THE LATEST TV TECH DEVELOPMENTS | HDMI AND HDR10+ KEEP UP WITH THE GAME
Allison
Music is Her Life
Hagendorf
Creates a Backyard Audio Oasis Worthy of a Rock Star
PLUS: Trends in Telehealth and Virtual Care NEXTGEN TV is the New Over-the-Air TV Standard The Best Options for Hiding Tech in a Home Tongue-in-Cheek 2022 Tech and Media Predictions
Vol. 4 / Issue 1
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Residential Tech Today | Vol. 4 / Issue 1
From the Editor I was hoping for better weather when I arrived in Dallas for the inaugural Lightapalooza conference this past February. Nonetheless, there I was, landing at DFW for the muchanticipated first-ever lighting fixture-specific conference for custom integrators, and it was colder in Dallas than it was back home in unseasonably warm Indiana. Fortunately, there were no outdoor conference festivities on the agenda. Lightapalooza, which was organized by the HTSA buying group but open to anyone, had the energy and “feel” of the start of something really big. With 240 total attendees, including 17 exhibiting manufacturers and 17 independent sales reps, Lightapalooza events in the future might only be limited by how big their organizers allow them to become.
Executive Editor Jeremy Glowacki
Lightapalooza events in the future might only be limited by how big their organizers allow them to become.
The types of residential tech that we cover within the pages of this magazine always includes the audio and video products and whole-house home control systems that have been mainstays of professional integration for more than 30 years. However, we also delve into other smart home areas, such as network infrastructure equipment and lighting and shades control products that, 10 or 15 years ago, were mostly the domain of other trade professionals. Nowadays, those products are very much in the wheelhouse of custom integration, with lighting fixture sales and installation having become just the latest category to join the party. It’s the result of the move over the last 10 years from easily dimmable incandescent and halogen fixtures in the home to more efficient but also more unpredictable and colder LED lighting. As Patrick Laidlaw of lighting fixture supplier W.A.C. said at the conference, “If custom integrators are going to control the light, then they may as well install the fixtures, so they won’t be blamed for incompatibility.” Laidlaw noted that improperly matched lighting fixtures and lighting control system often result in flickering, bad dimming, and blinking, etc., which the client can incorrectly assume is the fault of the control system, rather than a poorly matched fixture. HTSA (and the other two buying groups ProSource and Azione Unlimited) already had been encouraging their member companies to take lighting design training, add lighting fixtures to their smart home showrooms, and to start building relationships with lighting vendors. With Lightapalooza, there’s now a dedicated event with training and exhibitors specifically focused on the custom installation channel. To help overcome the challenges of the burgeoning category and to move the CI channel forward in lighting, Lightapalooza included eight hours of lighting fundamentals training, 16 hours of lighting design workshops, eight hours of expert panel discussions, and nearly 24 hours of manufacturer training sessions. The energy and insightful participation from attendees and vendors at the Dallas event made it clear that lighting design and fixture sales installation is already a serious business for the more progressively minded segment of the custom integration industry. So, as more of the channel moves into this part of the smart home, we as a magazine will follow. It’s one thing to adjust to cold weather in Texas in the winter, but another thing entirely to willingly accept “cold dimming” light fixtures in an elegant smart home.
Vol. 4 / Issue 1 | Residential Tech Today
3
URC’s Total Control Delivers by David Pidgeon, CEO of Starpower Home Entertainment
URC offers a full spectrum of reliable, powerful hardware to scale from single zone to large systems. With the MRX series of system controllers, it continues to improve the core of the Total Control system. With its ease of programming, fast installation, and a variety of user touch screens, URC delivers.
Over the past several years, our customers have become more informed about technology and the lifestyle benefits offered by automation and control systems. Simplifying everyday tasks while reducing the number of devices have become priorities. With higher expectations, Starpower’s clientele have become more and more discerning and, as a result, we have become more selective about the partners and products we install.
Given the importance of audio, I am excited about URC’s new HDA product line that provides a great listening experience. HDA delivers a great solution for homeowners, with high audio expectations, and commercial spaces like offices, restaurants, gyms, banks, hotels, MDMs, and a host of additional environments.
Over the past 10 years, URC’s Total Control® system has continued to evolve. URC has worked closely with our custom installation staff to meet those high expectations and ensure satisfaction of our clients. Continued advances in products, software, training, and tech support are a big part of how URC helped us grow. Beyond its residential roots, URC has helped us even grow our commercial business.
Consumer demand for voice control continues to grow. URC’s new products with built-in voice control have grown within our residential and commercial installations. The ease of installation and an intuitive user experience makes this a natural solution. Given my clients’ concerns over devices listening to their lives, URC product design provides confidence in privacy and security.
I appreciate URC’s continued commitment to accelerate the speed of programming, offering scalable system solutions and delivering products when promised. With recent supply chain challenges, URC’s ability to deliver product is a significant advantage. And, as a long-time dealer, I appreciate that URC is selective with local partnerships, which protects its direct dealers.
URC’s new line of lighting products and integrations are another reason for our partnership. With easy installation for my team and ease of use for my clients, URC Lighting is becoming a standard part of our proposals where lighting is key.
We selected URC as one of our preferred brands as it gives us a number of advantages. First of all, it provides consumers personalization, allowing them to showcase family pictures, team logos, or play a favorite song.
Over the past 15 years, Starpower’s relationship with URC has grown and strengthened. URC has become a trusted vendor. Through the ups and downs, URC has always been there with new products, sales support, and technical expertise. They truly care about their dealers. With the partnership from URC, Starpower is excited to continue to grow our business!
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Experience this interactive, ultrarealistic virtual environment to discover how URC’s Total Control® technology can elevate your home. Think Beyond Everyday.
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©2022 Universal Remote Control, Inc.
contents 40 Allison Hagendorf: Music is Her Life Former Spotify Head of Rock Creates a Backyard Oasis. Cover photo Nathan James
Departments 10 By the Numbers 12 Quick Bits 14 Window Shades 16 Video 18 CEDIA Says 20 Control
22 Audio 24 Loudspeakers 60 Product Revolution 63 Coming Up 64 The Lighter Side
26 Innovator Spotlight
Navot Shorish, Spire integrated Systems
28 Issue Focus: Video
The latest version of HDMI includes source-based tone mapping, a feature that hard-core gamers will appreciate the most. 30 What you need to know about NEXTGEN TV, the new over-the-air TV standard for 4K and HDR video. 32 TV technology improvements for 2022 include QD-OLED, more mini-LED Options, HDMI 2.1, and smart home controls.
36 Control Systems
Crestron’s newest operating systems make the rounds during the company’s ongoing NEXT Road Trip.
46 Featured Technology vs Decór
Assessing the best options for hiding technology in a home 54 Parks Associates reports the market for telehealth and virtual care is growing, along with home network monitoring services
56 Loudspeakers
Putting the Enclave CineHome II | CineHub Edition WiSA speaker system to the test 58 Assessing the KLH Model Five floorstanding loudspeakers, which evoke the Mad Men era
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Residential Tech Today | Vol. 4 / Issue 1
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Contributors Amanda Beckner, CTS, was recently hired as vice president of education and training for CEDIA, the global trade association for the home technology industry. Beckner has more than two decades of experience in association management, learning program development, and the audiovisual industry. As vice president of learning at AVIXA, she led the digital transformation of the association’s curriculum, shepherded three AVIXA certifications and multiple standards to ANSI/ISO 17024 accreditation, and built an active global network of over 250 education, certification, and standards volunteers. On p. 18, she introduces herself and acknowledges that CEDIA certification and education programs flourish only with the help of volunteers.
Michael Heiss has been a member of CEDIA since its founding, having served two terms on the CEDIA Board and headed the Technology Council. He was awarded CEDIA’s “Volunteer of the Year” award and is a CEDIA Fellow. As a product and marketing executive at Harman International, he was responsible for many breakthrough audio and video products. On the entertainment side of the business, he was a promotion manager at NBC and was key to the development of hotel in-room movies and created the first nationwide movie rental service for Beta and VHS cassettes. In this issue, Heiss goes above and beyond covering HDMI 2.1a (p. 30), NEXTGEN TV (p. 32), and other TV technology improvements for 2022 (p. 34)
Jay Basen is retired from his 40-year career in professional software development, but he still keeps his tech skills sharp with special projects and product reviews. During his career, the Silver Certified Crestron programmer specialized in the design, development, and installation of automation, building management, and energy management systems for residential and commercial buildings. In this issue (p. 50), he offers ways to settle the conflict between technology and décor.
Henry Clifford founded Richmond, VA-based Livewire in 2001 to meet the growing demand for technologically integrated homes and businesses. In January 2018, he co-founded Parasol, a remote service support company, and has served on the CEDIA Board of Directors. His most recent venture was the launch of IntegrateU, a professional onboarding service for the custom integration industry. On p. 56, Clifford reviews the Enclave Audio sent me their CineHome II | CineHub Edition 5.1 WiSA system and on p. 58 he takes the KLH Model Five floorstanding loudspeakers for a spin.
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Residential Tech Today | Vol. 4 / Issue 1
Discover effortless listening Sonos makes it easy to elevate your clients’ entertainment where and how they want, with a wireless sound system that’s simple to set up, customize, and control.
Learn more at Sonos.com/pros
e NUMB RS
by the
A look at the metrics shaping the technology market — and our lives
Home entertainment technology is surging in popularity thanks, in part, to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to CTA’s 23rd Annual Consumer Technology Ownership and Market Potential survey, TVs (91%) are the most-frequently owned products in the category. For the first time, more than half of U.S. homes (52%) have a 4K Ultra HD TV — a 16-point increase from 2020, the largest growth for any product surveyed. This month we take a closer look at these TV technology trends.
29%
of consumers plan to buy TVs in 2022 Source: CTA’s 23rd Annual Consumer Technology Ownership and Market Potential
MicroLED Display Revenue in the Next 5 Years Source: DSCC MicroLED Display Technology and Market Outlook Report
20%
>
2021 market share of large-sized TVs (65-inch and above)
2021 OLED TV Shipments
14%
1-Billion
$
Source: Trend Force
6.8 million units
Source: Trend Force
65+ Inch TV Compound Annual Growth Rate from 2021 to 2028
Source: Grand View Research
DSCC forecasts shipments of MiniLED LCD TVs with Quantum Dot Display Technology to grow from 6.2M units in 2022 to over 14M units in 2026 Source: Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC) Global Smart TV Market expected growth from 2021 to 2028 20.8% • Streaming devices/internet penetration driving growth • Source: Grand View Research
35
(percentage)
30
35%
TV Brand Preference Source: Statista Global Consumer Survey, Nov.2021
15 10
20%
20% 15%
33%
What brand is your main TV?
0
20
19%
15
11%
5 OTHER
Residential Tech Today | Vol. 4 / Issue 1
Source: Statista 2022
10
10%
5
10
30 25
25 20
35
0
g un s m Sa
LG
8%
y io Viz Son
5%
3% 3% 2% 2% 2% 2%
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QUICK BITS WE ASK INDUSTRY INSIDERS ONE QUESTION
What relatively new technology feature or trend for TVs and/or projectors do you think is having the biggest impact on the video category and why?
It’s not a new trend, but we have been seeing a continuation of TV designs that fit more organically into a residential or commercial space instead of the space having to be designed around the TV itself. Large panels also continue to be very popular with our clients. – Heather Sidorowicz, Southtown Audio Video, Hamburg, NY
Multiviewing – viewing multiple sources on one screen – is becoming more popular than ever before. While this is not an entirely new concept, the technology driving it is. SDVoE affords us the highest fidelity for 4K HDR material to be transported over IP networks and enables multiviewing for consuming content in new and exciting ways. – Jason Fitzgerald, Blustream US, San Diego, CA
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The biggest technology we are seeing with displays is, by far, less design intrusion. Whether that be the Samsung Frame or just displays that are thinner and more design focused, our clients are just expecting that their TV will blend into the surroundings, whether on or off. – Eric Crawford, The Loop, Boise, ID
Direct view LED video walls are an amazing product that’s been around for a while, but recent refinements make it fit nicely into residential applications. With the cost of LED dropping, these ultra-high-end products are now becoming standard in applications where clients want a no-compromise video solution that will not only provide jaw-dropping imagery but will also last a lifetime. – Lamar Gibson, Miestro, Memphis, TN The improvements to outdoor-specific TVs and the COVID-19-driven desire to spend more time outside at home has increased our sales of large format outdoor video systems. There were a lot of previous situations where clients would install a cheap indoor TV before knowing the picture wasn’t that good outside and it would probably fail in a season or two. Now, they are all installing 75-85-inch flat panels and big screen projection systems to gain fantastic outdoor viewing for quality outdoor entertainment. – Ron Wanless, Technology Design Associates, Bend, OR I feel that HDMI 2.1 has been incredibly impactful for some not as obvious reasons. Outside of 8K and 4K@120Hz, which can speak for themselves, but creating a bigger pipeline from 18Gbps to 48 Gbps allows for a more versatile AV experience especially in gaming with VRR, ALLM, and QFT, as well as the recently announced source-based tone mapping (STBM) found with HDMI 2.1a.– Brandon White, Vanco International, Saratoga Spring, NY I’ve seen surge recently is using video distribution systems in the home for more powerful work and entertainment options. We see it a lot for multiple displays in home offices now that work from home is so common and the thrill of watching multiple sports at the same time has never been more attractive. – Kat Wheeler, Snap One, Columbus, OH
A very large technology trend right now that we are seeing is homeowners and designers like to hide and conceal video screens. We incorporate Edge Media Frames by Leon, with all types of finishes. It is a great way to blend the TV with the interior of the room. You can incorporate the TV with a frame or put moving art on the TV. That way, you are looking at art all day and not a black screen. – Alexa Centeno, SDI Boston, Boston, MA The Samsung Frame TV (which isn’t entirely new) has been asked for more than any other specific TV model. Our clients, typically driven by their interior designers, much prefer the look of artwork, and not the roomdominating TV centerpiece look, hanging on the wall. They also like the image’s and photo’s features that can be displayed while entertaining. Their interchangeable frames also allow them to customize the look to match their décor. – George Harrison, Harrison Home Systems, Golden, CO
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DEPARTMENTS
Window Shades
Expanding the Design Studio
Window Shade Fabrics From Hunter Douglas Now Feature New Exclusive Collections By Walter Joseph
Hunter Douglas has expanded its substantial portfolio of window treatment fabrics to include exclusive collections from two esteemed artists: San Francisco-based textile designer Seema Krish and New York City-based visual artist Marcie Bronkar. The Design Studio Featured Artist series provides thoughtfully designed textiles that can be used across a variety of shading projects to complement the connected home. As the worlds of home technology and interior design continue to merge, the Hunter Douglas portfolio of products offers a unique design aesthetic for homeowners and designers, while also offering the convenience and interoperability that automated shading provides. “We often hear there can be a disconnect between designers and integrators when it comes to talking about technology in the home, and Hunter Douglas serves as the perfect bridge to open the conversation,” said Maren Gehling, Hunter Douglas national sales manager, custom integrators. “Members of our Custom Integrator Program have found that our vast collection of fabrics and designs, along with our PowerView platform, helps designers understand how the shades complete the connected home experience. The new Design Studio line adds another selling point to an integrator’s toolbox.”
