Cable Delivery

Only we could get quite so excited about a cable delivery!

Excellent cable is a big part of any modern smart home infrastructure.

This isn’t just an ordinary delivery though, we fly in our cable - we can’t afford to have our precious copper sitting in a ship over all that salt water for months at a time en-route.

So what sort of cable do we use most of;

Cat6 Networking Cable

Cat-6 - Network Cable (We Use a ton of this)
The modern smart home has a lot of network cable, as good as wireless is you still need hard-wired network connectivity to access points, routers, switches, TV’s and media.

12/2 Gauge Speaker Cable (The Big One)
We use this solely for Home Cinema, The cable is just too big for multi room audio and speaker cable this thick doesn’t hold any extra benefit for multi-room audio applications.
99.99% Pure Copper
Twin Shielding

14/2 Gauge Speaker Cable (The Medium One)
This is our go to cable for smaller personal cinemas, rear surround speakers and high-end multi room audio - This cable is still very thick, you wouldn’t get much of this in your conduit.
99.99% Pure copper
Twin Shielding

Speaker Cable

16/2 Gauge Speaker Cable (The Trim one)
Now this is our smallest (thinnest) cable but probably still double the size of our competitors average cable and great for in-ceiling or in-wall speakers or short runs to bookshelf or floor-standing speakers.
99.99% Pure Copper
Twin Shielding

HDMI CABLE

We basically use either really short cables (from Media Boxes to TV’s and or Home Cinema Receivers) or really long Active HDMI Cables up to projectors. Quality is very important, many times local cables just aren’t up to 4k.

UK - The Queen to Host Drive-In Movies at Sandringham

The Queen

British citizens missing the movie-going can experience films like they’re English royalty, almost.

Over in the UK - The Sandringham Estate, the private home of her royal majesty Queen Elizabeth will be opening up to to host drive-in movie events. It’s not quite home cinema, like we normally discuss on here - more like palace garden cinema.

Starting in September the royal house will open up for a handful of special drive-in showings of titles including 1917, The Greatest Showman, Moana and A Star is Born. Additional movies on the September lineup are Bohemian Rhapsody, Toy Story and Rocketman.

Visitors will set up at Sandringham Country Park where they will be provided with transmitters that will allow movie audio to play in their car. Tickets are set to cost £37.50 but for an extra £7.50, moviegoers can upgrade their drive-in experience with a bigger parking spot, deck chairs, a table and popcorn.

Just like regular movie theaters, the Sandringham Estate drive-in touts concessions, with a pop-up bar featuring soft drinks, alcoholic beverages, popcorn and snacks.

SONOS CEO - "Amazon is Breaking the Law"

Patrick Spence - Sonos CEO

Sonos CEO says Amazon is breaking the law by selling Echo smart speakers below cost

Patrick Spence the Sonos CEO called Echo discounts "predatory pricing" and said his company was working on future Ikea products.

Sonos CEO Patrick Spence believes that Amazon is breaking the law by selling its Echo speakers below cost. "That's predatory pricing," - His comments came in response to last week's Big Tech hearing, which included Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' first appearance on Capitol Hill.

During the hearing, Bezos was asked by Rep. Jamie Raskin whether Amazon priced the Echo speaker below cost. "Not its list price, but it's often on promotion," Bezos responded, adding: "And sometimes when it's on promotion, it may be below cost, yes."

"That's illegal," Spence said Wednesday. He argued that companies like Amazon and Google are only able to engage in these kinds of price wars because of their ability to make up for losses from hardware sales.

"They just take money from their monopoly business, they just subsidize, subsidize, subsidize," he said. The Sonos CEO took part in a hearing of the House antitrust subcommittee in January and has been a vocal critic of both Amazon and Google in recent months.

Sonos sued Google for patent infringement in early January, and it's also at the center of an International Trade Commission probe over Google's alleged patent infringement. Google responded with a countersuit in June. Spence said that he was looking forward to the ITC hearing next February and to any legislation that may come out of the House. "We were encouraged by the hearing last week," he said, while pledging to continue to be involved in the process. "You gotta stand up to bullies."

The company's partnership with Ikea was hit particularly hard during the recent quarter, as the furniture chain closed almost all of its stores worldwide. However, Spence said that Ikea would continue to play a big role for Sonos, including with "future products" that he said are now in the works. In the past, Sonos executives have hinted at efforts to launch additional out-of-home products, including via partnerships. Spence said that some of the company's roadmap had to be adjusted to account for the new reality of homebound life under COVID, but he reiterated that Sonos was looking to replicate the Ikea partnership model with other companies in the future.

