SEE ALSO: Prepare for a New School Year with a Home Network Upgrade CABLE TV ALTERNATIVES Cutting ties with your cable company isn’t as fraught as it used to be. There’s been a boom in video streaming services, from Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon to YouTube, HBO, and Disney. For dedicated cinephiles, there are also niche services like Criterion (for ol

SEE ALSO: Prepare for a New School Year with a Home Network Upgrade HOME WIRELESS BASICS Three components form the backbone of your home wireless network. These are your modem, your router and the cabling that links everything. Your modem is what use you use to connect your home to the Internet via your Internet service provider (ISP). If you reme

SEE ALSO: I’m smart… I’ll make my home smart too MORE INTERNET-ENABLED DEVICES The sheer number of internet-enabled devices that have hit the market in recent years can put a strain on your network. Desktop and laptop computers, phones, gaming consoles, speakers and TVs, thermostats, security devices, light fixtures and even some appliances can no

SEE ALSO: A Simple Guide To Improving Your Home Network Performance You’ve Got a Need for Speed! You want a robust home network that lets you watch a high-definition action movie while a family member binge watches their favorite TV show in another room. At the same time, you may have a child who needs to use the computer for a research project, o

SEE ALSO: 5 Ways To Install A Hidden Speaker System   Location Location is the most important thing you should consider when installing your outdoor video system. Outdoor TVs by Séura are built in two models: The Shade Series and Ultra Bright. With the Shade Series screen, ideally it should go under a deck or a gazebo and facing away from the Flor

More Energy Efficient Compared to other types of light bulbs, LEDs are up to 90% more efficient, with an average lifespan of 60,000 hours (compared to the typical 1,500 hours of incandescent bulbs). LEDs can usually last ten times longer than small fluorescent bulbs and 133 times longer than incandescent. LEDs require less power, which is excellen

SEE ALSO: Live A Brighter, Better Life with Lutron Home Automation   Geofencing Are you the type of person who always forgets to turn the entryway light off when you leave for work? Lutron smart lighting offers a solution with its geofencing feature. Your Lutron system will control your lights based on your location. It will automatically turn you

SEE ALSO: 3 Unusual Whole-Home Audio Hacks to Try   Audio Fabric Audio fabric is a fantastic way to hide your speakers without compromising on sound quality. You can conceal speakers in custom made cabinets that are covered by audio fabric, or, if you have a dedicated home theater or media room, you can even create false walls to hide your speaker

SEE ALSO: 4 Spaces in Your Home Perfect for Lutron Smart Lighting   Safety Did you know motorized blinds can make your home safer? Cords pose a danger to pets and children who might become tangled in them. In the worst-case scenario, they could even pose a choking hazard. Motorized shades do not need a cord, so you don’t have to worry about your c

SEE ALSO: 4 Spaces in Your Home Perfect for Lutron Smart Lighting MORNING It all begins at sunrise. When it’s time to wake up, your lights will kick in automatically. Gradually, they’ll brighten and mimic the warm, amber colors of the dawn. The intensity of the lights will increase slowly to bring you awake at a more measured, leisurely pace. Does

SEE ALSO: Up the Fun Factor in Your Backyard with Outdoor Audio BEYOND AUTOMATION: A TRULY ‘SMART’ HOME Most of us have an idea what “smart home” means, but the term itself can sometimes be inaccurate. Many smart systems can be automated to increase convenience, but they’re not really “learning” so they can improve their functionality. With more a

SEE ALSO: How You Can Benefit from Control4 Smart Home Automation THE KITCHEN There are a couple of gimmes for any kitchen when it comes to automation, and chances are you may have installed these systems in the home already: lighting control, whole-home audio, etc. These systems serve the same purpose everywhere in a home. One way to make them wo

SEE ALSO: 3 Unusual Whole-Home Audio Hacks to Try It is Easier to Use Josh.ai does not require a wake word such as "Hey Alexa" to register your command. It is smart enough to know when you are talking to it. The creators believe that instead of users training to use their machines, machines should be trained to work with their users. Josh.ai is no

SEE ALSO: Improve Your Design by Hiding Your AV Components!   Connect a Turntable or CD Player! Old meets new when you blend sophisticated audio distribution with the music you’ve been collecting for decades. Many of us miss the good old days of listening to music from retro devices, so we think you'll be delighted that these once-antique music pl

SEE ALSO: 3 Powerful Benefits of Smart Home Lighting Control LIVING ROOM In most homes, the living room is one of the busiest spots in the house. The heavy foot traffic makes your living room an ideal place to install Lutron lighting. You can use subtle spotlights and recessed fixtures to highlight pieces of art or other notable elements in the ro

SEE ALSO: How You Can Benefit from Control4 Smart Home Automation CONTROL4 PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS Whole-home automation entails installing up to hundreds of different devices made from various manufacturers. Once all those devices are in place, they need to talk to each other. It’s vital that your home control system can mesh with all your devices

SEE ALSO: 3 Powerful Benefits of Smart Home Lighting Control WIRED: PROS AND CONS The primary reasons to go with a wired system are reliability and centralized control. In these systems, every fixture is directly linked to a central lighting switch, which is usually housed in an out-of-the-way spot like a utility closet. A direct, hardwired connec

SEE ALSO: How Integrators Help Builders Create Better Smart Homes MORE CUSTOMIZATION With OS 3, Control4 has made it easier than ever to customize the system to suit any customer’s needs. Families can now select distinct backgrounds in the Control4 app for every room in their house. They can upload their own photos, or they can choose from among C

SEE ALSO: 3 Powerful Benefits of Smart Home Lighting Control SEEING THE LIGHT A quick refresher on the benefits of smart lighting, in general, is in order. With warm-dimming LEDs and tunable white lights, Lutron lighting control gives you nearly infinite colors to choose from for any space in your home. Lutron lighting control harnesses light to h

SEE ALSO: How You Can Benefit from Control4 Smart Home Automation HOME THEATER NECESSITIES A 4K UHD-resolution TV or projector offers the best image quality for your home theater. We also recommend choosing a display that incorporates High-Dynamic Range imaging, or HDR. Displays with HDR technology offer greater color contrast and create a more vi