You can purchase this and other movies on Blu-ray at this link:  Blu-ray.com

It’s not easy to use a keyboard with a TV, and there’s no mouse, so Web browsing on your flatscreen is still clunky.

Well, that’s about to change.

By 2014, In-Stat reports, 57 million U.S. households will be watching full-length online content from TVs. That’s expected to be a $17 billion industry. Why? According to NewTeeVee.com:

This research is supported by the belief that the number of installed web-enabled video devices will increase to 237 million units over the next five years. In-Stat also believes that in 2014, the the set-top box market will be worth $1.4B, undoubtedly a major part of that potential growth, thanks to the 11 million hybrid boxes enabling that web-to-TV connection.

There are a bunch of new devices and services available that will contribute to this. At Sound and Image Design, we’re seeing more and more boxes being built with Internet connectivity and, as NewTeeVee mentions, new set-top boxes and services (see Boxee, YouTube’s so-called Leanback user interface for couch — or recliner — viewing and Google TV) make it easier to browse the web on a TV.

Many of these services turn the TV screen into an easily navigable iPhone-style app center.

If you’re in the Central Virginia area,  you’re a phone call away from getting the web on the final frontier: your living room TV.  Give us a call at 804.741.5816 for a complimentary assessment of what you’ll need to get it done effectively, and at the right cost.

Technology, in and of itself, can be very complex. Boxes contain buttons and lights and switches and ports and inputs and outputs and wires and cables. So when we see a high-end piece of home theater equipment that is clean, simple to use and works well, we get happy.

Musical Fidelity M3i Integrated Amplifier

Take Musical Fidelity’s new M3i integrated amplifier. This thing looks like the sports car of amps. Audiophiles will love having this as part of their high-end home theater system. This review from Neil Gader at AVGuide.com really puts the 20-pound M3i through the paces.

It’s proudly back-to-basics in functions and connectivity. True to the audiophile ethic, there are no tone or balance controls to tarnish the signal. It even shrugs off the near-commonplace front-panel iPod mini-jack.

But with a handful of RCA inputs, a tape loop, home-theater bypass, and pre-outs, the M3i is…all about business. The flat-black front panel is accented by a large aluminum rotary volume control and tiny pushbuttons with virtually unreadable micro-labeling and pin-lighting.

A sign of the times, yes, but with the emphasis having shifted to remote controls, front-panel legibility is rapidly becoming an afterthought. Unless you have the eyesight of a barn owl or wear night-vision glasses leave the switching to the full-featured remote.

The review goes pretty deep, as Gader points out the A/V minutiae that only an audiophile like us would notice (the little things make a big difference!). He sums up:

Its performance is rock-solid, it’s sonically well-rounded, and it’s comfortable with a wide array of speakers. And it’s all served up in an elegant, no-nonsense package—exactly the way I like my audio prepared. Well done.

The M3i starts around $1,500. Give us a call and we can show you an array of amp options in addition to the M3i.  804.741.5816.

We’ve already seen it in the music industry, as iTunes takes over and music stores shut their doors.  And you can see it happening as the likes of Blockbuster and Movie Gallery close.

Netflix, the nation’s most popular mail-order DVD movie service, projects that business to start falling in 2014 as their “Instant” direct-to-TV streaming services (and others like it) take off. Check out this graph, it’s pretty telling.

So what’s this mean for consumers? Well, for movies, it means cataloguing movie discs into either a physical library or making them accessible from a computer – a Media Server can play movies stored on an internal hard drive or external attached or networked hard drive (aka NAS drive).

You can also buy or rent movies straight from the Internet and keep them stored on a hard drive, such as an Apple TV or an Xbox or PlayStation. Or simply take advantage of on-demand movie services.

Most consumers already have music figured out.  iTunes software has made it easy.

Renting movies on a DVD is going away, and going away fast.  Honestly, if you’re thinking of buying anything on a CD or DVD, even Blu-Ray, think twice.  Invest instead in a solid Internet connection and the devices that you will need to entertain your future.

Consult us if you have questions.  We answer for free.

For a price. And, we think, a headache.