Our most common Smart Home requests during the Covid 19 Pandemic

Lockdowns around the world during the Covid 19 Pandemic have made people re-think their home environments. What was important to homeowners about their homes has been intensified by the sheer amount of time people are spending at home.

Some are working from home either full-time or part-time, so home internet, wifi coverage and even acoustics - for those all important video calls, are becoming key components to be upgraded in the modern smart home.

For others who have been, are now and possibly will in the future - spend most of their leisure time at home because of the Pandemic then entertainment to keep the family happy is a priority.

Here are the Top 3 Smart Home enquiries we’ve had throughout the Pandemic.

#1 - Home Cinema
What better way to while away time at home than your very own home cinema. Our clients are finding they have considerably more time that can be spent watching Movies and TV series that they’ve not caught up with yet. With the availability of Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime they have a whole library of the best 4k Television and Movies to watch - they don’t want to waste that experience on a smaller TV set they can hardly hear the dialogue for. What people are asking for is an immersive experience with stunning huge visuals and crystal clear sound that envelopes them and transports them into the movie, away from day to day worries.

#2 - Better Wifi
Whilst only the occasional Skype call or Zoom video conference was necessary and besides the kids weren’t home and at school, the strength and resilience of the Wifi system wasn’t so important. Now with those online meetings and video conferences amplified and the kids in the house home schooling or keeping themselves entertained with Youtube or the like - suddenly it makes more sense to get a proper Wifi system in place and toss out that $10 router that came free from the ISP.

#3 - Music Outdoors
Those with a pool or outdoor areas are increasingly asking us to wire up an outdoor zone or two so they can listen to all their favourite music outside. We’ve even combined this with #1 - Home Cinema and have projects whereby an outdoor cinema is requested, so friends can come round and watch a movie without worrying about social distancing.

The Silent Treatment (Acoustics)

Despite the Title of this Blog Post the idea of treating a home cinema room acoustically is not mostly about keeping noise from coming out (isolation).

Isolating a room so that sound doesn’t leak out is important for some people and in some situations, but many who have the luxury of a dedicated home theatre room or media room have it placed strategically so that noise doesn’t become a nuisance for the rest of the home.

Mostly when cinema designers talk about acoustics they are discussing the internal acoustics of the room, how the seat, furniture, speaker and acoustic treatment or decor influences the sound that initially eminates from the surround sound speakers and subwoofer and ends up as what you hear.

Systems & Home Cinema Designer Rob Hobbs with Quadratic Diffusors

That expensive sound system, high-end speakers and huge amp you’ve just put in - could sound like crap if the room hasn’t been taking into account for the design. It’s a complicated topic but room size, dimensions, seating and hard/soft furnishings all have an impact (positive or negative) on the sound.

Ideally the room will be a mix of hard and soft surfaces - I’ve seen many incorrectly designed rooms that are overly padded out so there are no hard surfaces at all, Not only does this have a negative effect on the perceptible sound quality but in many cases it will make spending time in the room uncomfortable, some people say they feel like they are suffocating or can’t breathe because of how dead the space sounds.

No, an ideal room has a mix of hard and soft surfaces (at the right places) is correctly sized and corners and reflection points will have a mixture of diffusion, absorption and refraction. Rarely can any of this be done with interior design solely and that is where acoustic treatments come in. Designed into the home cinema room correctly they allow sound to interact with the audience in a natural manner, it’s this feeling of actually being there, in the movie, immersed in all the sounds and breathtaking musical scores that makes great cinema so magical.

If you’d like to build a home theatre, media room or custom cinema then please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us, so we can help it sound AMAZING….

Home Cinema of the Rich & Famous: John Legend & Chrissy Teigen

Singer/Songwriter (and Management Consultant) John Legend

We’ve all heard of John Legend - Singer, Songwriter, Producer - But as a graduate he stepped out into the fairly conservative role of Management Consulting moving straight from University to Boston Consulting Group before making it big in Music.

In 2016 John and wife Chrissy Teigen bought Rihannas old Beverly Hills home which comes complete with a very special home theatre.

The room features velvet-cushioned walls and cosy sofas and armchairs to snuggle up on. Beautiful and tasteful it’s likely that Rihanna had a direct hand in designing the screening room.

