Wall-mounted touchscreens and keypads come in a wide range of styles and sizes, including an increasing trend toward mounting iPads as dedicated touchscreens, but instead of going even larger, Crestron just announced a rather small, 2.8-inch, touchscreen for home system and entertainment control.

The “petite” TPMC-35MD can do everything that Crestron’s larger TPMC-4SM line can do, but without taking up so much space on the wall. Let’s face it, we like technology, but we also like our homes to look like homes, not the control panels of starships.  It installs on a single-gang wall box, so it should be easy to integrate into any typical location where a switch or keypad might otherwise be used.

The unit connects to an Ethernet cable from your home network and uses PoE (Power over Ethernet) to power it, so a separate powerline isn’t required.

From the touchscreen, users have access to all their integrated systems through customizable screen graphics and icons. Lighting, temperature, audio/video entertainment and security systems can all be controlled from the TPMC-3SMD. It also features built-in video streaming useful for monitoring security cameras or for artist and track information from your media server.

Read about a New York City penthouse totally decked out in Crestron-controlled technology.

Grant Clauser - Technology and Web Editor, Electronic House

Grant Clauser has been covering home electronics for more than 10 years with editorial roles in several consumer and trade magazines. He's done ISF-level damage to hundreds of reviewed products and has had audio training from Home Acoustics Alliance and Sencore. He's also the author of the book The Trouble with Rivers. Follow him on Twitter @geclauser.