In these days of smart phones, IPhones and IPads I do wonder how long people are going to put up with multiroom audio systems that rely on wall mounted, hardwired controls? Touch panels on the wall do have their place, in a Gym, Kitchen or bathroom  for example, but do you really want to have to get up out of your comfy chair to turn down the music.

We have installed a large number of multiroom audio systems and where we have included wireless remote controls and wall mounted touch screen controls nearly every customer tells us they hardly ever use the wall controls. Of course a lot of that depends on how good the remote control is and how much information is relayed to it; the use of wireless 2 way remotes is essential. Control 4 have this area covered at a very affordable price. the zigbee remotes have a small display that can show track information, playlists, etc. and for many rooms that is fine. Where Control 4 really comes into it’s own is that the remote can be used in conjunction with the TV and a full on screen menu. The same remote can control the TV and all the video sources available in the room.

Not only are wall mounted controls inconvenient in many rooms they also add to the wall clutter. If simple functions such as volume up and down and system off are needed then these can easily be incorporated into the lighting control panels. The ability to integrate lighting controls such as Dynalite or KNX into a Control 4 system greatly improves the usability of the system. Where many multiroom audio systems get this wrong is that they offer one way control of lighting systems but a lot of the time that control needs to be two way, i.e. the lighting contol panels can control the audio. Imagine a room off button on a lighting panel that also turns off the AV! Or the Welcome Home button by the front door that turns on the lights and the music? Of course in KNX house that switch could look as good as the GIRA Esprit range shown here

GIRA KNX switch

Here at Design Innovation we have been trying the HDMI over IP system from Just Add Power and whilst they’re good they do suffer from some image jitter problems. The recent announcement that the second generation models will be launched at the Home Technology show in June is really good news. Having a reliable and flexible HDMI distribution system will make all installers lives much easier and help us to finally deliver  a Hi Def video distribution system that customers have been expecting for so long.

We will see how these devices work in the real world in a couple of months but more information is coming out and it  looks good; loss less video compression being an important feature. The move to Gigabit Ethernet was inevitable and that will push up the price of the switch especially if the PoE receivers are used as a PoE switch will be required but bear in mind we can use a 48 port switch if necessary for very large installations and there is nothing else on the market that can offer that.

For those of you how don’t know what HDMI over IP is, let me explain – HDMI was designed to connect a single source to a single display, in the home automation world we want to do a great deal more connecting many sources into many displays. For this we use a matrix switcher which back in the days of analogue component video worked first time with no problems, HDMI has been a very different story. Matrix switchers do exist for HDMI but they each have their own set of problems, not least long switching times (10 to 15 seconds) and limited cable runs (about 30m) HDMI over IP resolves many problems by doing the switching in the IP domain using a managed Ethernet switch; each input is set up on it’s own virtual LAN and the outputs are switched between the VLANs using a control system such as Control 4, Crestron or AMX.   By ensuring a HDMI output from a source does not go into standby when not connected to an output (there is a trick for this) switching times are around a second or so!

As with other HDMI distribution systems you need to ensure all displays are the same resolution and ideally all from one or two different manufacturers.

Once we get our hands on the 2G HDMI over IP units I’ll post our thoughts on this exciting system.

When considering Home Automation, Smart Home, Multi-room Audio, Home Cinema and Home Security,  foremost in most peoples mind is the cost. It’s certainly a question that gets asked fairly early on in the conversation when talking to customers. Answering that question is very difficult as there are so many factors that influence cost, not least the size of the house and the number of rooms served.

Take home cinema for example, you can spend £5000 or £50,000 + or anywhere in between. Both ends of the spectrum are still home  cinema systems just with different components and features. When we meet with customers for the first time we always discuss budget pricing using our knowledge of previous installations. This enables customers to make informed decisions based on their priorities. When considering lighting and heating control it’s important to understand that installing this technology will change the way you wire your house so it is something that you have to commit to from the start of the project. Other areas such as multi-room audio and video distribution, home security and home cinema systems can be added at a later stage if the wiring is installed correctly. This ’structured wiring’ approach allows customers to delay the installation of certain parts of the installation until after the final builders bills have come in, safe in the knowledge that everything is in place ready for the installation.

So how much does it cost? Well here’s some examples:

Lighting control : £5,000 to £25,000

Heating control : £2,000 – £10,000

Structured wiring : £2,000 to £6,000

Multiroom Audio : £2,000 to £20,000

High Definition video distribution : £2,500 to £10,000

Security : £1,500 to £6,000

As you can see there is a massive range between the smaller and larger systems and that’s why we always like to meet face to face with prospective clients so we can ascertain their priorities and requirements first hand

We regularly get asked about integration with a customer’s ITunes libray and up until now options for this have been limited. Such is the sucess of ITunes and the IPod / IPhone customers quite rightly want their multiroom audio systems to use the same library. Now Design Innovation can offer a solution by using a Control 4 multiroom audio system and one or more Apple TV clients to enable our customers to access their ITunes library in any room using the same remote control that controls the TV and every other aspect of technology. Of Course this also works with DRM protected music.

Uniquely the remote control or in-wall / wireless touch screens can display all the track and playlist information from your Itunes library. At last!