Get in contact with H3 Digital if you’d like your very own private cinema or if you’re over in the UK then get in touch with Home Cinema Room Specialist Cinema@Home.

Its a Brave Neeo World

4 Things you should know about Control4’s Neeo Remote Control

Control4 needed a showstopping new remote control to go with their Smart Home OS 3, so they bought out the coolest new remote on the block and tailored it to run your entire home.

“The modern smart home needs simple interfaces to start a movie, select a playlist, or lock a door. Neeo was expertly designed to be beautiful, and with Control4 OS 3, it’s also the easiest way for a family to enjoy entertainment in their homes

Neeo is a reflection of our obsession for creating the most elegant and simple interfaces for the refined smart home.”

— Charlie Kindel - Control4 Chief Product & Technology officer

The Neeo Remote for the Control4 operating system is available in either silver or black finishes and ships with an elegant charging station.

SnapAV’s Neeo is a sleek remote control for the Control4 Smart Home OS 3, giving homeowners fast access to the things they use most – their favorite streaming services, most-watched TV stations, playlists, and room-level or household-level smart home scenes. Neeo is the first Control4 handheld remote to combine the benefits of hard buttons and a touchscreen.

Here are four important things to know about SnapAV’s Neeo remote:

1. Meticulously Designed by Swiss Engineers. Neeo is built from machined aluminum designed to protect the edge-to-edge touchscreen, making the device incredibly durable. Neeo balances perfectly in the hand, embodying the sophistication found in high-end consumer electronic products. Images and icons on the three-inch, high-resolution, LCD touchscreen are crisp and bright to enable quick one-touch navigation. The remote is available in either silver or black finishes and ships with an elegant charging station. Neeo lasts up to five days on a charge and the low-profile, weighted charging station gives it a stylish home when not in use.

2. Only the Most Important Hard Buttons Need Apply. While 81 mm (3.2-inch), high-resolution touchscreen and software-driven graphical interface reduce the number of buttons, it still includes physical buttons for the essentials, like Volume Up and Down, Channel Up and Down, the selector wheel, Mute, Menu, Home, and Power On/Off.

3. Built for the Operating System for the Smart Home. Neeo was built to harness software designed specifically to orchestrate and manage the modern smart home. Control4 Smart Home OS 3 unifies connected devices from major brands, weaves them together for simplicity, and provides a singular voice, touch, and hand-held interface for the whole home. Family members in a Control4 OS 3 powered home have at-a-glance views of virtually every connected device, as well as numerous options for control including voice with Alexa and Google Assistant, the Control4 App, a Control4 Touchscreen, a TV on-screen display and with the Neeo Remote.

4. Powerful Automation and Entertainment Control. Control4 OS 3 personalization automatically extends through to Neeo. Swiping right on Neeo shows video sources such as a Blu-ray player, video game system, Dish Network, and more. Favoring simplicity, Neeo gives homeowners one-touch icons for the channels they watch most and an on-screen keypad to type in a channel number directly. The touchscreen reduces the number of buttons on the Neeo Remote, making it easier to learn and use.

Are Elon Musk's TESLA about to dip toe into the Smart Home market?

Elon Musk seems to be really interested in Tesla expanding into the home HVAC industry — going as far as saying that he is “dying to do it.”

He first brought up the idea in an interview on the Joe Rogan Experience almost two years ago.

The CEO discussed the fact that Tesla addresses both energy generation and consumption when it comes to transport, but only energy generation, with solar power products, when it comes to the home.

Musk suggested that there’s room for more efficient homes with smarter and better air conditioning systems. Does thsi mean that Musk’s TESLA is about to start in-roads to the Smart Home industry

When Rogan asked if he has a design for such an air conditioning system, Musk became suspiciously silent and said:

I cannot answer questions about potential future products.

The answer makes it sound like it could be a potential future product for Tesla Energy: an intelligent and more efficient air conditioning system to enable a “Tesla Smart Home.”

Earlier this year, Musk considers the new product again in a Twitter thread with fans.

Now the CEO is reinforcing his comment and showing a lot of enthusiasm about making a Tesla HVAC system:

I’m dying to do super efficient, quiet home HVAC with HEPA and water distillation. It’s weird, but I really want to do it.

Furthermore, Musk also hinted that the Cybertruck, Tesla’s upcoming electric pickup truck, could be equipped with the product.