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Residential Tech Today | Vol. 4 / Issue 1
Hunter Douglas designs from Seema Krish and Marcie Bronkar
The new Design Studio collections are meant to complement and coordinate with the Design Studio Core Fabric Line and the entire assortment of Hunter Douglas window treatments. Both Seema Krish and Marcie Bronkar’s collections are fully customizable and offered with a variety of operating systems, including PowerView Automation hardware. With a deep love of travel, Seema Krish’s Artisanal Craftsmanship collection of seven fabrics borrows from the vibrant cultures and scenic beauty encountered in her journeys around the world. Rooted in heirloom handcraft techniques together with modern processes, her designs are infused with vivid colors and striking dimensional beauty that delight the senses and make a bold style statement. “I have been fortunate to experience many places around the world, and I find it’s always the light that inspires me,” Krish said of her collection. Marcie Bronkar draws inspiration from historical period artwork and objects, reinterpreting them with a modern twist that forms the basis of her seven fabrics. Her collection features highly stylized patterns and nuanced colorways that pay homage to their
historical roots while beautifully integrating with today’s more contemporary traditional décor. “I feel a responsibility to interpret historical design in a modern way, so it can live in a modern home,” Bronkar said. In addition to providing extensive design and fabric options, Hunter Douglas is also committed to helping integrators drive business in the custom shading category. The Hunter Douglas Custom Integrator Program has been designed to include the resources and specialized support that integrators need to properly specify automated window treatment solutions and to start blending the world of technology and design. When integrators join the CIP, they have immediate access to technical training and sales support to help them succeed in adding this product category. Members of the program also gain access to the robust portfolio of design options including the new Design Studio collections and over 20 shade styles compatible with PowerView Automation and PowerView+, including the popular Designer Roller Shades, Silhouette Window Shadings, and flagship Duette Honeycomb Shades. x
DEPARTMENTS
Video
A HighBrightness Luxury Planar’s Luxe UltraRes X100 100-inch LCD Display is Designed for Challenging Luxury Environments. By Anthony Leo Planar’s Luxe UltraRes X100 is a 100-Inch LCD display featuring 700-nit brightness.
Planar’s new video display was designed to deliver superior image performance for a variety of luxury environments, including media rooms, studios, and workspaces, as well as hospitality and entertainment venues. The Planar Luxe UltraRes X 100, the latest addition to the Planar Lifestyle Displays family, is a 100-inch LCD display featuring 700-nit brightness, a wide color gamut perfect for High Dynamic Range content, and advanced video processing capabilities. The release of the Planar Luxe UltraRes X 100 introduces a global first: a 100-inch commercialgrade, 24x7 LCD display that allows users to showcase 4K HDR content with high brightness and a slim installation profile that is compliant with the American’s with Disabilities Act. “The launch of Planar Lifestyle Displays was met with enthusiasm and reinforced the interest in LED and LCD displays designed to deliver superior viewing experiences in a variety of challenging environments,” said Planar Executive Vice President Adam Schmidt. “In addition to high brightness and HDR compatibility, Planar Luxe UltraRes X 100 [feature] superior visual performance, enhanced durability, 24x7 reliability, and unparalleled service. We’re thrilled to now offer our customers even more capabilities to optimize
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Residential Tech Today | Vol. 4 / Issue 1
their viewing environments and visual experiences.” With the ultra-thin Planar Profile Mounting System included, the new displays can be installed simply and slimly, keeping the display close to the wall while remaining completely front-serviceable. In addition, users can view multiple sources simultaneously in picture-inpicture, dual, triple, or quad layouts as a result of built-in Planar MediaPlex Plus processing. The Planar Luxe UltraRes X 100 also offers customers a model featuring ruggedized Planar ERO-LDC protective glass. Planar ERO-LCD technology is an optically bonded glass front protecting the LCD display from damage while also improving perceived contrast to provide viewers with the highest quality visual experience. The new displays include a three-year warranty and optional Planar Luxe UltraRes X 100 Service Plan, which includes on-site service performed by Planar’s Technical Services to add another level of assurance. The new displays are designed and manufactured in the United States and serviced by the company’s in-house network of field service technicians, enabling consistent on-site installation, service, and support capabilities. x
DEPARTMENTS
CEDIA Says
Expressing Gratitude and Looking Ahead CEDIA Certification and Education Programs Flourish With the Help of Volunteers By Amanda Beckner As the new vice president of education and training for CEDIA, I’m assuming stewardship of a program that is impressively whole. Not complete, per se – in a field that changes as quickly and dramatically as the home technology industry, we can never really be done building and maintaining our body of knowledge – but strong, comprised of training pathways that can onboard technicians new to the industry and equip them with the skills and knowledge they need to advance throughout their career. That’s rare; most association training portfolios have glaring potholes in the road to certification and mastery. I know that I have not just the association staff but CEDIA’s unbelievably generous volunteers to thank for the state and momentum of our training program. I’ve spent my whole career working alongside AV professionals, and I’ve always been in awe of this community’s commitment to innovation, quality, and knowledge-sharing. Embracing the new while protecting the client experience is an essential part of the integrator’s character – a spirit that extends to volunteer work. The volunteers I’ve known have routinely been as exacting in developing course content and certifications as they have in creating AV design documentation. They want the training offered to industry newcomers to equip them with the expertise to proudly represent the custom integration industry. What’s more, they want CEDIA’s certifications to hold their peers to the same standard of excellence that they hold themselves. I’ve seen this process from both sides. I’ve guided volunteer-led program development and participated in it as a volunteer myself. I know that taking on a volunteer role on top of day-today business operations is no small feat, and so I feel, keenly, the responsibility to spend the coin
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Residential Tech Today | Vol. 4 / Issue 1
of volunteer time wisely. As vice president of education and training, it’s my goal to ensure that volunteer contributions can have the maximum possible impact and value, making the time spent creating training for the industry a gift that keeps giving back to the participants. CEDIA can do this by applying curriculum development and human-centered design best practices, thoughtful portfolio management, and project management discipline – but most of all, by listening to and engaging with our industry volunteers. We must work together to make sure that everything we build is something the industry needs, will use, and that CEDIA is best positioned to provide. Our recent certification overhaul is a shining example of a volunteer-driven project. Using the ISO/IEC 17024 requirements for certifying bodies as a guide, volunteers worked with CEDIA staff to build the CIT and IST certifications from the ground up as stackable certifications with a clear training pathway. It was a long process – hundreds of total hours of volunteer time – but these certifications, the textbooks, and the training programs that support them will set a benchmark for excellence for the industry for years to come. As a technical editor of the CTS textbooks, I also see tremendous value in the textbooks that exceed exam preparation. They represent an industry’s body of knowledge, they invite new talent to our workforce, and they garner clout among allied trades. The result is a celebration of our workforce: CEDIA’s certifications are the product of a collection of life-long learners committed to sharing their expertise and delivering on the best possible connected home experience. Designed by volunteer CEDIA experts with proficiency at the core, the CEDIA Education
tools, CIT and IST certifications, and supporting partner programs are built to globally recognized specifications and will allow our members to build up relevant credentials demonstrating the progression of their expertise. CEDIA’s certification and training programs are created by the experts who breathe life and invention into the custom integration channel. Our volunteers – many of whom are business owners and esteemed installers – bring their technical, business, and social expertise to develop an agnostic, documented body of knowledge, and job definitions. By bringing such a diverse cross-section of the industry together, CEDIA can create programs that are wholly distinct from and complementary to training that is offered by dealers, distributors, partners, and manufacturers. Our volunteers help us create the foundation, the common set of standards, and best practices upon which the whole industry can rely and build. Now and in the future, CEDIA relies on volunteer professionals from across the CI industry to ensure that all our certification trainings and exams are accurate and up-to-date, and that the program is meeting the needs of the industry as it evolves. In any given year, we have over 160 CEDIA volunteers. Year after year, CEDIA has seen its volunteers embrace every opportunity to learn from each other, share best practices, develop critical business relationships, and build comradery across our tightly knit but diverse industry. In many ways, my primary role is to harness that unbridled energy so that it can pull the whole industry forward. As we head into the future, I’m so glad to be along for the ride. Thank you to our certification volunteers. Learn how they make this all possible at CEDIA.net/certification/certificationvolunteers. x
Giles Sutton, CEDIA “We’re thrilled to be partnered with Nationwide Marketing Group and HTSN — the largest organization of independent retailers in North America. The group has shown a focus and commitment to delivering top-notch education to their members. This partnership aligns perfectly with the strategic goals of CEDIA and of HTSN and Nationwide.”
Partnerships that put an emphasis on providing best-in-class training and education for you and your team.
We’re more than just a buying group Want to learn more? Contact Hank Alexander, Director of HTSN hank.alexander@nationwidegroup.org.
htsngroup.org
DEPARTMENTS
Control
Ultra-Premium On-Wall Control Savant’s New Ascend Keypads Deliver Customizable Functionality and Blend With Multiple Home Décor Styles By Leo Anthony They are the newest in high-end lighting control keypads that attempt to blend the latest tech conveniences with design flourishes matching even the most elegant home interiors. The new Ascend keypad line from Savant features two-button, four-button, and fivebutton configurations that provide custom integrators with what the company considers its “ultimate premium” on-wall control solution.
Ascend keypads offer fully customizable functionality within the Savant smart home ecosystem and are available in nine finishes. This new lineup joins the Massachusettsbased smart home automation company’s Metropolitan, Noon, and Echo styles, completing a family of elegant smart home control options. Ascend keypads provide users with
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streamlined control of many smart home features, including Savant’s Daylight Mode, which triggers lights throughout the home or in specific rooms in alignment with the natural circadian curve. Each Ascend button can be custom engraved, enabling integrators to personalize the user experience, bringing added value to each client. The backlit buttons feature a choice of nine LED colors that dynamically adjust based on ambient light levels and provide feedback to the user when scenes have been activated.
To enhance ordering and installation efficiency for integrators, Ascend keypads can be specified for any project using Savant’s lighting design tool. Keypads ordered using the design tool are shipped fully assembled. Savant’s newest low-voltage keypads are available now in seven anodized colors (Brushed Aluminum, Brushed Black, Brushed Brass, Brushed Bronze, Black, Space Gray, and Nickel) as well as two painted finishes (Light Almond and Snow White). x
DEPARTMENTS
Audio
New Life for Legacy Audio Systems Episode’s WAKE In-Wall Amplifier Fits in a Standard Wall Box and Links to Bluetooth and Voice Assistants
By Walter Joseph
There is a new way to replace outdated in-wall volume control devices to gain the conveniences of Bluetooth and voice-control connectivity. With more than 30 million in-wall volume control devices installed over the past 20 years, this presents an enormous opportunity for professional integrators and their customers to add modern technology to existing systems. The Episode WAKE Amp, from Snap One, is an in-wall amplifier that connects to Bluetooth audio devices, including voice assistants, to deliver an easy-to-use music solution for new or existing multi-room or single-room audio systems. According to Mike Jordan, Snap One VP of control and entertainment, the Episode WAKE Amp simplifies operations for today’s generation and delivers modern convenience through new and existing installations. “With the WAKE Amp, our partners can use a single product to add super simple voice control
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to new audio systems, or to breathe life into older audio systems by replacing existing in-wall volume controls,” Jordan said. “By simply asking your voice assistant to play your favorite music, [our] partners can break down barriers to easy whole-home audio through intuitive voice control.” Episode’s WAKE Amp connects a smart voice assistant or another Bluetooth audio device to speakers throughout the property, making even the most complex audio systems easier to use. Featuring commercial-grade Bluetooth connectivity with a 100-foot range, WAKE Amp is a small, Alexa-optimized in-wall amplifier with three hard buttons for direct control of the music. It delivers up to 25 watts of power to four speakers at four ohms and has an LED meter below the buttons to show volume level. Episode designed the WAKE Amp to be powered by existing speaker wire home runs with a power supply that attaches at the existing amplifier location, eliminating the need for new
wire runs. The WAKE Amp is equally wellsuited to new construction projects that require simple, intuitive audio solutions; simply run speaker wires from the power supply location to the WAKE Amp and then to the speakers. “Now any project that has integrated speakers and uses Alexa devices can combine the two solutions to offer a voice-activated music experience through in-ceiling speakers for ultimate convenience,” Jordan added. While the WAKE Amp requires virtually no configuration or setup, Episode has designed a WAKE mobile app for iOS and Android devices. It offers instant control of volume, LED brightness, the ability to set the hard buttons to control either volume or playback, the ability to add high-pass filters, adjust bass and treble tone, and apply a name to the room for easy identification in the app. Additionally, users can easily add new Bluetooth devices with a single button press on the wall keypad. x
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DEPARTMENTS
Loudspeaker
A More Immersive Beam
The Next-Generation Sonos Beam Soundbar Adds Support for Dolby Atmos and New Audio Formats By Jeremy Glowacki The Sonos Beam (Gen 2) soundbar features support for Dolby Atmos.
Sonos wants to set the standard for compact soundbars with a richer, more immersive listening experience. Beam (Gen 2) was designed to deliver an upgraded, more immersive sound experience with greater depth and clarity, as well as support for Dolby Atmos. Sonos also has begun offering both Ultra HD and Dolby Atmos Music via Amazon Music, giving listeners the ability to experience a higher quality of streaming music and immersive 3D audio. “We often talk about ‘Hollywood at Home’ being a real catalyst for our business, and Beam has played a huge part in this as one of the topselling soundbars in its category,” said Patrick Spence, Sonos CEO. “Taking what we’ve learned over the years about great listening and home theater, we’ve found a way to bring new features and significantly better sound to Beam,
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all in the same compact size that has proven extremely popular with customers.”
rear speakers for even more immersive entertainment.
Compatible with more than 100 streaming services available in the Sonos app, Sonos Beam (Gen 2) is also compatible with TVs with HDMI eARC, features an updated polycarbonate grille, and requires just two cables for connectivity.
Adding support for Amazon Music’s Ultra High Definition audio, allow Sonos listeners to hear tracks in lossless audio up to 24-bit/48kHz on their Sonos speakers, as well as Dolby Atmos Music, the immersive audio format that breaks the boundaries of traditional studio recordings and puts you inside the song, revealing every detail of the music.