3D TVs are expensive. And the technology required to view a program in 3D isn’t the same as what you see in a movie theater.  Viewing a 3D TV requires special viewing glasses, which essentially filter a 2D movie or TV show and make it more dimensional. 

And everyone looking at the TV must be wearing these glasses.  And they don’t come with the set.  So you’ll pay another $150 to $200 per pair of glasses, which require – yes – batteries.  So what if you have a family of five? What if you have friends over? You’re talking big money. 

If you’re a consumer who loves having a nice entertainment system, you’d be better off buying a nice HD TV and a Blu-ray high-definition DVD player at your favorite big box electronics store.

But if a full home theater experience is what you’re looking for, here’s what you should know: 

We don’t test products in my clients’ homes.  Anything – TVs, cables, security systems, lighting controls – that we install into your house, we have in our own homes or have tested extensively.  We play with it, we test it, and we make sure the technology is going to perform to your expectations and in an easy-to-use, reliable way. 

For now, we don’t recommend 3D TV.  The technology isn’t there yet, the prices are too high, and quite frankly, it’s just not all it’s cracked up to be.

Of course, if you’re still determined to put a 3D TV in your house, we’d be happy to install one for you. We just don’t recommend it!

By the way, our friends at CNET have a great Q&A on 3D TVs. Be sure to check out it out. 

Want to talk to a local expert about 3D TV technology?  Then simply call our home theater showroom at 804.741.5816.

The iPad – a touch-screen tablet about half the size of a piece of paper – is the lowest priced and best touch screen that has ever been released. You can read on it, write on it, browse the Web on it and more.  Most anything you can do on a laptop you can do from the convenience of the ultra-light iPad.

Prior to its launch, though, most of the touch screens that we have used and recommended (for controlling entertainment, HVAC, security or lighting systems) have run a minimum of $1,500. 

The iPad, however, starts at $500.

One of applications you can download for the iPad is “My Home” developed by Control UI for use with Control4, a great technology that allows you to control all of the electronics and systems in your home  through one simple device (provided that your electronics and lighting, security and other home systems have been installed properly).

The app is free, though you’ll need the license for the service and all your electronics integrated with the Control4 network.  It is the best on the market today in terms of all-in-one universal remotes.  

Check out this demo video of the Control4 iPad app on YouTube:

And if you’re big into the environment, the Control4 app is listed as one of the five “greenest” apps, per the Earth2Tech blog.  That’s because it helps automate lights and ensures energy is being saved where needed.

Integrating Control4 technology into your home will require a professional installer, like Sound + Image Design.  We’re CEDIA certified installers. 

For more information about how you can install Control4 home automation technology in your Richmond area home, simply call the Sound and Image showroom at 804.741.5816.  We’ll be happy to answer any of your questions about integrating your iPad and Control4 into a complete home automation system.

Is this what you have in your family room?

How many remote controls do you have on your coffee table right now?  Most homes have at least three, some as many as five or six.  Consolidating them into one can ease headaches, but when it comes to a universal remote, you get what you pay for. 

If you spend $100 or $200, you’ll get one of the more inexpensive universal remotes on the market.  You’ll end up programming it yourself, and more often than not, you’ll find yourself with the same headache you had before, only directed at a single, convoluted piece of equipment.

The difficulty of these remotes is that they’re made by companies that don’t have a concept of what makes a good user interface. Additionally, how all the components work together isn’t a priority either.  And, unfortunately, one of their primary objectives is to engineer the remote with the bare minimum features and make it as inexpensively as possible.

Enter Control4. 

Control4's Home Theater Simple Remote Control

Control4 is a control system that allows you to have one controller for all the electronics in your home, from your TV to your stereo to your game systems to your heating and air conditioning to your indoor and outdoor lighting, security system, garage door, cameras.

You can control everything from an easy-to-use remote or a touch screen that sits on your coffee table (or lap). 

You’ll need to have the Control4 system professionally installed in your home, but it’ll be less of a headache than trying to program a universal remote on your own, only to have it come up short.  They always do.

If you’re interested in installing Control4 technology in your Richmond area home, give us a call at 804.741.5816.  We’ll help simplify your remotes, and your life.  And that’s pretty awesome.