However, he didn’t elaborate on how that would work since he is talking about a home HVAC system and not a vehicle HVAC system.

Tesla is already producing HEPA-level HVAC systems for vehicles in the Model S and Model X.

Tesla has developed a lot of experience with HVAC systems and HEPA filters with their work on the “Bioweapon Defense Mode” in Model S and Model X, which use HEPA filters, and with the Model 3 HVAC systems for which Tesla developed a new patented technology.

The latter’s system is not compatible with HEPA filters due to size restrictions.

For the one in the Model S and Model X, the automaker claims that its HEPA air filter system is about 10 times larger than a normal car filter (pictured above) and it is “100 times more effective than premium automotive filters” as it removes “at least 99.97% of fine particulate matter and gaseous pollutants, as well as bacteria, viruses, pollen, and mold spores.”

Musk has thanked Google founder Larry Page for turning him onto HEPA filters and the importance of air quality, which he believes could be “a bigger deal than most people realize,” especially for people with allergies.

Smart Homes a boon during lockdown

How a smart home can keep everyone occupied and even provide some fun during lockdown.

We are currently in the middle of a global health crisis, Covid 19 has swept across the world as a global pandemic and millions of people across the world are locked down in their own homes. By everyone except critical workers staying indoors it helps to protect the world from more deaths and illness.

It’s increasingly looking like lockdowns or some lesser variant of social distancing may become the new normal at least for some time until a vaccine is found or eventual herd immunity arises.

Most people having to stay indoors presents households with very different kinds of problems than previously, For example, many home-owners will be working from home, kids will often need to be schooled and entertained and families will need an escape from the stresses and strains of being cooped up together for extended periods of time.

Lockdowns can be made much easier, more comfortable and enjoyable with the help of a smart home.

Work from a smart home

A range of Superfast Wifi options from Ubiquiti will allow you to ensure that you have the very fastest and stable connections to the internet from all over your home and garden. You can video conference into meetings, make Skype and Zoom calls without worrying that there isn’t enough local bandwidth in your home Wifi.

Ubiquiti’s Enterprise networking product Unifi allows the homeowner to have professional level equipment at home, it can even be configured so that the bandwidth is split between users or functions so you always have the bandwidth to complete your work even whilst the kids are doing their homeschool or watching cartoons on the internet.

If you’ve got one of our ultimate smart homes from Control4 you can even have the lights change to enhance work or relaxation, automatically or via voice or the Control4 User Interface.

Background music or sound effects can help you relax or get into the swing of things.

Keep the kids busy with a smart home

Perhaps one of the hardest aspects of any lockdown period is making sure that the children who are now at home 24/7 for weeks on end are able to keep themselves occupied and educated.

Again the home network is incredibly important, allowing kids the bandwidth to stay connected to their online home school, watch educational videos and then relax later on with their favourite music, Tik Tok or Youtube videos.

A Smart Home system such as Control4 can schedule routines so that the children are woken up gently by light, curtains or blinds opening or even music playing at wake-up time and again these routines often in reverse can signal bed-time, ensuring that the children can keep to routines without too much work by their parents.

Family movie nights with a smart home

If you are lucky enough to have a dedicated home cinema then this can be a great opportunity to catch up with all those family movies you’ve been meaning to watch with the kids, Or wait until they’ve gone to bed and watch a more mature film with your spouse.

With cinema’s and other entertainment venues looking to be closed during lockdown periods a little thought and capital put into a great movie room really does pay dividends. Make it look great with a 4k projector or TV and a fantastic surround sound system will really help draw you into the movie.

It’s a great way to escape and forget about things for a while.

A Smart home could help transform lockdown situations

Whilst we all hope that this situation is a one-off many of us are now aware that even with the current situation we may well be faced with multiple lockdown periods of some sort. If you are to be locked into your home for long periods, it makes sense to have a think about how to make it as enjoyable and comfortable as possible AND as easy as possible to work from for extended periods.

Get in contact if you’d like us to help make your life easier and your home smarter and more comfortable.

Smart Home market in Europe Grows pre-Covid

In the last quarter of 2019, the smart home market in Europe reached almost 39.9 million units, growing 20.4% compared to the fourth quarter of 2018, according to research by International Data Corporation (IDC). For the full year, this market had an increase of 20.0% with almost 107 million units shipped.