Beam customers can still fine-tune their audio with Trueplay, which detects and adapts the speaker’s sound for reflections off of walls and furniture, giving you the best listening experience for your room and setup. The Beam can be controlled with the Sonos app, an existing TV remote, multiple voice assistants, Apple AirPlay 2, and music service apps. Listeners can use Beam on its own or expand wirelessly with a subwoofer and pair of
Available at no extra cost to Amazon Music Unlimited customers, Ultra HD is available to listen on all S2 devices, except Play:1, Play:3, Playbase, and Playbar, while Dolby Atmos Music will be available to listen on Arc and Beam (Gen 2). Sonos also added support for decoding DTS Digital Surround Sound via the S2 platform on Playbar, Playbase, Amp, both generations of Beam, and Arc. x
Create Exceptional Experiences. RTI automates the smart home with design-friendly personalization, fully customized to meet each client’s specific needs. Go beyond smart. Elevate the experience with RTI.
www.rticontrol.com © 2022 Remote Technologies Inc. All rights reserved. Other brands and names are acknowledged to their respective owners.
innovator spotlight
Farm to Technical Spire Integrated Systems CVO Navot Shorish Takes Less Typical Path to Residential Tech Business Success Growing up on a farm in Israel may not seem like the most obvious starting point for someone who would be respected for his expertise in home-technology, but that is Shorish’ life story in a nutshell. Before moving to the U.S. in the 1990s and founding Troy, Michigan’s Spire Integrated Systems, Shorish says he gained an affinity for technology working with farming irrigation control and automation tech during his requisite stint in the Israeli military, and also installing cabling infrastructure in large commercial buildings.
Navot Shorish is the chief visionary officer for Spire Integrated Systems in Michigan.
Shorish credits his then-girlfriend (now wife) for leading him back to her home state of Michigan. He eventually completed his electrical engineering degree via university night classes, while working full time with a company that installed fiber optic cabling in commercial buildings, including the Joe Lewis Arena, which was still home to the Detroit Red Wings NHL franchise at the time. It’s during that large project when some of the Red Wings players started asking him to help fix the TVs that had been poorly installed in their homes. Eventually, that side gig turned into a full-time business, and Spire Integrated Systems was born. These days, Spire operates out of three
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Michigan locations, including a beautiful new showroom in Bay Harbor, that caters to a seasonal client base in that summer resort community. Shorish says his goal for the company is to provide a level of service that matches the high-level of products and systems that his company sells and installs. Spire has fully embraced light fixture sales and lighting design opportunities, a category that has helped fuel a lot of the company’s recent growth. Here’s what else we learned from Shoresh on the Residential Tech Talks podcast. This portion of the interview has been edited for length and clarity. Residential Tech Today: Can you explain why your title is chief visionary officer? Navot Shorish: We operate Spire under the EOS platform, and in an EOS platform they don’t call it CEO or COO. It’s more of a visionary and an integrator. And the reason I made the change to the CVO is because that is what I do now. I don’t handle day-to-day operations. I sit in on our weekly meetings where we resolve any type of management and operational issues, but that’s not my role. That actually falls on my partner, [COO] Jason [Bellanti]. It’s also coming from listening to a lot of [author] Simon Sinek and his idea of visionaries. RT Today: How would you describe your client demographics at your three locations in Michigan? We have an office in Troy that covers the Metro Detroit area, which is a typical metro area with homes in high-level neighborhoods. And then we have our Traverse City office and our Bay Harbor showroom, which are two vacation communities. We’ve seen a tremendous amount of growth in all three areas. Detroit is an up-andcoming city, evolving to be more than just an
By Jeremy Glowacki automotive industry town and into more banking and other areas. As for the vacation homes, a lot of people have started moving there permanently, or at least for half the year. So, it’s turned into a much bigger place to live versus what it was before. In the Traverse City area, with all the wine industry that’s evolving over there, we’re seeing a lot of people from California moving in. People are starting to invest in that area. RT Today: Your career path is pretty unique, having grown up in a kibbutz in Israel and immigrating to the U.S., eventually becoming a tech integration entrepreneur. Where did the switch flip toward tech? Yes, I grew up on a farm in Israel but got very lucky with my dad, who started as a farmer and then one day decided it’s not for him and moved to a different, more technical direction. He ended up being a CEO of a factory in the kibbutz, and I learned a lot from him over the years. My involvement with technology actually started pretty early. When I was 16 years old, I worked in the kibbutz for a company that was working on irrigation – a lot of automated irrigation. I had my first DOS-style type computer, and we were using water pressure to open up valves and monitor pH levels. In the military, I served in a very specialized unit that dealt with a lot of guidance systems and a lot of very sophisticated optics and satellite communication. After the military, I owned a company in Israel that did infrastructure for a cable company. We built infrastructure in high rises. So that was my first experience in the residential world and building infrastructure for cable using fiber optics and things of that nature. RT Today: How did that work carry over to your first job in the U.S. and then on to starting your own integration company?
Spire integrated Systems works with residential tech clients throughout Michigan.
I worked for a company that did a lot of pointto-point communication. They built infrastructure, and then they got into satellite installation and networking and stuff like that. So it was kind of rolled into what I already knew how to do. I got into residential by accident. We were working at Joe Lewis Arena, which is an old Detroit Red Wings hockey stadium, and I started meeting some of the players. They asked me to come fix their TVs at home because we were working on the TV system in the stadium. When I started, I was just repairing other companies’ work. I thought back then that there’s got to be a better way of doing this. It can’t be this complicated.
lot of requirements, a lot of requests, and they seem complicated, at first. We try to explain that whether you are going with a large system integrating platforms together or just want to have a great audio system and lighting system, but are okay with it being separated, we will work with them to create a high-level system either way. What’s important is convenience. They like lighting. They like shades. They like great audio. When somebody says, “I want something simple,” that doesn’t mean they don’t want to have something great. We still provide a high level of installation, a high level of networking, and a high level of performance. It’s just that the control system is simpler.
RT Today: What systems were you working on back then?
RT Today: I imagine that you still end up integrating a lot of the systems that you install with a professional control system.
We’re talking old Panasonic phone systems, IR systems, mostly receiver-based systems, volume controls, that kind of stuff. We used AMX back in the day. You had to build a lot of things from scratch. You have to create your own software. RT Today: These days, how do you approach conversations about new technology with your clients? We try to uncomplicate it. They start with a
Yes. I always show clients – even the ones who say they don’t want a control system – the Savant app and how it operates. And, a lot of people look at and realize that the simplicity of having everything in one spot is worthwhile. If you structure your installation as “high performance,” then the control side really does not add a tremendous amount of cost to the overall percentage of the job.
RT Today: You recently opened a beautiful showroom in a resort area of Michigan. It looks like a home with an open floor plan and a bright environment. What were you looking to accomplish with that showroom design? The showroom is unique because we are actually sharing space with an interior design company, a lighting showroom, and a kitchen showroom. It gives us the ability to incorporate ourselves into a beautiful environment and to share with clients. I probably would have never built the kitchen if it were just our showroom, but that’s going to be a great space to showcase all of the lighting techniques that we have learned. We’re also building a really beautiful media area. What’s great is that we are sharing a lot of the cost of the Bay Harbor showroom, which is helpful in a community where most people stay there for only maybe three to four months in the summer. It’s right next to one of the most expensive marinas in Michigan, so our goal is when people are visiting, they’re coming in to see what’s new. Also, a lot of people from the Detroit area and Ann Arbor visit there but maybe have not worked with us. They may see us there and then reconnect us with us downstate. x Vol. 4 / Issue 1 | Residential Tech Today
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HDMI and HDR10+ Keep Up With The Game The Latest Versions of HDMI and HDR10+ Include Features That Hard-Core Gamers Will Appreciate By Michael Heiss If you ever want to see a residential specialist shiver, just whisper “HDMI” in their ear. For a technology that has made almost everything we do in video and home theater connectivity happen — including 4K, HDR, High Frame Rates (HFR), Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) to help play game content with little or no jitter or stutter, ARC, and much more — HDMI often gets a bad rap. To reuse an old cliché, “HDMI: You can’t live with it, and you can’t live without it!” To the credit of the HDMI Forum and HDMI Licensing Administrator, the HDMI format itself is often not the cause of the abovementioned shivering. Sometimes it is the fault of HDCP authentication, not HDMI. Sometimes it is poor implementation of hardware or software in the connected devices, not the fault of HDMI, itself. Sometimes the root cause of professed HDMI woes are the connecting cables. No, it is NOT always their fault, HDMI is just too easy to pin the blame on, even when it isn’t deserved. One way that HDMI has been trying to keep things moving is through new versions of the format. Over the past 20 years we’ve gone from HDMI 1.0 to HDMI 1.3, HDMI 1.4 and 1.4a, and most recently to HDMI 2.0, which enabled all the features we demand for today’s home entertainment environment. Continuing to move forward, HDMI LA, the guardians of the format and its intellectual property, has just announced HDMI 2.1a. To be certain, this is not a major upgrade. However, particularly for gamers, it will be a useful one. Along with the usual collection of normal software improvements and bug fixes, as well as improved performance for features such
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as QMS (Quick Media Switching), HDMI 2.1a brings yet another acronym to the technology lexicon: SBTM, which stands for Source-Based Tone Mapping. HDMI 2.1a Improvements for Gamers One industry that has benefited from many of us being cooped up inside for more than a year is the video game industry. Gaming has become a major way to pass the time and, as much as possible, interact with other people. With new consoles such as PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, along with the latest sophisticated video cards for PC gaming and e-sports, the video displayed during a game has changed from the early days of Pong. Screens are no longer just the game content but, particularly for Twitchers, there is also a window with the gamer’s video image and a
chat window. This is all well and good, but what happens when the game is in HDR, the camera window is SDR, and the chatbox is, well, simple white on black text? Too many frame rates and too many color-capability formats. No matter how good the display is, it can only do so many things and the related computations at the same time. Solving that is where Sourced-Based Tone Mapping comes in. It allows the source device on one end, be it a game console, PC, streaming device, set-top box, or optical player, to talk with the sink device (the display) on the other hand, sharing the processing load of managing the disparate parts of a single video image. Tone Mapping today is where the display tries its best to deal with the incoming HDR or SDR video and “map” it to the TV’s brightness
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Source-Based Tone Mapping, within the new HDMI 2.1a standard, recognizes the image’s content and then sends the display something that best takes advantage of its SDR, HDR, and Dynamic HDR potential.
capability and other parameters. Unfortunately, that requires quite a lot of computational heavy lifting that may end up being beyond what the TV can handle. To help solve this, SBTM lets the source product know what the display does and is capable of. Then, the source shares in the processing and mapping to further increase the image quality so that the sink does not have to do it all on its own. As an example, picture the output of a game console or PC with more than one image component. The gameplay may often be in HDR. An inset window with the gamer’s camera will likely be in SDR. Below the inset, you might also see a text or chat window that has a different color characteristic from the other two parts of the picture. Given that, what does the display adjust to? SBTM recognizes the image’s content and then sends the display something that best takes advantage of its SDR, HDR, and Dynamic HDR potential. Add to that the everchanging content of the various elements of the source output and the fact that each display is different and has different HDR abilities and you see where this is going. SBTM allows the source device to take the best advantage of all elements in the signal path, from the content to any “receiver” device in the middle such as an AVR to the TV at the end of the chain without the need for manual user adjustment. This sounds great, but there are a few things to note. SBTM only works when all devices in the signal path are HDMI 2.1a compliant. Upgrading the TV or game alone won’t do the trick. That said, your next question is whether
your current gear is upgradable or if you have to buy new models. In the announcement by HDMI LA, it was stated that some current products will be upgradeable from HDMI 2.1 to HDMI 2.1a, but they would not elaborate further as to brand or model specifics. It appears that this is ready for release, but no time frame was disclosed as to when the first new product with HDMI 2.1a or any upgrade to existing game consoles, video cards, AVRs, or processors will be available. Perhaps equally problematic for both video enthusiasts and technology professionals is the often confusing array of High Definition Range (HDR) technologies. Since the first introduction of HDR10 we’ve been bombarded with Dolby Vision, HDR-10+, HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma) and Advanced HDR by Technicolor. All do different versions of the same thing, varying with the way the source material is encoded and what the capabilities are of the display that is at the end of the signal chain. HDR10+ Gaming As technology marches forward, we’ll continue to see new formats to address, and hopefully solve, different problems. One of the latest HDR formats is particularly relevant here, as it does much of what HDMI 2.1a does with the introduction of SBTM. From a top level view, the new HDR10+ GAMING standard
uses a similarly sounding name for what it does: Source Side Tone Mapping (SSTM). As with SBTM its goal is to enhance the overall video performance from games to compatible displays. HDR10+ GAMING does some of its magic by setting the TV or display to a low latency reference mode with support for variable refresh rates (VRR) up to 4K and 120fps. Products including game software, video cards and more will be available later this year from the likes of Game Mechanic Studios, Nvidia and Sabre Interactive. Samsung, a major force behind the HDR10+ formats recently announced that all of its 2022 model televisions and game monitors will support HDR10+ GAMING. Thus, as with any update to a key connectivity format, the bottom-line question you’ll have is “Do I need any of this?” If you are a hard-core gamer or someone with a TV capable of displaying multiple windows at the same time, the answer is may possibly be yes. For most other consumers, as good as the update is, I wouldn’t rush out and replace every link in the video chain just for SBTM using HDMI 2.1a or SSTM using HDR10+ GAMING. Since things in the world of consumer electronics sometimes never seem to be easy, it is important to keep in mind that these are two parallel technologies and while some manufacturers may choose to offer both, some may put their bets on just one or the other. Thus, if you are a gamer or provide services to a client who is, the first thing to do is to see which products and related games and source material will offer these new formats. In the case of HDMI 2.1a, will anything already in the market be software upgradeable. Reach out to the brands of the impacted products already in place and see if upgrades are forthcoming. For both new technologies, if one part of the video signal chain is due for replacement, either or both of these advancements may be something to consider. After all, the stay-at-home world we have all become accustomed to over the past two years has led to a huge increase in the attention to video games, something that is likely to continue even as we finally get to meet outside and in person. Looking ahead to these new technologies, gamers will be well served to consider them to futureproof their home system for the long term. x Vol. 4 / Issue 1 | Residential Tech Today
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NEXTGEN TV Is Finally Here What You Need to Know About the New Over-the-Air TV Standard for 4K and HDR Video By Michael Heiss
For the past two or three years, I have presented a course around the topic of ATSC 3.0. This past September, the title was “ATSC 3.0: It’s for Real. REALLY!” In the few months since then, and particularly after CES 2022 in January, I can confidently report that it actually is for real!
A Hisense NEXTGEN TV. Photo: Hisense
ATSC 3.0, presented to the public with CTA’s less technical name, NEXTGEN TV, is an overthe-air standard for sending and receiving TV signals capable of 4K and HDR picture resolutions, as well as advanced Dolby audio and other features. ATSC 3.0 is the first major overhaul to the non-profit Advanced Television Systems Committee’s standard since the group first introduced ATSC 1.0 back in 1996. The most notable NEXTGEN TV news is that it now available in 46 market areas across the U.S., with an ever-growing list of stations and more markets and stations to follow throughout the year. Washington DC and Los Angeles were added toward the end of last year, and more top markets will be on the air soon – pandemicrelated hiccups permitting.
