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Using a 103-inch Plasma for Video Gaming
Lisa Montgomery
— last modified January 22, 2010 09:37
What happens when you have three grade school kids and want a whole home audio video system that can handle a variety of entertainment needs, with ease-of-use and durability? Simple - you call in the pros. Patrick Calderone is the owner of Audio Video Experience (AVX), the custom electronics design and installation firm hired to rig a home with a variety of family-friendly electronic systems. At last count, the home had: two Microsoft Xbox 360s, two Sony PlayStation 3s, two Nintendo Wiis and one Nintendo Game Cube.
Inside Segway Dean Kamen's Off-the-Grid Island Home
Steven Castle
— last modified December 23, 2009 14:11
He calls himself Lord Dumpling, and his island "nation" has a zero-tolerance policy for incandescent lights. In fact, he claims to have the first fully self-powered nation. He is Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway electric scooter and other devices, some of which are responsible for making his island home self-sustaining—along with a lot of LEDs (light emitting diodes). All was well between the "countries" until a couple of years ago, when the U.S. Coast Guard decided to cut the undersea cable that powered the lighthouse. Kamen's island would have to be self-sustainable, with solar panels powering the lighthouse...
A home theater can be a great escape, but how about escaping all the way to the planet Lantea, the fictional home of the TV series Stargate Atlantis? Jacob Yarmuth’s very cool theater in Louisville, Ky., has the Stargate — or at least a replica of the one used in the Stargate TV series and movie to commute across the universe. It surrounds a 10-foot diagonal circular screen that shows a 96-inch diagonal image. The circle within the Stargate can also light up blue, mimicking the water that appears in the show’s Stargate prior to transport.
Paris Themed Home Theater
Clint DeBoer
— last modified December 02, 2009 13:37
Home theater designer Donny Hackett has always wanted to visit Paris but had never gone. So he decided to bring Paris here. More specifically, to Tennessee and the attic of Jason Crist’s suburban Nashville home. A walk upstairs brings Crist to the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Notre Dame cathedral—and a screen that could take up a wall in the Louvre.
10 Manliest Man Caves
Rachel Cericola
— last modified November 12, 2009 09:32
Some guys love power tools. Some love cars. Some are happy with a comfy chair, a remote and something to nosh on. Then there are those who need to go above and beyond—to create a space that most men only dream about. Today, we call these spaces "man caves." In these caves, though, the only things being fired up are amps, Blu-ray movies, video games and gigantic TVs (sometimes multiple ones). They are places where a guy can play with his toys without worrying about prying eyes or greasy kid fingerprints.
Oddly Shaped Room is Just Right for Home Theater
Arlen Schweiger
— last modified October 12, 2009 11:25
These homeowners had an odd shaped room, one that wasn’t built to be a dedicated theater like a basement ... but an old entertainment system that really needed an upgrade. After finding custom electronics pro Union Place, of Excelsior, Minn., they turned it into a gem of a theater, complete with constant image height screen setup for really immersing in CinemaScope aspect ratio films. The challenge was to create a room that functioned as a cohesive theater, without giving up space and in needed to blend with the other rooms of the home it was open to.
Control4 Demos v2.0 at CEDIA
Clint DeBoer
— last modified September 11, 2009 16:07
Control4 is probably most well known as the company that woke up the industry and said "Um, why are you guys killing yourselves over this horrendous AMX/Crestron programming lnguage?" Serious, in an industry where time is money and competition is fierce, Control4 has brought the Apple computer to the Windows convention. And you can see it, While the booth may not be as big as Crestron, the attitude and makeup of the people are different. Control4 installers are curious, excited and energetic... Crestron's booth seem filled with beaten down old-timers who are so entrenched in an outdated obsolete system that they have no choiuce but to cntinue to pay exobitant pricing and allow the gaint freighter to turn slowly towards a future that Control4 brought several years ago.
Like a lot of installations we see, the homeowner in this case wanted the technology hidden. In this case, though, there’s a fantastic light show that does often take center stage, so who would want to see other technology? Well, OK, that might be saying a bit much, seeing as how there’s a 61-inch Runco plasma TV in this great room ... but it only pops up when called upon to deliver its great images. The team at Ohio-based Audio Video Interiors made sure that this elegant open-floor great room itself was the center of attention. The artistic LED lighting on the ceiling and framing the centerpiece cabinetry only enhances its design showcase.
Converting a Storage Space into Home Theater
Lisa Montgomery
— last modified July 20, 2009 09:19
Unless you can build your home theater from scratch, it’s likely that you’ll have to jump a few hurdles to get a room into shape. Often, it’s a choice of the lesser of two evils. The owners of this theater had originally planned on converting a lower-level guest bedroom into their media area, but after a chat with the custom electronics pros at Audio Video Interiors in Medina, Ohio, they decided that the larger storage area was a better choice.
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