“As in previous quarters, smart speakers continued to be the stellar product over Black Friday and the Christmas period”

— Antonio Arantes - Research Analyst

With new models launched in the last quarter of the year, Amazon continued to gain market share, supported by the good performance of smart speakers and digital media adapters. It also launched its own OS for Smart TVs in Europe — FireOS, partnering with JVC to launch their first products in the United Kingdom.

“The Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) smart home market grew by 53.5% year over year. The gradual transition to new DVB-T standard has triggered an expected increase in demand, especially for smart TVs,”

— Jan Prenosil - Research Analyst for Smart Home Devices

The offer of streaming platforms improved and had a positive effect on demand for digital media adapters. In 2024, this market is expected to reach 201.1 million shipments in Europe, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.2% from 2020 to 2024.

"Although these categories have potential for ongoing growth, we expect a decline in demand, mainly in the first half of 2020. Further development will depend on the length of constraints on individual countries due to COVID-19," said Prenosil.

"In the first half of 2020, the interest in smart home products will slow, and we expect that, for the first time, the market will decline year over year in the second quarter of 2020," said Arantes. "Video entertainment will be the product category that will suffer the most, particularly Smart TVs. Factory shutdowns have led to component shortages and consumers are shifting their spending into devices that improve their office capabilities at home, such as monitors, laptops, and cameras.

The cancellation of major sports competitions in 2020, such as the European Football Championship and the Olympic Games, will also have a negative impact on the category, as sales typically grow during these competitions."

Category Highlights

Video entertainment devices shipped almost 21.1 million units in the fourth quarter of 2019, growing 10.9% year over year. For the first time in Europe, two new operating systems for the smart TV market were launched — FireOS and Roku OS. This product category is expected to reach 81.4 million units in 2024. Smart speakers represented 25.8% of the smart home market in 4Q19, gaining three percentage points compared to the same period of 2018.

Amazon Alexa continues to be the leading voice assistant with a market share of 58.3% of all devices. This category is expected to grow at a CAGR of 15.6% between 2020 and 2024.

Lighting, home security monitoring, and thermostats reached almost 7.2 million units shipped in Europe in the last quarter of 2019, up 27.1% year over year.

These categories combined are expected to represent 31.3% of the total smart home market in 2024.

Disney+ hits 50 million subscribers - Netflix close to 170 million subscribers

During the Covid 19 Lockdown throughout the world people are taking up and using more of their video subscription services.

Disney+ the Netflix rival launched by Disney has nearly doubled it’s subscribers to 50 million people after extending their launch to the UK and Europe. meanwhile Netflix is close to 170 million subscribers. In the UK and throughout Europe - Netflix agreed to slow down their connections by 25% to give breathing space for all the new remote workers during this time who need bandwidth for home working and videoconferencing.

Disney+ Subscription Service

Netflix is the streaming service that started off as a DVD rental by post company after the founder was incensed at the late fees charged by Blockbuster videos. Disney+ reached the 50 million subscriber number in months, it took Netflix 7 years to reach the same stage, although they set the scene for the new streaming industry.

While the corona virus has brought much of the world economy to a standstill, the internet industry is proving invaluable for many, from online shopping to streaming services for leisure and from videoconferencing and team based work co-ordination for companies.

Unifi Install - Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Today we were lucky enough to get to install the new Gen2 Cloudkey+ from Ubiquiti. Ubiquiti offers the fastest, most solid Wifi solution here in Thailand. The new Cloudkey has a built-in battery so that it can power down the Cloudkey if there is a power outage. This prevents it from losing power during an important task, it senses when the power is cut and starts the process of a safe shut-down, preserving your settings.

This install will consist of a CloudKey to manage the Unifi interface, 2 AC-Lite’s for great WiFi coverage and 6 of Ubiquiti’s G3 CCTV cameras for security, the owner will be able to login from anywhere in the world and see what’s happening in his villa. The new Cloudkey has a battery backup.

The new security system is called Unifi Protect, the Cloudkey+ features a 1Tb hard disk to store video and allows the owner remote access from anywhere in the world.

Most of our Smart Home installs now feature Ubiquiti Wifi, for the owner it means they will have the fastest Wifi experience possible in Thailand, for us it allows easy setup of all networking or network connected equipment so we can at a glance see exactly what’s happening, name and catalogue devices and administer it remotely.

This house features a Control4 Smart Home system so it’s important that the network is solid, although the Control4 keypads are Zigbee the brains of the Control4 system are all IP Networking so it’s fundamental to have a rock solid network infrastructure as the backbone.