MediaTek Pentonic2000 chip supports ATSC 3.0
Of course, stations on the air without products available to receive them is like the tree falling in the proverbial forest. On that front, there were some significant announcements made at CES that will expand the options available to you to receive NEXTGEN TV. Hisense announced that it will offer sets with ATSC 3.0 tuners, joining those already in the market from LG, Samsung, and Sony. New U9H, U8H, and U7 models will be in stores this fall with prices starting at $799.99. Perhaps even more importantly, another announcement at CES will certainly lead to more brands and models equipped for NEXTGEN TV. You may not be familiar with MediaTek, but they are a major developer and
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supplier of the parts that many manufacturers use in the design of their TV products. Individually, their new demodulator chip receives the ATSC 3.0 signals off-air and converts the RF stream to data that is used to provide the signals with the set’s processing. Equally important, that new part will be included in a comprehensive smart TV “System
on Chip” (SoC) that powers the set’s features. This promises to speed the development of new NEXTGEN TV sets and reduce their cost and development risks. Of course, as good as NEXTGEN TV is, and for all the quality improvements and unique features it delivers, if a TV is a reasonably recent
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model, it is understandable that it’s too soon to replace it. That’s where set-top boxes come into the picture. HD HomeRun already has an STB with two of the four tuners being ATSC 3.0 capable. It is an interesting product that I can now try out because there are finally stations with NEXTGEN TV where I live in Los Angeles. However, the HD HomeRun product connects to the TV only via a broadband The Tablo OTA DVR with four NEXTGEN TV tuners. Photo: Nuvyyo Inc./Tablo connection, and some may prefer hard-wired HDMI. Answering that 4K HDR when those broadcasts become requirement will be a new product available, and many of the other NEXTGEN TV from Nuvyyo, a Canadian company that sells its features. well-regarded line of OTA DVR products under the Tablo name. The interface will be the same as previous Tablo products, and a one-day guide is included The new Tablo ATSC 3.0 QUAD HDMI will, for free. Fourteen day program listings and other as the name states, have four tuners, all of which features are available for an extra subscription work with current ASTC 1.0 signals as well as cost. the new system. Also, as the need relates, the connection to the set is via HDMI only, unlike Pricing for the new Tablo will be $299.99, the current Tablo products that connect via with delivery anticipated for this spring. broadband, as well as for one model via HDMI. Reservations are now being taken on the Tablo website with a $29.99 pre-order deposit. Tablo has earned its chops as an OTA DVR, and the new model is no exception. With the One of the targeted use cases for ATSC 3.0 is connection of an optional 1TB to 8TB external mobile (in-car) reception, an area where the USB drive, between 1,000 and 4,000 hours of current ATSC 1.0 does not fare well due to its content may be stored. The new Tablo also modulation scheme. NEXTGEN TV, however, supports Dolby AC-4 Surround Sound Audio, allows for great reception from moving vehicles,
something I can attest to, having seen demos of it at past NAB shows. Pushing forward the development and eventual introduction for that capability, Sony is developing a chip that will facilitate the delivery of video at highway speeds, but also enable seamless hand-off between mobile and stationary devices. Sony has been testing their “CLOVER” chip at the Mowtown3.0 Test Track for a variety of applications, but there was no announcement as to when we might see the chip and its technology in production vehicles. Who knows, with a new prototype electric vehicle as one of the few actual products on display at CES, perhaps one day we might see ATSC 3.0 not only in Sony video products but also in a Sony-branded car. Yes, the development, testing, FCC approval, and broadcaster implementation of NEXTGEN TV have taken quite a few years. However, with the increasing number of station and marketplace rollouts and a growing range of TVs and other receiving devices, after CES 2022 I can finally say that “ATSC 3.0 is REALLY here!” I will be testing a variety of NEXTGEN TV products in the coming weeks and will have a report on the new system in actual use over the next few months. x
Sony’s Vision-2 02 EV prototype appeared at CES 2022. Perhaps NEXTGEN TV will appear in a Sony-branded car in the future. Interior rendering courtesy of Sony.
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What’s in the Picture for 2022? TV Technology Improvements Include QD-OLED, More Mini-LED Options, HDMI 2.1, and Smart Home Controls By Michael Heiss During a time when more of us are watching video than we might have thought we would a year ago, displays have become more important than ever. Popular wisdom might tell you that people are abandoning large screens, but that was far from the case. Sales of large screens have held up. In fact, the average consumer TV size has increased. Just as sales of vinyl records have increased despite the overpowering market dominance of streaming audio content, traditional video displays, be they flat-panel sets, game-centric monitors, “computer” monitors, or projectors, remains a very viable product category. Given that, it is natural to ask what we will, literally, “see” in the year ahead for those categories. By far, the largest part of the video display market is what we used to just call “TV sets.” Indeed, they still are that, but going forward they are much more. However, at the end of the day, a display’s main job is to show images as accurately as possible. Based on what was shown both in person and virtually at this year’s CES, there are some very interesting trends to watch for this year that will change the inner workings of displays, the form factors that they will take, and how “smart” a smart TV will actually be. Perhaps the most anticipated technology for 2022 will be QD-OLED. You are likely familiar with OLED sets. They are self-emissive, which means that each pixel may be turned on and off individually. That, in turn, delivers incredible contrast and color, albeit to some extent at the expense of brightness. You also may have heard of “QD” (quantum dot) technology, which uses specialized materials typically applied to a sheet that sits in the layers of a complex system that includes a set’s backlight array, LCD panel, color filters, and polarizing filters before the light gets to the front of the panel. The result is good color and brightness at the expense of contrast and in some cases viewing angle.
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QD-OLED is self-emitting, as is standard OLED, but by replacing color filters with QD color conversion, there is both better color and brightness. Color is also improved over LED/LCD. Images: Samsung Display
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NEXTGEN TV, or as we’ve originally known it, ATSC 3.0 (see p. 32 for more on this) will be added to Hisense ULED Series TVs.
In QD-OLED Samsung Display, the panel manufacturing arm of the giant Korean conglomerate Samsung Electronics has made a big step in providing the best of both worlds. Here, there is a blue, rather than white, OLED layer with the light from the individual pixels passing through a QD color conversion layer and then directly to the front panel. The QD layer is used for color conversion, rather than color filtering, so there are more accurate colors and a wider angle of view, albeit with a significantly less bright picture. But, while QDOLED offers less brightness than an LED backlit LCD, it will be much brighter than what a conventional OLED can deliver today. How does it look in real life? As I wasn’t at CES this time around for the first time in almost 45 years, I can’t give you a first-hand evaluation. However, those that were able to see the sets in private demonstrations agreed that this is a big advancement in flat screen technology. You’ll be able to make your own observations when 65and 55-inch class sets reach the market later this year – first from Sony and later from Samsung. A 34-inch QD-OLED also will be offered by Dell’s Alienware division. The cost? No pricing was announced, but industry wisdom says that these sets will be priced in the same range as ultrapremium OLED and LED/LCD models. While QD-OLED captured a great deal of attention, other manufacturers and brands were not sitting on their laurels. LG, the clear volume leader in OLED panel manufacturing, is turning to “OLED.EX” technology, which uses a combination of deuterium in the panel’s formulation and AI in the processor to better
control light energy as it is directed to the screen, in turn improving their displays for better brightness and color. Mini-LED is still the current state of the art on the LCD side of the display fence. New for 2022 is that virtually every brand will offer their version of mini-LED in more models going further down the price range. LG’s QNED and Q-LED, Samsung’s Neo QLED, some of Sony’s Bravia offerings, models from TCL, Vizio, and Hisense, and a host of others all have mini-LED systems in both 4K and 8K resolution models. While standard back- and edge-lit displays with standard LED arrays will continue to power the middle and lower end of the TV market, mini-LED – with as many local dimming zones as can be offered – is definitely the way to go for a more premium-priced TV. Video Processor Engine Changes Over the past two or three years, the processors that drive specific video “styles” (“sports” “game” “cinema” modes, for instance) have been major selling features for TV manufacturers. Unfortunately, the specs and capabilities of these modes are not easy to compare on a spec sheet. So, how do you make a decision based on all the buzzword names? The answer is to look at what the set does against what you want it to do. If you are primarily a movie viewer, then look for a product that has Filmmaker Mode. For those who are gamers, there is an increasing number of both new and more widely available features to look for, such as HDMI 2.1 connectivity and the variable
TCL will offer mini-LED-based TVs with 144Hz frame rates that will deliver better motion rendition for video games.
refresh rate (VRR) that should come with it, higher frame rates, and built-in game services. Many brands are packaging some or all of those features into “game modes,” but you should look to see if the set you want has them. Yes, HDMI 2.1 is finally here (read more on p. 30), and a full suite of technologies is a gamer’s paradise. VRR, in particular, reduces artifacts caused when a game device’s frame rate jumps around too quickly and perhaps even exceeds the set’s capability. More sets have this, and some are even adding Nvidia’s G-Sync or AMD’s FreeSync. A year or two ago that wasn’t available. Now it is. Similarly, displays with 120Hz refresh or even 144Hz are also now available for better playback on advanced systems or video cards. HDMI 2.1 also enables eARC, the enhanced audio return channel. With more streaming and Vol. 4 / Issue 1 | Residential Tech Today
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What’s in the Picture for 2022? own branded appliances this year. Even better, perhaps driven by the incredible growth of video calling during the pandemic era, more TV brands will allow you to connect a webcam to link up with relatives, friends, and anyone with a compatible webcam. On the audio connectivity side, many brands now have the ability to respond to verbal commands from a smart speaker or the TV’s remote. This year, however, you will begin to see sets with the farfield mics built right into the set. Say the “magic word,” and you can ask the TV to search and select content as well as respond to traditional commands.
(Above) LG’s new 97-inch OLED EVO, (right) Samsung’s Freestyle is designed to deliver pictures almost anywhere and on any surface.
To paraphrase the old cliché, “So many new features and trends, so little space to tell you about them.” Given that, a quick lightning round of new features and trends that have been promised, but which are now ready for primetime. NEXTGEN TV, or as we’ve originally known it, ATSC 3.0 (see p. 32 for more on this) will be added to Hisense ULED Series TVs, joining Sony, LG, and Samsung, which already have the feature.
gaming content being selected by and through the TV, when paired with an AVR or soundbar with eARC, you will be able to feed full bitstream audio out of the TV and into an external audio system. Before moving on from the technology trends for the video reproduction aspect of displays, two more technologies deserve mention. One is microLED, the same technology widely used on stadium displays, public venues, and onbuilding advertising. Once a science experiment, Samsung’s introduction of The Wall four years ago brought it into the consumer world, albeit at an exorbitant price for a 146inch system. Now, other brands are offering it, and while the prices are still high, the sizes are now available as small as 89 inches. For us mere mortals, the realistic bet for sizes above 85 inches remains LCD/LED or the new 97-inch OLED from LG. Two-piece projection is the other option for achieving large screen sizes at prices that mere mortals are able to afford. In the growing category of ultra short throw projectors, Hisense said that they will offer an 8K UST using 4K chips and pixel shifting to deliver the 8K image. However, be forewarned that at CES they were only showcasing the technology using a front projector, so the UST may still be a bit off in the distance. At the other end of the scale, Samsung garnered a great deal of attention with its new Freestyle front projector. Looking for all the world like a track light can, this compact, sub-
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two-pound product is able to project an image from 30 inches up to 100 inches at 1080p resolution. No, it isn’t going to compete with large, traditional projectors, but that isn’t the point. With auto-focus and auto-leveling, you can point it just about anywhere and at almost any angle. You can even add a waterproofing case and a USB C connected portable battery pack for outdoor use, or you can screw the projector into a standard Edison light socket. At $899 this will likely set a trend that may spawn a rash of competitors. Smart TVs Get Smarter These days, virtually every set is a “smart TV,” but this year they will be even “smarter” by connecting to other devices around the home. Yes, you can easily do that with a smart speaker, tablet, or phone, but isn’t it better to see the status of all the appliances, air purifiers, and even the robotic vacuum on one screen? This is the expressed goal of LG, Samsung, TCL, and others who will be introducing more of their
Another key trend for the year ahead is a global one, but the TV industry is quickly getting on board: Sustainability. As an example, every CES presentation from the major brands highlighted efforts to conserve and reduce energy consumption while at the same time making the materials used more recyclable. A great example of that is an idea first introduced two years ago at CES by Samsung where they printed templates for reuse ideas for product boxes on the inside of these cartons. Other tidbits? On the user interface side of things expect to see more TV products using Roku or Android/Google TV, and even Amazon’s Fire TV as well as the proprietary systems used by some of the major brands. Look for more sets with not only HDR, but the more advanced dynamic HDR systems such as Dolby Vision and HDR-10+. As the year moves forward, you will also begin to see the arrival of Dolby Vision IQ and HDR-10+ gaming. Ah yes, there really is a great deal going on in the world of video products. These are just a few of the top trends, but to keep up with the ever changing world of video your best source for the latest news is our online reports. I’ll see you there. Happy viewing! x
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This is the perceptible contrast level expanded by XR Contrast Booster technology, which is a unique figure calculated for the contrast that users actually feel and experience compared to conventional TVs without local dimming. © 2021 Sony Electronics Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Sony, BRAVIA, BRAVIA XR, Cognitive Processor XR, XR Triluminos Pro, XR Motion Clarity, and the Sony logo are trademarks of Sony Corporation. All other trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners. Features and specifications are subject to change without notice. Screen images simulated.
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SYSTEMS
Crestron Home on the Road Crestron’s Newest Operating Systems Makes the Rounds During the Company’s On-Going NEXT Road Trip By Jeremy Glowacki
Crestron’s Battery-Powered Shades line was a recent Crestron Home addition that was featured during the company’s NEXT event in Chicago.
