock them out. A professional can offer security recommendations to help you fully protect your network.

Whether you want a better connection at home or require good wifi to make your business run its best, taking a proactive approach goes a long way in preventing wifi connection issues. There are many affordable options out there that will provide a strong wifi signal in all rooms – all you need to do is partner with a professional to make it happen.

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With today’s technology, it’s possible to elevate your home sound system beyond the simple living room stereo. With WiFi, Bluetooth and other technologies, you can have multi room audio with a whole house music system that can have one person singing to Broadway in the living room and the other person, whistling to country in the kitchen.  If you’re ready to upgrade to a new house music system, read this to learn about the benefits of multi room audio!

Home Audio: New Technologies, Clearer Audio

Long gone are the days in which setting up a home sound system took hours and hours along with, wires and wires!  And then remember the pain of packing up the audio system if you decided to move? What a nightmare! With new technology, not just one room but multi room audio can be setup wire-free, quickly and pain-free! Hiring a professional and top-rated home theater designer and installer can make purchasing a Sonos sound system or other wireless options for home audio set up easy!

The Benefits of Multi Room Audio

 If you want to upgrade your home system and love the idea of having music capabilities in more than one room, today’s wireless audio systems are a great choice that are easy to set up!

A sound system like Sonos is great because it:

• Allows you to listen to different songs in different rooms
• Eliminates Skipping or stopping—songs stream effortlessly from one to the next
• No wires—who really loves trying to manage all the home music system wires? No one!
• Whole House Music: let everyone listen to the music, wherever he or she is!
• No complicated receivers!
• Connect via any mobile device, unlike Bluetooth, which relies on your mobile phone signal. That signal is always weaker than a multi room audio system

Making the call to upgrade your home audio system is one that will reap you benefits in the long run. Whole house music means:

• A system that is state of the art and the best quality
• Music throughout the home for everyone to enjoy
• Ability to hear a different song the next room over so you don’t have to listen to someone else’s music choice
• Less wires and complications from older audio systems

To get more information, reach out to a home theater and audio professional near you to hear the difference in sound.  A home theater professional can explain to you the different multi room audio options that will fit your home and budget. With rapid changes in technology, we are sure you and your family will love advancing to the next stage in home audio.

The post Upgrading Your Home Sound System is a Worthy Investment appeared first on Home Theatre Connection.

How to Deal with Too Many Remotes

The amount of connected devices installed in American homes will increase 30-fold by 2020, from 900 million in 2009 to 26 billion units by 2020, according to Gartner. This staggering number doesn’t even include some of our favorite gadgets such as computers, smartphones and tablets. The reason for this big jump in devices has everything to do with one thing: the connected home. With home sound systems entertaining our family and friends, home theater wiring taking our entertainment to new levels and the all in one remote connecting it all, there’s very little reason to ever leave home at this point! Here are just a few highlights of controlling your home with a remote.

• When you feel you have too many remotes, one single remote control can do the job all on its own. Now, you can turn off all the lights in the house from your bedside or turn them all on in case of emergency. You can let visitors in without getting up, or do it from your office by smartphone if you’re not home. You can even set equipment to go on and off automatically by time or by occupancy, turn on/off lights, adjust temperature, turn on your home sound system and more.
• Do you travel frequently and want to know and have control of what’s happening at your home or office while you’re away? Many you have to work late and don’t want people to know you’re not home. No problem. An all in one remote can be set to address your security and surveillance options with plenty of options…and peace of mind for your entire family.
• If you’re like many families, you can spend a lot of money at the movies to please the kids when the latest animated feature hits the screens. With home theater wiring, you can use the same remote to control a giant flat-screen television right in your own home. Hooked up to your home sound system and everything else you’ve already got connected, your home will become a true palace of entertainment. And if it’s just the kids watching, you can set up the movie and take the remote with you so there’s no worry about losing it!

It’s easy to get frustrated when you’re dealing with too many remotes, but the decision to rewire needs to be made with some serious research. Not all electronics contractors are created equal, and while they many claim to offer high-quality design, installation and service, you could end up with a costly and dangerous new setup if you don’t go with a reputable company. Once you choose to go with an all in one remote, go with a home entertainment solution company that offers all the technology you need with highly experienced electricians on staff. That way, you’ll know your home theater wiring, home sound system and security is affordable, safe and enjoyable!

The post Make Home Living More Convenient with an All in One Remote appeared first on Home Theatre Connection.

Benefits of Home Audio Systems

Your music shouldn’t stay in just one place. You can have it wherever you are with a multi room audio system! Using a solid audio brand like Sonos, professional home audio installers can set up your home so that you play the first song of your favorite album when you get out of bed and have it follow you throughout your home as you get ready for the day. Do you enjoy a little music while you cook or while you eat in the dining room? You can have it both ways with home audio systems, which provide a completely seamless listening experience no matter where you are in the house.

Imagine how great this feature is for entertaining family and friends, or when you’re traveling from room to room cleaning up your home! Better yet, brands like Sonos let you change it up from by room if you have children or elderly family members who may enjoy a little something different.

Here are the top benefits you can expect when you have yours installed.

1. A multi room audio system enhances your entertainment experience at home letting you listen to music, podcasts and more, anywhere and everywhere. Enjoy some tunes while you cook your dinner in the kitchen and later hear the same music as you eat it in the living room. Throwing a party? You can offer a seamless experience throughout your home to enhance the ambiance.
2. You can easily play different music in different rooms for different tastes. The versatility of home audio systems makes it easy to please many different personalities in even the largest families.
3. Filling your home with the sound you want is easy. Home audio installers can keep adding new speakers and devices whenever and wherever you need them. Need a little more power in the living room? No problem. The options for sound and location are endless.
4. Many brands like Sonos let you control home audio systems with your smartphone, tablet, laptop, television or other compatible device. Technology has come a long way!
5. Don’t get rid of your current audio devices. They can be incorporated into your new multi room audio system with both digital and analog inputs available. This means you won’t have to replace everything to get the benefits of a modern wireless audio setup.
6. Easy control options. You can use your mobile device or install an in wall touch screen to control music throughout your home.

If you’d like to enhance your home entertainment experience, contact your local home audio installers to find out the possibilities. With the advancements in home audio systems, you can have a custom solution that meets all your listening needs in your home. So, get ready to play all your music, share it with friends and family, and enjoy easy access from your existing electronic devices. It’s time to turn it up!

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