Fun fact: VUDU was actually the first on-demand service that offered download-to-own HD movies. Now they’ve expanded their services to provide higher quality, new apps, trailers, and connections to social media.

First, the big news. VUDU has added a new highest quality option to viewers – HDX. Compared to the normal instant high-definition format of 720p, HDX is 1080p at 24 frames per second. This is roughly the equivalent of Blu-ray quality – provided over web streaming.

This quality of streaming HD is unmatched, but with great high definition streaming comes great web speed requirements.The current minimum requirements for internet connection speed run at 1Mbps for SD, 2.25Mbps for HD, and 4.5Mbps for HDX.

Other new features include Coming Attractions, VUDU’s catalog of trailers for upcoming movies. New apps gives VUDU some versatility, allowing users to stream their own video, host and browse photos, listen to music and more. As they say, “there’s an app for that.” Social.Media. (not a typo, VUDU’s name for it) allows tweeting and Facebooking straight from your TV, as well as access to other popular sites such as RottenTomatoes, Wikipedia, and New York Times.

The great thing about using a web-based service is that updates to the system are smooth and automatic.

If you’d like to know more about how you can provide the best of HD video in your Richmond area home for you and your family to enjoy, simply call us at 804.741.5816.  We have many options from which you can choose.

I tend to be a bit more open with my reply: As a rule of thumb, there are very subtle quality differences between, say, a Samsung or Sony or other name brand that you can purchase at Best Buy versus the higher-end systems that we sell. Unless you’ve purchased a low-end, no-name brand piece of equipment, most people aren’t going to notice these differences.

But for the true audio junkie or videophile – or a customer who wants the best quality entertainment available – these subtleties are worth paying a little extra for. 

Plus, there’s the installation side of this equation: Getting the components to work together and correctly, to ensure that all the cables and wires are best-in-class, and – perhaps just as importantly – making sure those ugly but important cables and wires are hidden from view.

The difference in going with a CEDIA-certified home theater installer comes down to sound and video clarity, greater dynamic range of sound, brighter colors, and customer service.

Higher-end home theater systems (for instance, Integra, which is to Onkyo what Cadillac is to General Motors) are more dependable and come with longer warranties. At Sound and Image, we’ve only had to use warranties a few times here and there. When we do activate a warranty, you wouldn’t believe how fast manufacturers react. We’re talking two-day air shipping directly to the customer. It’s an amazing degree of customer service.

And that’s the other part of what you pay for: Service.  The cost of any product you buy from us (generally only around 5 to 10 percent more than the store) includes our phone number for whenever you have issues (hopefully you won’t if we do our jobs right) or need questions answered.

Here’s a great piece from ElectronicHouse.com that we always give to customers when they ask about the benefits of hiring a pro. At Sound and Image Design, we strive to be as open and transparent as possible with you about service, cost or product quality. Drop me an email at tim@soundandimage.com if you have questions. I love talking about this stuff!

Starting from scratch does require a level of sensitivity with homebuilders. We don’t want to get in the way of contractors, or have our work delay scheduling.  Still, home electronics – in many ways – are just as important to a new home as is the plumbing, wiring and structure.  Our work goes beyond entertainment, too: It’s lighting, security systems, and heating and air conditioning controls – and integrating it all for ease of use.

Working with builders makes our job easier, too.  If we can see where recessed lighting will be, for example, we can build our speakers around it.  It gives us flexibility.

Sound + Image Design uses D-Tools software for precise custom home electronics installation.

Our industry software is called D-Tools, and allows us to create accurate A/V system designs and manage our projects.  We can import an architect’s CAD drawings and design your electronics architecture around the home design plans. 

D-Tools is System Integration Software for the AV, Energy, IT, and Security Industries

Building a new home? Think beyond the walls and roof.  Give us a call and let’s go over your design plans and optimize your home electronics systems.  After your custom home is built, you’ll be glad you did.

P.S.  While we love custom-built home construction, we have a passion for home theater retrofits.  A bit more challenging, yes, but, well, we’re just that kind of design team that loves that kind of project.  So don’t hestitate to call us if you didn’t get all you wanted in your home when you originally built it or when you bought it from the previous homeowner.  We’re just a phone call away at 804.741.5816.