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SYSTEMS
Two years into the launch of the Crestron Home operating system for smart homes would, in normal times, be an odd moment for a firsttime in-person dealer training and product exhibition tour. Considering world events over those specific two years, however, you quickly realize, “Oh yeah, this IS the first chance that most dealers (and press) have had to see these new products in person.” Such was the case for me. When my Crestron NEXT Road Trip exhibit tour guide Michael Short (marketing director) asked me what my first-hand experience had been, to date, with Crestron Home, I stumbled a bit in my answer. Had I been to ISE? No. Had I installed it in my home? No. My final realization was that I had multiple virtual press briefings about Crestron’s new products during the COVID-19 pandemic and had expected to see the company in person at CEDIA Expo this past September. But when Crestron and most other exhibitors chose to forego that show, that just didn’t happen. So, when I got invited to drive up to the Chicago suburbs from my home near Indianapolis for stop number two of the Crestron NEXT Road Trip, I was getting my first in-person look at Crestron Home and related products. After arriving for day 1 of the second city stop, I went straight to a full (and fully masked) Crestron Home introductory session led by Crestron Home east coast solutions engineer Chase Bouchard. That was followed by a more technical overview on Crestron Home from Bouchard in session two. In his presentations, Bouchard reminded attendees that Crestron Home was created so that integrators could provide a “simplified, modern, and repeatable” user interface that is
easy to configure and deploy, enabling integrators to “do more jobs.” This seems like a no-brainer, unless you are aware of the history of custom integration control systems, which for many years were completely designed from scratch with computer code, by highly specialized (and well-compensated) programmers. Crestron was so deeply entrenched in this world that it took them a bit longer to make the monumental switch to a simpler operating system, in Crestron Home. Officially launched in Sept. 2019, Crestron Home has now pushed out 11 firmware updates, adding 125 new features since its debut. Bouchard said that it’s one of the fastest software development projects ever completed by Crestron. The result is an OS that provides a consistent user experience across all devices in a home and even across multiple properties. For the uninitiated potential client, Crestron Home’s free smartphone app offers a Demo Mode to show what to expect from the experience of using Crestron Home, once their system is installed. With its simple-to-use design tools, more technicians and installers than ever before will have the ability to configure, troubleshoot, and service with Crestron Home. Less training is needed for installers, which means less time out of the field and a flatter learning curve. The combination of zero custom programming or UI design, combined with faster installations and fewer truck rolls, means lower labor costs for integrators, as well. Combine that with optional (and free) system design and quotes directly from experts at Crestron, free training, global True Blue support, rebates, free advanced replacements, and working with Crestron Home seems like a no-brainer.
During my tour of Crestron Home exhibit vignettes in the event’s ballroom-sized mini tradeshow, I was able to experience, in person, what I’d heard described on Zoom calls and in press releases. The step-by-step design, when viewed in person, seemed simple enough for even a non-programmer like myself to learn if I was so inclined. Michael Short did an excellent job walking me through the various products in the line, showing me how simple system design and integration can be for an integrator via an iPad or laptop computer. For example, he showed me the process of adding a smart door lock to a system design. In an earlier time, when Crestron was only custom programmed, if you wanted to add a lock, remote control, or even video source, you would have to do a ton of programming behind the scenes and then go onto every single touchscreen or remote. With Crestron Home, Short showed how he could add a lock to the master suite. The lock was connected to the internet, so it was a “recognized device” in the internal wireless gateway. It pinged on “finding devices like you, find a keypad.” Short indicated with a click of a button that he wanted the lock assigned to the master suite. With just a few simple steps, that lock would be accessible from every touch panel across the home. When it comes to lighting scenes, the integrator is left in charge of setting up initial preferences from the homeowner for how bright certain rooms should be for various times of day. In the next version of the OS, end-users will be empowered to edit those pre-programmed scenes. During my tour, I also got an up-close look at new hardware for Crestron Home, including
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SYSTEMS
Crestron Home on the Road
two Network Power Controllers that enable homeowners and dealers to resolve simple power issues on connected devices in the home. The Crestron Home OS provides a new remote power management platform, called the Device Health Dashboard, that homeowners and dealers can use for alerts and to assess and fix devices from the Crestron Home app. The Crestron Network Power Controllers have built-in monitoring and adjustable power cycle scheduling and sequencing to ensure connected devices are always operational and power up reliably every time. Crestron network power controllers also provide peace of mind with surge protection, power conditioning, adjustable over/under voltage cutoff, EMI and RFI noise filtering, automatic wiring fault detection, as well as energy metering and advanced activity data logging. Another new product on display was Crestron’s Battery-Powered Shades line, offering homeowners an elegant shading solution that natively integrates with the Crestron Home. Crestron’s shading portfolio now includes wired, wireless, and battery-powered options giving homeowners the ability to have intelligent shading solutions. Short showed me how, at the touch of a button, homeowners can configure, schedule, or execute a shading scene that synchronizes shading throughout the house with other Crestron Home solutions, the Horizon Thermostat, and third-party extensions to optimize comfort and security. As part of the native integration with Crestron Home, battery life will be intelligently calculated to proactively notify the homeowner when they need to replace the battery. Though discretely tucked in the fascia, the Crestron-designed battery cartridge swings downward to make replacement easy. Whisper-quiet and energyefficient QMT motors bring great indoor range and performance. Ensuring customers, dealers, and designers never have to compromise on style, an updated and exhaustive collection of over 400 fabrics including 240 new designer-lead fabric choices affords a luxurious level of design and customization that can’t be met by other
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solutions on the market. Contained within Crestron’s new design book collection, these fabrics, and Crestron’s custom-color match policy further improve customer choice. Battery-Powered Shades are available with both Architectural and Décor brackets. And speaking of the Horizon Thermostat… it was the low-key most impressive piece of hardware that I saw in my tour. Sadly, most “stats” are the least attractive interfaces in the home automation mix. Crestron’s Horizon Thermostat, which debuted back in April, features a very sleek high-resolution 3.5-inch LCD touchscreen display and an auto-adjustable backlight that toggles between day and night mode depending on time of the day or user preferences. The product measures a trim 124mm wide by 89mm high and is available in Horizon white, black, or almond finishes to match décor. The RGB-backlit accent and status lightbar complements the display while the ambient light and proximity sensors ensure the thermostat is always discreet, but visible when you need it. Less aesthetically pleasing (because it’s intended for behind-the-scenes heroics) is the DM NAX amplifier, which was launched back in June. This distributed Audio-over-IP (AoIP) amplifier enables integrators to deliver complete control of a client’s audio environment, allowing them to toggle between TV audio, streaming music, podcasts, alarms, doorbells, and even paging and intercom usage to any speaker in the house. DM NAX removes the scale and functionality constraints that used to bog down whole-home audio usability. Dealers who have worked with Crestron’s DM NVX products will find familiarity in DM NAX. It will integrate simply with legacy Crestron systems and offers flexibility within its compact form factor, allowing for audio from any input to be sent to any output. It provides the ability to scale to 256 stereo zones and is interoperable with AES67 and Dante audio networking, uses hardwired connections, and requires no custom network architecture or hardware. Beyond native
integration of music streaming services like Pandora, Internet Radio, and more to come, DM NAX will allow for selectable speaker profiles throughout the house once paired. This feature will automatically optimize output on a speaker-by-speaker basis as integrators test settings in each environment throughout the space. Other features include the choice of up to 40 built-in chimes for alerts like doorbells and door openings, with the ability to customize new alert chimes coming soon. Those were the major highlights, although Short also walked me through third-party integrations with Crestron Home, as well as a top-secret project that the company plans to introduce in 2022. My lips are sealed, but let’s just say that it’s a major validation for a tech category that has been on the rise for a few years. I could go on, but that’s the Crestron NEXT Road Trip in a nutshell. It was a two-day event that I attended for just one day. The first stop was in Boston and more locations are loosely planned following Chicago. If you’re in a major metro area, then it’s likely that you will have an opportunity to meet with Crestron face-to-face sometime in 2022. If you’re already a Crestron dealer or have been considering adding the line, then Crestron NEXT is the place to be. x
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COVER STORY
Allison Hagendorf: Music is Her Life Former Spotify Head of Rock Creates a Backyard Oasis with an Audio System Worthy of Her Rock Star Friends By Jeremy Glowacki
Photo By Nathan James
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COVER STORY
For some people, “music is life.” For Allison Hagendorf, music actually is her life. Hagendorf is a national television personality and live announcer, music journalist, former “head of rock” at Spotify, and the host/executive producer of the Spotify original show, Rock This With Allison Hagendorf. She has hosted The Next, a CW Network live primetime music competition show, and was the main host on Fuse, including on shows like Top 20 Countdown and Grammys Live, traveling across the country covering national music festivals such as Bonnaroo, Warped Tour, SXSW Music Festival, and Lollapalooza. Hagendorf also has served as the live announcer for both the MTV Video Music Awards and MTV Movie Awards. Recall, if you will, that “voice of God” voiceover announcer that you always hear during televised awards shows. Now, think of a time when you heard that voice, but God was a woman. That was probably Hagendorf. But before she became a rock goddess onscreen and behind the mic, Hagendorf ’s entertainment career actually began inside the music business, when she served as an A&R (Artist & Repertoire) executive at Sony Music’s Columbia Records and Epic Records. During those early years, she recruited new talent globally and oversaw the album production for many artists, including metal band Lamb of God, whose single “Redneck” received a Grammy nomination for “Best Metal Performance.” She even appears in the band’s video for that song. With all of this in mind, when it came time for Hagendorf and her husband, musician manager Brian Jaffe, to choose a backyard sound system for their new Southern California home, audio quality was a major consideration. “It was extremely important to me to have high-end audio,” Hagendorf said. “We plan on using this backyard as an oasis, a focal point for family entertainment, and also a place for my
Allison Hagendorf has served as The Official Host of Times Square New Year’s Eve celebration. Photo Ben Patterson
friends, most of whom happen to be musicians, to share their music with me in a way that will honor their work.” It all started with wanting an epic soundbar. Then, after some pretty thorough research, the two music lovers reached out to Leon Speakers, a company that is highly respected as one of the pioneers in the soundbar category. The Ann Arbor, MI, manufacturer also stood out to Allison and Brian for its practice of hiring mostly artists and musicians to design and build all of its products. Residential Tech Today recently Zoomed with Allison and Brian about their backyard setup, their respective careers in music and entertainment, and how – in Hagendorf ’s case – a Penn State pre-med graduate ended up working for a music label in New York City right after college. In fact, let’s find out the answer to that question first. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Residential Tech Today: Allison, you went from graduating from Penn State with honors in pre-med straight to A&R in New York City. How does that happen? Allison Hagendorf: When I was growing up, my mother would tell me about American Bandstand, and I would see reruns. I was obsessed with Dick Clark, and I always wanted to be Dick Clark. And because I was in the MTV generation, I then wanted to be a VJ on MTV. I always knew I wanted to be a host – an MC specifically in music. I also was an
academic, and those jobs sounded more like being a rock star. I didn’t know if I was actually capable of doing that. I always wanted to be a doctor, so my major at Penn State was pre-vet/ pre-med in their Scholars Program. I got academic scholarships and graduated, both prevet and pre-med with honors, but music and hosting were always calling my name. During my senior year at Penn State, I also became the Sony college rep, and they had a very renowned college rep program. I won Rep of the Year. To reward me, I got a job offer at both Columbia and Epic Records. I knew that Matt Pinfield – my favorite MTV VJ – worked at Columbia Records, so I figured that if took the Columbia job, then I could eventually find my way to Matt. And that’s literally what I did. I started as an assistant, in the jazz space, and I persistently and consistently pitched to both Matt and HR that I could also assist Matt in addition to assisting these other people, and eventually became Matt’s right hand. I fell in love with doing A&R, scouting bands, and making records for Columbia Records. At that point, med school was put on the back burner. I can always go back to med school… but… like… I’m not. RTT: You’re not? Why not? [laughs] AH: I’m not. I really fell in love with scouting talent and making records, but my real passion was hosting and emceeing. So, through word of mouth, I just became the go-to host in New York, and I’d host record release parties, and I went to festivals like South by Southwest and Lollapalooza. Vol. 4 / Issue 1 | Residential Tech Today
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Photo Joel Manduke courtesy of Allison Hagendorf
Photo Heather Koepp courtesy of Allison Hagendorf
COVER STORY / Allison Hagendorf: Music is Her Life
Photo courtesy of Allison Hagendorf
Photo Brian Jaffe
Allison with some of her music industry friends, [clockwise from top left] Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello, U2’s The Edge and Bono, YUNGBLUD and Machine Gun Kelly, and former MTV VJ and A&R mentor Matt Pinfield
I did eventually move to Epic Records and became an A&R executive there, but my big television debut was Fuse, which was based in New York and owned by Madison Square Garden at the time. I became the main host on Fuse. That’s where all of my dreams came true. I was hosting a music television show, and then things happened from there. But that’s how I went from being pre-med to doing music. RTT: It sounds like you found your dream career pretty quickly, but I would imagine that having worked in A&R, promoting and discovering talent in the rock and alternative genre, gave you some pretty strong credentials to become a music host. It’s not like you were a spokesmodel hired to be a host. You had legit music business credentials. What were some of your successes in A&R? AH: Assisting Matt Pinfield and being his right hand was the most incredible experience. For one, he’s my best friend in the world. He and I are family. He was the best mentor. I got to work on records from David Bowie and Cypress Hill. It was pretty incredible to have that initial learning experience with Matt in how to make records and having his ear. But what I loved most about Matt was his unique rapport with artists. And that’s what was the magic for me. That and the credibility that he had. The fact that he’s the authority in the space and so
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beloved. That’s what I aspired to do and to become. After having that experience with Matt early on, I later worked with the [metal band] Lamb of God and A&R’d their Sacrament album, for which they received their first Grammy nomination. It was fun because, genre-wise, I’ve worked on everything from David Bowie to Lamb of God, to [The Voice Season 2 Runner Up] Juliet Simms, who is now known as Lilith Czar. She’s an incredible rock star and young female artist. I think you’re right. Having eight years working at Sony, in the A&R space, is what gave me the connections, the respect, the work ethic, and the drive. And knowing how to make records and understanding what goes into it from the producer’s side and the artist’s side… I think gave me a unique perspective to go on and do interviewing and hosting. RTT: I want to keep going with that, but I also want to work Brian into the conversation. Brian Jaffe: No worries. I’m used to hearing all of the amazing things that Allison does. RTT: I know you two met through CrossFit, but you also are in the music business now, Brian. Could you describe your role on the business side of the music industry?
BJ: I’m actually in artist management, but my path is kind of nonconventional, as well. I went to school for business, and then after Berkeley, I went to work in the mailroom at William Morris. I was in entertainment, to begin with for a few years. I went to CBS Films and was on track to be in the film industry, but I got disillusioned with that industry and also became passionate about fitness. At the time, CrossFit was just starting and the barrier to entry was very low, so I started my CrossFit gym. It first started in my garage. I was interested in the entrepreneurial space, so that kind of married all those passions together. I then opened up a space that was on Beverly and Fairfax in LA and ran that for about six and a half years. Then, it was getting to the point where I either needed to expand or maybe move on to some other passions. I decided to sell the gym, moved into being CEO and COO for a couple of tech startups and kind of just navigated that world a little bit. When I met Allison, she said, “You have no idea about my whole music career,” because she, by then, was hosting and doing other things. When she got the job at Spotify, we were going to a lot of shows, and we were just back to being immersed in the live music scene. I met a lot of people, made a lot of contacts, and it made sense with my business background to get into artist management. I met a business
COVER STORY partner, and he was looking for someone to come in on that side of things. I decided to make that jump into the industry, really focusing on logistics and artist management. I’ve been doing that for the last four years, which has been great. RTT: I noticed you worked with [Jane’s Addiction lead singer] Perry Farrell. What was that project? Yes. I worked with Perry. That was right after the startups. I worked with Perry on a couple projects, doing operations for some things that he had going on that were kind of outside the scope of music. So more in the business realm of things. Perry and Etty Farrell are dear friends of ours. So that was very cool and a very cool experience to be working closely with him and his family. That was my first foray into the music side of things. RTT: Sounds like you two have very complementary talents and interests. Allison, you said that hosting a music television show was a dream come true, but as a New Yorker it must have been amazing being the on-site host of the New Year’s Eve Times Square celebration and then later seeing your name literally in lights, on a billboard in Times Square, when your Spotify show was being promoted. I’m sure those are just two of many great moments for
you, but did they make you think, “I’ve really arrived!”? AH: First of all, thank you for pointing those two moments out, which were very “pinch me” moments. You’re right. As a New Yorker, Times Square New Year’s Eve is just larger than life, and then being a huge Dick Clark fan … I didn’t even know what it meant to be the official host of Times Square New Year’s Eve. I didn’t realize how big it would be. I did it for seven years, but that first year, when I said, “Hello, Times Square!” at 6:00 p.m., and I heard my voice reverberating throughout a 20-block radius of Times Square while also catching myself on Jumbotrons, it really freaked me out for a second. It was a, “Wow, oh my God,” moment, and knowing that there were over a million people physically present in addition to the millions watching the live stream, it was definitely a time where I was out of body and feeling unbelievably grateful. Then I kind of snapped back into it and did the live stream for six hours. That was a dream come true for me, and my parents – both New Yorkers – just couldn’t believe it. My grandfather worked in the Broadway theaters. As a New Yorker, especially, that was a pretty surreal moment. RTT: Let’s talk about Spotify. To host a show specifically catered to rock and promoting new artists and veteran artists
must have been pretty fulfilling. Admittedly there were some names of bands and artists who you interviewed that I didn’t know, but some others like Foo Fighters, Joan Jett, and Sammy Hagar that are huge legends of rock. But you wrapped up your run with Brian May and Roger Taylor from Queen. How did that stack up to other interview experiences that you’d had in your career? AH: That was pretty epic. When I was at Fuse, where I got my TV interview chops, I had a lastminute interview with Eminem at Bonnaroo. That was almost like an interview boot camp, you know? But the Spotify show was unique because it was during the pandemic. It was very intimate like this interview is, through Zoom. All of my other stuff had been on location, either on set or in the field or in Times Square. On Spotify, each interview was an hour, which were very in-depth, sit-down interviews. I did 24 episodes – two full seasons – and I ended it with Queen. I felt like I should end the show there. It’s not going to get better than Brian May and Roger Taylor. That was pretty unbelievable. I am first and foremost such a diehard music fan, so I’m always just so excited and grateful to sit with these artists. But I also do my research, and I take pride in having gained respect from the artists knowing that I’ve done my research. When you interview Queen, what do you ask
Allison and her husband Brian Jaffe gave their son Cole the middle name Hendrix, in honor of Jimi Hendrix. Photo Ben Patterson
Photo Stephanie Day
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Photo courtesy of Allison Hagendorf
COVER STORY / Allison Hagendorf: Music is Her Life
Above right:The couple's family room features a custom-built media center to accommodate a vast CD, record, and 8-track collection. Indoor audio is handled by a combination of Klipsch and Sonos gear. Installation photos Gabriel Burgos
them that they haven’t been asked before for the last 50 years? The guys could not have been any more generous and kind, and they actually complimented my interview. At that point I was like, okay, I can literally drop the mic. Like, I’m good. I did it. I just got a compliment from Queen saying I was a good interviewer. Queen was definitely a highlight, but it’s also fun to interview the newer artists – the newer generation – as well.
about evolving the genre and not making it just classic rock and 90s rock, which were the great times of rock and roll. I want to make it youthful and exciting and introduce rock to kids for the first time. I want to get Gen Z excited about a guitar. It’s a mission of mine to evolve the rock and alternative genre and to handpick artists who I think are great candidates to help spread that love and admiration for the genre and culture.
RTT: When it comes to the rising stars of rock and alternative, how did you select guests for your show?
RTT: Which lesser-known bands or singers that you interviewed do you think more people should know more about?
AH: When I moved to LA, I was a true New Yorker and was like, “I have to live on the Sunset Strip. I have to be able to walk everywhere.” I lived a very New York life in LA, as much as you can do that. I lived across the street from the Roxy. I went to the Roxy, the Whiskey, the Troubadour, and the Palladium... every single music venue. I was seeing around five shows a night. That’s how I hear the music, taste the music, and envelop myself in the music, at the live show specifically for rock and alternative, which is my forte and passion.
AH: Well, I think the biggest artist to come out in the last decade is YUNGBLUD. He’s so important. He’s such a visionary. He’s so innovative. He’s from the UK and is a total global superstar. He’s one of the people that when we sat down to talk, I’d already liked his music, but just hearing him speak and to see how he envisioned himself, I thought to myself, “Oh, okay, this is a generational voice.”
I think that’s just my A&R training and my A&R ear being able to see someone one time and knowing that they’re a global superstar. It’s envisioning the potential of that future superstar. I love doing that. I love being the first one on it. I love getting people excited about new artists. And being a rock fan, I’m passionate
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He’s such an incredible live performer, and he’s so caring and connected to his fans. He is a classic rock star. I saw the artist “grandson” at a club called El Sid in Silver Lake in LA with maybe a dozen people there. And that’s when you know when someone’s a superstar because they’re still playing as if they’re playing the Garden. What’s cool and unique about grandson is that he was sort of incorporating the angst of Rage Against the Machine, but he also
Photo Silamith Maclean
Allison and Brian’s LA home features four backyard audio zones. The soundbar is custom fit to their outdoor television, and it’s the sonic centerpiece of the couple’s back patio and firepit area.
had some Bob Marley vibes. And it was all done with new electronic elements, so it was totally fresh and new, and it was a sound that hadn’t been done before. Now Brian actually works with grandson. BJ: He’s one of the artists that I work with and manage, so it all kind of came full circle for us. AH: It was pretty organic because grandson was one of my proud discoveries. I saw him, and I'm thinking, “This kid's going to be a superstar.” Brian would come with me to every show, so we just kind of became a family. RTT: What about some of your personal all-time favorites? I read that Nirvana was really a turning point for you as a music fan, but who from the past do you still really love? AH: Nirvana was the band that changed my life because that was the band that put rock music on the map for me. I had never felt that way before hearing Smells Like Teen Spirit. I literally was confused by what I was feeling and experiencing. I would have to say Nirvana was the most pivotal band for me but, you know, Led Zeppelin is my favorite band of all time. I’m also a huge, huge U2 fan. I think U2 is the greatest live band. I catch them every time they have a show. It’s a gift and religious experience to see U2 live. I love the Cure. I love Jimi Hendrix. Our son, Cole Hendrix, is named after him. RTT: With your love of live music experiences, how important was it for you to
COVER STORY try to recreate that feeling with your home audio systems? BJ: That was the catalyst for what we did, actually. AH: Yes, that was the catalyst. YUNGBLUD came over to our house, excited to play his new music; I was the first person who was going to hear it. And at the time we had just moved into the house, and we were listening to his music on an unacceptable speaker. BJ: We had just moved from a one-bedroom apartment, so we had just a normal soundbar, you know – nothing crazy – for the apartment. It was fine there, but we hadn’t upgraded yet for the house. AH: But I was devastated while he was playing his music. He didn’t care, but to me, it was about the integrity of hearing the music as it should be heard and respecting the work that he put into it. As a music fan, the experience was unacceptable. When he left, I said to Brian, “We need to get our stuff figured out.” We’d also decided to redo the whole backyard, so we thought, wouldn’t it be great if we turned our backyard into a place where artists can come and play live if they want, but also can play back their music in the way they intended it to be heard. It all started with replacing that soundbar, and I learned that Leon was a pioneer in the soundbar space. I also just learned more about them and loved what they represented. We connected with them, and our experience with
everyone there was just so unique and so wonderful. These are real music people, so then we turned our entire backyard into the best listening experience possible. RTT: How did you learn about your system integration company, Futronix AV? BJ: Jason Ratzlaff is the owner there, and he had done some audio installation work for us inside the house already. He had been a referral from our contractor, Matt Lagman from LCI Pools, who designed the entire backyard project. Matt’s incredible, as well, so we knew we could trust anyone who he referred. Futronix was equally as amazing. Jason came by and then knowing that we were going to have this partnership with Leon, who he had worked with on projects before, he put his input in, and we signed off on the project. AH: We decided to go with four audio zones in our backyard. The soundbar is custom fit to our outdoor television, and it’s the sonic centerpiece of our back patio and firepit area. And, that is really where all the magic happens – around the television and the firepit. I was also one of the very first people to use Leon’s Terra LuminSound landscape speakers. What is so awesome about these is that they look so discrete and modern, but they also have this ring light, so at night they look as great as they sound. Having both the Terra subwoofer and top-of-the-line aluminum cabinet Boundary speakers on our back patio just rounds out and creates a whole surround sound experience.
RTT: In addition to your outdoor system, what do you have installed indoors? AH: I have my parent’s original 8-track record player combo from the 70s. In all, I have a pretty extensive record, CD, 8-track collection. Our family room is also kind of the home base for the music collection and playback, so we had a custom piece built that has drawers to accommodate the CDs, records, and 8-track player. For that system, we went with a Klipsch soundbar and some rear speakers. We knew that the speakers we were getting were probably overkill for the space, but I was like, bring it on! [laughs] Then, in other rooms, we have Sonos. BJ: We were so traumatized by the soundbar experience that we were like, “Let’s never let that happen again!” [laughs] AH: Yeah, we kind of went in the opposite direction, and it’s pretty great. RTT: Now that you have the audio system of your dreams, Allison, what do you hope to do next, careerwise? AH: One of my highlights working at Spotify was doing the show. It was pretty exhilarating and rewarding to connect with such a breadth of artists – both new and established – and to have that really intimate connection. So, a goal of mine would be to create a new show like that, times 10. I would love to create a show that provides another platform for artists to come on and share their stories. I would love to be back on camera for that one, for sure. x Allison and Brian’s system, which was installed by FutronixAV, consists of Leon Speakers’ outdoor Terra speakers and subwoofer, a TV soundbar, LuminSound landscape speakers, and top-ofthe-line aluminum cabinet Boundary speakers. Follow Allison at allisonhagendorf.com and @AlliHagendorf.
Photo Silamith Maclean
Installation photos Gabriel Burgos
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Technology vs Décor The Best Options for Hiding Technology in a Home By Jay Basen
The vast majority of projects that I worked on in my career involved the integration of smart technology into large homes. However, my very first project as an integrator was for a bar/ restaurant. The facility was going through a major redesign that included turning the bar space into a sports bar and remodeling the remainder of the restaurant. There were more than a dozen TVs planned for the bar and multiple zones of distributed audio, for music, in the restaurant, patio, and even the restrooms. The entire system was controlled with a Crestron smart home processor and a large, wall-mounted, Crestron touch panel. The owner of the restaurant wanted the touchpanel to be mounted on a wall behind the bar so the bartender could easily start the system when the restaurant opened, shut it down when it closed, and select which TV’s audio would be heard in the bar based on crowd interest in the sporting events being shown. The day after we worked with the restaurant’s owner to mount the touchpanel exactly where he wanted it, the interior designer on the project came by for a visit. She walked into the bar, took one look at the touchpanel on the wall, and screamed “Who the f*&k put that on MY wall!?!” That was my less-than-subtle introduction to the conflict between technology and décor. Larger smart home integration projects, in many cases, coincide with the remodeling of a home. When TVs and distributed audio are added to a home, traditionally you need to run lots of additional wiring. And, if you are going to tear up the drywall to run new wires, it makes sense to do some additional remodeling. In addition, the larger or more expensive the home, the more likely it is that an interior designer will be involved with the project.
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A single-button keypad can replace a whole wall of light switches.
While I’ve never met another interior designer that had the temper of the one involved in my first project, the challenges of integrating technology into an interior designer’s vision for the décor of a home can be challenging and cause conflicts. Fortunately, there are companies making products today that allow technology to be hidden in a space rather than it being the dominant characteristic of it.
Smart Lighting The realization of how important lighting is in a home, and the involvement of lighting designers in projects, has led to an increase in the number of lighting loads in a room. Task lights, accent lights, lights to illuminate artwork, lighting for wall wash effects, and more, are now becoming much more common in homes. In a room with a large number of lighting loads, the light switch stack can look like “wall acne.”
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• Safety – Smart window treatments can be automatically opened during an emergency to make it easier for family members to exit the home if normal pathways are blocked by fire. It also allows first responders to see into the home to help find anyone who has not been able to get out by themselves. In the case of a burglary, opening window treatments allows neighbors and first responders to see what is happening in the home. Finally, having window treatments automatically closed in the evening keeps outsiders from knowing whether family members are home, or not.
In a room with a large number of lighting loads, the light switch stack can look like “wall acne,” a problem solved by a lighting control system.
However, a single multi-button keypad can be used to trigger lighting scenes that provide a homeowner with the day-to-day control they need without a wall full of switches. Should the need for additional adjustments to the lights arise, a smartphone app can be used. Crestron, Savant, and Lutron offer designer keypads that can control either individual loads or lighting scenes. They also offer custom engraving of the buttons so the function of each button can be permanently labeled on it. Crestron and Lutron systems don’t come cheap, but they offer the ability to integrate technology into a home and, at the same time, hide the fact that this is a hi-tech solution.
window, the window treatment can be closed to provide additional insulation against heat loss through the window (according to the U.S. Department of Energy about 30% of a home’s heating energy is lost through windows). In the summer, smart window treatments can be closed when the sun is shining directly into a window to reduce solar heat gain and save on the energy required for air-conditioning your home. • Glare reduction – Smart window treatments can be closed when the sun is directly shining through a window to reduce glare.
• Privacy – It is very easy for passersby to see into a home at night when lights are on in the home. Smart window treatments can be automatically closed at sunset to protect the privacy of the homeowners. • Security – Programming smart window treatments to open/close during the day can, just like programming smart lighting to periodically turn on/off, make potential thieves believe that someone is home. • Protection of valuable furnishings – Smart window treatments can be closed when the sun is directly shining through a window to protect expensive furnishings and artwork from damage from the sun.
Motorized Shades/Drapes/Curtains Installing motorized blinds, shades, and drapes isn’t the first choice for people starting to create a smart home. However, automating the operation of blinds, shades, and drapes has real advantages. • Daylight harvesting – When the sun is not shining directly into a window, the window treatment can be automatically opened to provide indirect light into the room that minimizes the need for using electrical lights during the day. • Solar heating – In the winter, smart window treatments can be opened to allow the sun to shine directly into a window to help heat a room. When the room gets too warm, or when the sun is no longer shining directly into the
Graber offers motorized shading solutions at more modest prices.
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Technology vs Décor
Nest, Ecobee, Honeywell, and more. And, most of these thermostats are unobtrusive enough to neither stand out in a home nor clash with the home’s décor. For those who want a completely hidden thermostat installation, Crestron has a solution. Crestron offers a thermostat (DIN-THSTAT) that can be hidden away in a DIN rail cabinet. Crestron offers remote temperature (CHVRTS) and temperature/humidity (CHV-RTHS) sensors that are wired back to the thermostat. The face of the sensor is 1.5 inches in diameter, sits only 1/8-inch above the surface of a wall, and can be painted, or wallpapered, to match the wall. This allows them to almost completely disappear from view. There are also a wide range of solutions for motorizing drapes and curtains, such as the SwitchBot Curtain at only around $100.
Today, there are a wide range of motorized shading solutions available. Even IKEA offers motorized roller shades that can be integrated with a smart home hub. In addition, there are manufacturers that offer motorized shades that are indistinguishable from their non-motorized counterparts, have a wide selection of material options to fit into any décor, and are battery operated and wirelessly controlled so it isn’t necessary to run wiring to each window location.
Instead, people spend some time working at home, some time meeting with customers outside the home, some time in an office, there are days that the kids stay home from school and leverage computers for remote learning and more. With this kind of chaotic schedule, a traditional “seven-day scheduling thermostat” that allows you to enter a fixed schedule to set back the daytime set point of the heating and air conditioning system is totally inadequate.
Crestron and Lutron are premium providers of motorized shades. However, companies like Levolor, Hunter Douglas, and Graber also have motorized shading solutions at more modest prices.
Fortunately, there are a wide range of smart thermostats available from Amazon, Google
Loudspeakers Hiding speakers in a room can be very challenging. If you want your speakers to be completely invisible, then speakers from Stealth Acoustics offer a unique solution. Stealth Acoustics offers a wide range of speaker choices that are installed into the drywall of a wall and completely hidden from sight. Installation requires: • Speaker wire to be run into the wall • A hole in the drywall to be cut to fit the speaker in between two wall studs • The speaker to be screwed to the studs • Drywall tape applied around the speaker • Drywall compound to be applied to blend the speaker into the surrounding drywall • Optionally a skim coat of drywall compound can be applied over the entire speaker if a
There are also a wide range of solutions for motorizing drapes and curtains. One solution is to install a motorized drapery track. Somfy is one manufacturer of this type of system. There are also retrofit solutions available from a variety of other manufacturers. Some of these are incredibly economical; such as the SwitchBot Curtain at only around $100. Heating and Air Conditioning Adding intelligence to the operation of a heating and air conditioning system can save a great deal of money on utility bills. But, unlike in years past, many people don’t have nine to five jobs that take them to an office every day.
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There are a wide range of smart thermostats, including from Ecobee, that are unobtrusive enough to neither stand out in a home nor clash with the home’s décor.
monitoraudio.com/install
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Technology vs Décor
textured finish, such as Venetian plaster, is desired • Careful sanding • Painting Once this process is complete, the speakers are completely invisible. There are other solutions for hiding standard speakers. Some options are: • Placing them in large baskets with a weave that isn’t too tight so the sound isn’t muffled. • If the room is large enough, a false wall can be constructed, and the speakers are hidden in the gap between the original wall and the new, false wall. Speaker cloth that matches the paint color of the wall can be used to finish the look. • Match the finish of the speakers and the color of the grill cloth with the media cabinet you choose to hold your electronics. Then place the speakers next to the media cabinet so they blend in and visually become part of the cabinet. TV Nothing can take over the décor of a room like a large TV on a wall. No matter how hard an interior designer works to, for example, create the perfect French provincial interior, a large TV will become the elephant in the room. Fortunately, there are several approaches that can be taken to overcome this. TV Lift Cabinet is one company that sells cabinets that include a motorized TV lift. When the TV is off, it is completely hidden inside the cabinet. When the TV is turned on, the motorized lift is activated, and it raises the TV from inside the cabinet for viewing. A built-in IR repeater system allows commands from the TV’s remote control to turn the TV on when it is hidden inside the cabinet. The TV is plugged into a current sensing outlet that activates the lift system to raise/lower the TV when it is switched on/off. TV Lift Cabinet offers a wide range of cabinets in different styles and sizes. People often think that a cabinet that includes a motorized TV lift would only be available in a modern style. However, TV Lift Cabinet has models that will fit into a very traditionally styled home.
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(Above) Stealth Acoustics offers a wide range of speaker choices that are installed into the drywall of a wall and completely hidden from sight. (This photo) TV Lift Cabinet is one company that sells cabinets that include a motorized TV lift.
For those that want a more customized solution, TV Lift Cabinets can build a custom cabinet to your specifications, modify the size of one of their stock cabinets to fit your needs, or custom-finish a cabinet to match other cabinetry in a room. In addition, the lift mechanisms can be purchased separately if you want to work with a local cabinetry shop to build a custom cabinet to match your décor. Another alternative is to turn your TV into a wall mirror by mounting a frame around the TV with a piece of “one-way” mirror in front of it. When the TV is off it looks like a high-end, framed wall mirror. When the TV is turned on, the TV picture shines through the partially mirrored glass. Reflectel is one company that custom builds mirror TV frames. They offer a wide range of finishing choices for their frames including wood, leather, metal, and even a gilded finish. And, unlike many other competing products,
Reflectel offers a choice of different glass options. Their View glass is of optical quality and offers 70% TV picture transmission and 30% reflectivity. At the other end of the scale, Reflectel offers more economical Look glass with 50% transmission of the TV image and 50% reflectivity. Reflectel has been featured in the Wall Street Journal and Forbes. Another way to hide a TV in a room is to use it to display artwork when it isn’t being used for watching sports, movies, etc. Samsung’s Frame TV was specifically designed for this purpose. What makes the Frame TV different is the built-in art mode. When art mode is enabled, the TV can display art from a large library that includes both modern and classic works. A user can even upload their own pictures to the TV for display. To complete the look, Samsung also offers several different frames that can be mounted to the outside of the Frame TV. Or,
Email prochannel@ring.com to learn more and get started.
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Technology vs Décor
At the time of this writing, the BillionDollarArtGallery is currently selling for $39.99 on Amazon, making it the least expensive solution for helping to hide a TV in a room. Of course, the BillionDollarArtGallery could be combined with a picture frame around the TV to complete the look. I had a chance to try the BillionDollarArtGallery. The product works very well, and the images are of very high quality. My only critique is that I wish it included more modern works of art from the 20th, and even the 21st, centuries. However, I understand that more modern pieces of art have copyright protections associated with them, and the licensing to include them in the product would drive up its price.
(Above) Reflectel is one company that custom builds mirror TV frames. (Left) BillionDollarArtGallery offers a way to display famous artwork on almost any smart TV.
companies, such as Frame My TV offer premium frame options to fit the Frame TV. If you want to turn your existing TV into an art display, or if you prefer a TV brand other than Samsung and want to use it to display art when the TV isn’t in use, then the BillionDollarArtGallery offers this option for almost any smart TV. It is a simple USB stick that can be inserted into a smart TV’s USB port. It provides a two-hour video slide show of some of the most famous paintings in the world from classical times to the early 20th century. Artworks are included from Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent van Gogh, Edgar Degas, and Winslow Homer; to name just a few. The product is well named. BillionDollarArtGallery estimates that if all the paintings included in the product came up for auction they might fetch as much as ten billion dollars. Just consider how much the Mona Lisa alone would sell for if it ever came up for auction.
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Each painting displays for approximately 10 seconds. For about three seconds of that time, a caption is displayed with the name of the painting, the artist’s name, the year when the painting was painted, and the name of the museum where the painting is displayed. Accompanying the display of the artwork is a classical soundtrack. If the music isn’t to your taste you can simply mute it. The images are all formatted to a resolution of 3840 x 2160 with a black background. This matches the resolution of most TVs. The background is included so the TV won’t zoom in on the image and distort it from the shape the artist intended. Images of all 500 individual paintings are included on the USB stick. This allows owners of the product to create their own collections for display. For example, a family with children might want to eliminate the display of paintings with nude images.
Finally, if you are handy with woodworking tools, there are easily found instructions on the Internet for creating your own picture frame around your TV. A quick Google search for “DIY TV picture frame” will provide you with plenty of information and options. Combining this with the BillionDollarArtGallery provides a very economical solution for hiding a TV. Smart home technology doesn’t need to take over the décor of a home. There are a wealth of options for hiding technology in a home. Multi-button smart keypads can trigger lighting scenes that operate multiple lighting loads in a room and eliminate a wall full of light switches. Motorized window coverings offer a wide range of benefits in a home and come in a large variety of fabrics, materials, and styles to fit in with any décor. Smart Thermostats can save energy and money on utility bills. And, they aren’t any more intrusive to a home’s décor than older models There are many options for hiding speakers in a room including models that mount into drywall, building them into a wall, and more. Motorized lifts can hide a TV inside a cabinet. A TV can also be framed to look like a wall mirror and images of artwork can be displayed on the TV to make it a statement piece in the room instead of an eyesore. Some of these options can be costly but others are available at very reasonable prices. x
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Tech Trends To Watch in 2022 Market for Telehealth and Virtual Care Growing, Along With Home Network Monitoring Services By Elizabeth Parks, President, Parks Associates The role of technology continues to be more and more valuable for consumers and businesses. As we look to 2022, we will continue to see specific product and category trends from 2021 carryover and expand into the New Year. The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically accelerated the market for telehealth services, virtual care, and the future of remote patient monitoring. As of April 2021, Parks Associates’ research shows that two-thirds of respondents are familiar with telehealth services compared to just 50% in May of 2020, and telehealth use skyrocketed from 15% in Q2 2019 to 64% in 2021.
Much of this increase was driven by necessity: one-third of telehealth service users report their doctor would see them only virtually. Children are a vital driver of use – 82% of respondents with children in the home have used telehealth instead of just 51% of households without children. The forced familiarity with virtual care lays a foundation for future growth. Consumers now understand what it is and how to access services. In addition to virtual care services, consumers continue to buy more and more connected health devices – now, 40% of broadband
Home Networking and Wi-Fi Extenders: Purchase Intention % Likely to Purchase Device Over the Next Six Months
U.S. Broadband Households 30%
15%
0%
Q1/2017
Q1/2018
Courtesy of Parks Associates
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Q1/2019
Q1/2020
Q1/2021
households own multiple connected health devices, and 55% of households own at least one. Wearables are the top category of health devices, but one-quarter of broadband households report having a connected medical device like a connected blood pressure cuff. The growing adoption of smartwatches drives the overall growth of the connected health device category. In the future, we will see additional services extend from these devices to provide vital health data and statistics for consumers.
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Overall Adoption of Connected Health Devices U.S. Broadband Households Surveyed
% Owning at Least One Connected Health Device
70%
35%
0%
Q3/2016
Q2/2017
Q1/2019
Q2/2020
Q2/2021
Courtesy of Parks Associates
Additionally, interest in a home network monitoring service has jumped by more than 60% from 2021 to 2022 – 42% of U.S. broadband households are very interested in a network monitoring service that proactively identifies and resolves network issues, up from 22% in 2021. This spike in interest comes as households report more tech problems with their Wi-Fi connections and devices in the home. Many households are straining their current broadband connections up and down limits, with more people working at home, OTT services streaming to multiple screens, and more smart home devices connected to the home network. Currently, 36% of households have a smart home device, and 74% own a home network router. Consumers will continue to seek solutions to manage the home Wi-Fi network in 2022, and in 2020 we increased purchase rates for mesh networks and Wi-Fi extenders. When it comes to these trends, 2022 will be a challenge for many companies due to low semiconductor chip availability and supply chain chaos. In addition, labor shortages and skilled workers will be a challenge for many verticals in consumer technology. It is unknown
when these issues will truly ease. Still, categories have experienced heightened demand in some cases thanks to the pandemic, such as smart TVs and the high adoption of streaming services supporting that demand. Retailers and device makers may not meet consumer demand, but margins will be high enough for revenue growth. While there isn’t a quick or predictable solution to semiconductor supply chain issues, in general, product demand levels are back to normal after 2020 and 2021’s pandemic-fueled stimulus. However, overall easing of demandside pressure on the supply chain isn’t expected until at least the end of 2022. The knock-on effects of manufacturing component shortages and backlogs may cause further disruption into 2023 and 2024. As pricing remains higher than usual, consumers perceived value of home entertainment-related technology products is likely to remain permanently elevated – despite some cooling off due to societal behavior gradually shifting back to activities outside the home. Looking into 2022, new product trends such as virtual reality will pick up steam among
consumers – as of Q3 2021, 11% of U.S. broadband households report owning a VR headset. This is up from roughly 6% in Q1 2019. More affordable hardware, standalone headsets such as the Oculus Quest, and improvements in UX and game availability have helped the category grow. While consumer demand is high, VR is being impacted by the same issues as consumer electronics overall – the chipset shortage and supply chain issues are hurting production and product availability and slowing consumer adoption, even with high demand. Lastly, augmented reality (AR) still suffers from historical challenges. Few consumer AR applications are a better or more useful experience than a regular 2D screen. It remains a solution in search of a problem in the consumer market. For businesses and for industry, more applications are being developed and helping the category grow, but overall, it remains niche. There is so much disruption and change for consumers and businesses alike. With these disruptions comes the opportunity to adapt to change and embrace new consumer value for the connected home. Integration, interoperability, and focus on privacy and security will be key themes throughout 2022 for the connected home. x Vol. 4 / Issue 1 | Residential Tech Today
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REVIEW
‘Toe in the Water’ Home Theater Putting the Enclave CineHome II | CineHub Edition WiSA Speaker System to the Test
By Henry Clifford
The folks at Enclave Audio sent me their CineHome II | CineHub Edition 5.1 WiSA system to check out earlier this month. This little home theater in a box product is squarely DIY with a price point around $1,000. How good could it possibly sound? I set out to see for myself. Unboxing CineHome II The CineHome II | CineHub Edition ships in a “Plain Jane” cardboard box that opens to reveal a pretty slick packaging presentation inside. Two accessory boxes lie nestled in foam atop the speakers below. Quick start instructions are
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printed clearly on the box, inviting the user to begin with the included user guide. Six speakers sit labeled intuitively beneath the initial foam cocoon, corresponding precisely to an included picture guide. This may be one of the best setup/unboxing experiences I’ve seen. I don’t review many DIY products, so I’m guessing this may be standard fare for this type of gear. That said, the pro channel could take a few notes here and remember that pro installers are people too and a little guidance goes a long way. CineHome II Installation This part was pretty easy. The guide told me
to place all six speakers according to the included diagram, plug them in, and turn on the CineHub once they were all powered on. I carried each one to its place, plugged it in, and turned on the power. Blue lights started flashing immediately on the back of each speaker and turned solid once the CineHub was installed. The connectivity between the system and the hub was also extremely intuitive and flexible. The CineHome II | CineHub Edition is capable of accepting incoming connections from HDMI ARC, eARC (coming soon), SPDIF, and analog mini stereo.
REVIEW
as my source and ensuring the content was multichannel. The sound immediately came alive, and I felt the true surround signal moving around me and giving that immersive effect you only get with a true 5.1 system (sorry waveguide solutions, you’re pretty good, but ain’t nothing like an actual speaker behind you when it counts). I moved to the Top Gun: Maverick trailer and was impressed by the WiSA system delivering solid performance with no skipping or latency. I didn’t hear killer sound out of the box, so I consulted the app. There are numerous tweaks available to adjust individual speaker levels and also an idiot-proof “Whole Room Stereo” mode. I played around with each mode and found that I could achieve a pretty nice sound by adjusting the subwoofer dB gain just a bit.
Whether you have a TV, computer, or standalone streaming box as your source, the CineHub can take it. This is a nice departure from similar systems where they seem to assume everyone in the world now has eARC gear with a spare HDMI output. I used SPDIF optical audio and connected my TV and the CineHub together. Once all connections were made, I downloaded the Enclave app as directed by the quick start guide. The app quickly found my system via Bluetooth, and I was able to connect seamlessly. I felt this part could have used a little more
“wizarding.” I didn’t see any options to add a universal remote control or tune the room. Don’t get me wrong, I figured those out on my own, but for such a killer unboxing and initial installation to lose steam in user-friendliness before the finish line was dissonant. I may not have even noticed this stark contrast had the hardware portion not been so well done. After I’d connected the app, downloaded a firmware update, and made sure I’d cued up some content, I started watching a few demo videos to see how things sounded. First up, I watched a Dolby Surround reel using YouTube
Final Report Overall, I liked the sound quality and the Enclave CineHome II | CineHub Edition delivers a lot for the money. At $1,099.98, I’m having a hard time understanding how they managed to make such a highquality system at such a low price point. While I certainly don’t see it replacing any of the pro products that we offer day to day, Enclave has introduced us to a customer we don’t usually see, and that’s a great combination. I recommend the Enclave CineHome II | CineHub Edition as a “toe in the water” for custom integrators to try their hand at catering to a DIY audience. The product itself will delight the consumer and should produce minimal support calls. Who knows what buried treasure may lay ahead for those willing to try something new? x
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REVIEW
Mid-Century Modern Audio Assessing Floorstanding Loudspeakers That Evoke the Mad Men Era By Henry Clifford
KLH Model Fives reflect the AV industry’s recent nostalgia trip.
The KLH Model Five have finally started shipping, and I was lucky enough to get a shot at listening to the long-awaited reboot of the iconic floor-standing speaker a few months ago. My anticipation had been building for almost two years since they announced the resurrection of the KLH brand. Would they live up to the hype? I was about to find out. KLH Model Five First Impressions The AV world seems to be on a nostalgia kick lately, and the KLH Model Fives are no exception to this hot trend. They evoke visions of Mad Men and summon the emotions experienced while sitting in one of Herman Miller’s classic Eames chairs. Can we all say “Mid Century Modern” together? They come in English Walnut or West African Mahogany in real wood veneers with accompanying custom magnetic cloth grille
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options in stone wash and old-world linen. The woofer construction itself is an acoustic suspension system pioneered by KLH’s founder, Henry Kloss, many moons ago. Each KLH Model Five also ships with a fivedegree riser base, floating them just off the floor at a jaunty angle. The end result is a killer pair of retro speakers looking right at home in any wellappointed, hipster-inspired space. Listening to the KLH Model Five I started with Elbow’s song “K2” to get a sense of the KLH Model Five’s overall presence. The early part of the song filled the room, and I was struck immediately by a solid midrange and highfrequency blend with a solid low end. I continued along with Mark Knofpler’s “Sailing to Philadelphia” and heard impressive handling of the guitar solos and vocals. Finally, I wanted to
hear how the low-end fared. I cued up Muse’s “Madness” and listened carefully through the first 45 seconds of the song. This is one area where the jury might still be out for me as I listened to content from TIDAL streaming via AirPlay 2 to a Parasound amplifier. I kept wishing for a little more bass – the kind that would come from a dedicated active subwoofer. Final Report The KLH Model Fives have been a long time coming, and they don’t disappoint aesthetically or acoustically. At $999.99 each, they’re affordable for a wide range of buyers and are a great way to step into better sound without breaking the bank. They also come with a 10-year warranty, boosting peace of mind and emphasizing the KLH commitment to service. If you want a pair, best of luck; they’re back-ordered for the foreseeable future. x
PRODUCT REVOLUTION
URC’s Total Control system has launched an integration with Comcast Xfinity, the first certified integration in the CI industry for the 39-state content platform. The new integration includes native experience where the end-user can leverage voice control with most Total Control interfaces and via most Comcast Xfinity handheld remotes. Xfinity cable internet is available to an estimated 111 million users making it the largest residential cable provider in the U.S.
Draper Foundation provides a new way to ensure more precise installation of direct view LED (dvLED) videowalls, which require much more precision than other displays. Even a tiny imperfection in mounting destroys the seamless effect of dvLED. The Foundation is designed and manufactured with high levels of precision and two levels of adjustability. Adjustability at the wall allows it to absorb inconsistent flatness. The second level allows fine Z-adjustment at the panel to overcome tiny imperfections that can occur between batches of LED cabinets.
Kaleidescape’s new compact Terra 6 terabyte, when combined with a Strato C player, replaces the Kaleidescape Strato S as the company’s entry-level system. With the power to download feature-length 4K movies in as little as 10 minutes on a gigabit internet connection, the compact Terra 6TB provides four times faster movie downloads than the Strato S 6TB all-in-one player-server. In addition, a compact Terra 6TB can serve up to five simultaneous 4K Ultra HD playbacks on Strato players in different rooms, compared to only two simultaneous playbacks for Strato S.
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The On Wall 301 and On Wall 302 loudspeakers from French brand Focal are on-wall loudspeakers that fit around a TV. The company also has added a bookshelf model and a center speaker to its Aria K2 family. The new loudspeakers incorporate the brand’s exclusive technologies, such as its Flax speaker drivers, with their cone made from French flax. They also feature an aluminum/magnesium tweeter, offering well-defined treble. The On Wall 300 features an “angled” silhouette and is available in Black Satin or White High Gloss finishes.
PRODUCT REVOLUTION Bowers & Wilkins has launched two new Midnight Blue Metallic versions of its 705 Signature stand-mount and 702 Signature floor-standing loudspeakers. The models feature the same combination of drive unit design and crossover componentry as the existing Datuk Gloss-finished 700 Series Signature models, which remain available to purchase. A decoupled Continuum cone midrange drive unit is featured on the 702 Signature, complemented by Aerofoil-profile bass drivers. Both models also feature a Carbon Dome tweeter, housed in a Solid Body Tweeter-on-Top assembly. Modus Match Partner Program expedites the addition of partner products into Modus VR software and projects. At the time of launch, 19 key AV companies have already joined the new program. With the technology users can position all AV technology, preview monitor/camera viewing angles, rearrange furniture, and perform a complete preview of their integrated tech project in a VR environment or through meeting platforms such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet. The software allows clients to see and experience what they are going to get long before construction even begins.
Masonite M-Pwr Smart Doors are the first residential exterior doors to integrate power, lights, video doorbell, and a smart lock into a residential exterior door system. These doors employ patentpending, Underwriters Laboratories (UL) certified technology to connect to a home’s electrical system and wireless internet network. To ensure that the doors are “always on” in the event of a power outage, an emergency backup battery can sustain system power up to 24 hours when fully charged. A smartphone app enables homeowners to remotely program and control motion-activated LED welcome lighting as well as confirm whether the door is open or closed at any time.
Leon Speakers and Detroit artist Mike Han are collaborating on a series of three paintings titled “Detroit Vibrations,” which are exclusive additions to Leon’s Artist Edition Collection for the Ente SoundTile. An Ente SoundTile transforms a stereo system from a speaker into a work of art. Two channels of reference-grade audio and an amplifier are concealed behind a perforated metal speaker grille with an artwork screen printed on top. The sound tile mounts directly to the wall, appearing more like an art piece than an audio component.
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PRODUCT REVOLUTION
NAD Electronics says that its new C 399 Hybrid Digital DAC Amplifier is the “clearest expression yet” of its commitment to sonic excellence and lasting value. Employing NAD’s HybridDigital nCore amplification, which until now has been available only on Masters Series amplifiers, the C 399 is the new flagship integrated amplifier in NAD’s Classic Series. The amp’s digital section is built around a 32-bit/384kHz ESS Sabre DAC, which is the same chip used in NAD’s M10 and M33 Masters Series amplifiers.
Platinum Tools’ new weatherproof RJ45 coupler housing (p/n 744) protects almost any RJ45 coupler from dust and splashes in security camera installations. Dual locking lugs keep the housing securely closed while dual center mounting points allow the housing to be secured with screws or cable ties. Additional features include an IP64 rating, Cat-5e/6/6A compatibility with an appropriate coupler, full rubber liner, and dual locking latches, and centermounting points to secure to a surface. Consult the Platinum Tools website for compatible Cat-5e, Cat-6, and Cat-6A couplers.
Polk Audio has developed its first Dolby Atmos sound bar system, the Signa S4, which features seven drivers, including two upward-firing speakers. When paired with the included wireless subwoofer, the complete sound bar system provides a cinematic surround sound experience for a lower price. The Signa S4 uses two upward-firing speakers that deliver Dolby Atmos height channels to create overhead sound. The Signa S4 can also up-mix non-Atmos rendering height, surround, and center channels to create a virtual Atmos experience.
Origin Acoustics’ new Professional Collection in-ceiling speakers were designed to provide integrator-friendly features and musicality. Each model is a 2-way loudspeaker with a pivoting silk DPSD tweeter, utilizing Origin’s patented MultiMotion Pivoting for superior aiming and dispersion. The new in-ceiling models, the PC50, PC60, and PC80 are available in three sizes, are now shipping. The new PCSUB8 Subwoofer with an 8-inch IMMP Woofer and 200 Watts of power will be available in the second quarter of 2022.
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COMING UP
Future Issues: Volume 4 Issue 2: Outdoor Entertainment. The global pandemic generated more interest in enhancing home entertainment systems both inside and outside the home. Now, more than ever, the quality of outdoor speaker, TVs, lighting, and Wi-Fi coverage is at the front of mind for homeowners. • Doorbell and Security Cameras • Touchscreens and Remote Controls
Issue 3: Azione Unlimited’s spring event will be held in New Orleans.
Themed around “New Dreams,” the next Azione Unlimited conference, March 28-30 in New Orleans, LA, will feature forwardthinking conversations on the impact of selling lighting, navigating supply chain issues, and where the industry is headed. HTSA members and vendors will gather March 28-30 at the Marriott Harbor Beach hotel, in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, for their annual Spring Conference. They will network, build and renew relationships, join specially created workshops and discussions, and experience incomparable guest speakers.
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Access Control and Home Security. From video doorbells to professionalquality surveillance cameras, alarm panels, and motion sensors, the home security system has evolved into a combination of DIY and pro-level options. • Lighting Control and Motorized Shades • Healthy Home Tech
Issue 4: Managing Residential Power. The electrical infrastructure of the home is more complicated than it used to be with line noise, grounding challenges, and managing renewal energy sources as they enter the home. • Projection Screens • Soundbars
Issue 5: The Network Backbone of the Home. Now, more than ever, it’s essential that home networks provide both wired and wireless accommodations to create the best service for the end-user customer as an increasing number of intelligent devices are added every year and cybersecurity risks increase. • Video Projectors and TVs • AV Distribution and Switching
Issue 6: Listening Test. Loudspeaker designs continue to evolve as new materials and computer-aided design tools enable audio manufacturers to improve and enhance the way music and movie audio are reproduced in the home environment. • Power Management Products • AV Receivers and Power Amplifiers Vol. 4 / Issue 1 | Residential Tech Today
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RELAX
The Lighter Side
Tongue-in-Cheek 2022 Tech & Media Predictions By Anthony Elio The new year is well underway. At least that’s what I’m told, as the pyramid scheme I joined that I’m suspecting might be a cult has us following the Cutcorian calendar. While there was plenty of dread heading into the year, it’s been surprisingly enjoyable thus far, as a recent court appeal means that I am only unwelcome in 16,715 of 16,716 T.J. Maxx locations. 2022 is sure to be another big year for technology and media as well, especially since Best Buy just started sending out coupons again. Let’s take a gander at the 2022 crystal ball.
A New Disney+ Project Will Be Announced
The Social Media Era Will End
As a Disney+ subscriber, I’m always excited for the latest new project to premiere exclusively on the platform. One show I’m looking forward to is [new production based on Marvel or Star Wars intellectual property]. The series, which focuses on [obscure character from the extended universe], already has me hyped. The casting of [celebrity that hasn’t been canceled yet] was a bold choice, and one that’s sure to please longtime fans and newcomers alike. I’ve also heard rumors that the series will touch on [relevant social issue] and possibly lead into [next Disney-produced series to become hyped about].
According to a graph I just drew, international social media use has been on the rise for over a decade. However, in 2022, after years of universal positive change thanks to social media, the top platforms such as Facebook and Twitter will fold as the culture moves on. Pictures of unsightly children will be confined to physical photo albums. Checking up on an ex will have to be done the classic way by hiring a private detective to tail them and peruse their garbage. Bullying will once again be done in person, as was always intended.
Headphone Jack Debate Intensifies While it’s quite difficult to divide U.S. citizens, 2022 will be the year when the cracks begin to show. The elimination of the headphone jack, a recent movement in the world of smartphones, will spark a fierce debate between Bluetooth progressives and wired earbud conservationists. While the conversation will start peacefully before long, Thanksgiving dinners will be divided. Public clashes will spike as tensions rise. Late-night hosts will provide meandering, humorless rants on the subject. Hug your children. The future is bleak.
Murder Podcast Demand Will Overcome Supply Over the past few years, people have evolved from constantly fearing being brutally murdered in their sleep to listening to podcasts about brutal murders to help them fall asleep. Shows such as “My Favorite Manson” and “WTF, BTK?” have been downloaded by the millions, satisfying all six of the different podcast advertisers. However, 2022 will see the popularity of serial killer podcasts officially outpace the number of actual serial killers throughout history. In response, Stitcher, Spotify, and Podbean will begin adding serial killers of their own to the payroll in order to keep up with demand.
Anthony Elio is a writer and disgraced former child star located in Denver, CO. He currently plays drums in the band Television Generation and can be found on Twitter at @AntsSweatsBets.
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The Original Custom-Width Soundbar Leon’s Horizon soundbars provide an unrivaled listening experience, bringing all your music, movies, and TV to life with stunning authenticity. And because they’re custom built to match the width of any TV, they provide a discreet aesthetic that blends seamlessly, beautifully into any room.
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