Recently Filed in Slideshows

Rate increases, HD-Lite, outages – there are plenty of reasons why subscribers get fed up with their HD service providers. What are the alternatives? Switch to another provider? That’s one solution, but it could simply bring its own set of problems unique to that service. There’s always Over-the-Air (OTA) HDTV. Just like your mom and dad (and grandma and grandpa) got their TV for free through the rabbit ears, so can you get your HDTV for free. OTA HDTV in Brief Receiving OTA HDTV is… View this story
HDTV • Antenna • Set Top Boxes • Home Theater • Info and Answers • Slideshows

A green home? For Electronic House’s Home of the Year? Yes and you bet. For the first time, our grand-prize winner is an energy-efficient, sustainable home that’s made largely from environmentally friendly materials. And yes, it has plenty of electronics. In fact, the home’s control system, lighting and shading systems help to save energy. Energy efficiency and sustainability are important to many of us today, and this home proves that you can be a good steward of the Earth while enjoying the benefits of the… View this story
Climate Control Systems • Home Control Systems • Shades and Blinds • Green Technology • Home of the Year Awards 2008 • Multiroom AV • Home Control • Cool Homes • Slideshows

The equipment rack holds not one media server but two. At the front door there’s a fingerprint scanner, a surveillance camera and an intercom nestled within a sleek, modern pedestal. Outside, a weather station instructs the draperies and thermostats to adjust. And those are just a few of the innovative high-tech features in Wolfgang and Cornelia Haerle’s 5,000-square-foot automated home. “We considered every possibility before we started building,” says Wolfgang. He and his wife even went so far as to place an LCD TV behind… View this story
Digital Media Servers • Home Security Systems • Locks and Hardware • Security Sensors • Home Control Systems • Touchpanels and Keypads • Home of the Year Awards 2008 • Home Theater • Home Control • Cool Homes • Slideshows

When your entire house stands as a work of art, you don’t want electronics cluttering the view—even if it’s a sleek-looking 65-inch plasma screen. For these London, Ontario, homeowners, the massive fireplace concealing that plasma TV receives as many oohs and ahs as the big screen itself. And that’s just one of many eye-bulging views in this ultramodern home. Certain building restrictions in the area were lifted when the neighborhood developer moved out of town a couple of years ago, relates Rick Ho of electronics… View this story
Plasma • Shades and Blinds • Bedroom • Living Room • Media Room • Rec/Play Room • Home of the Year Awards 2008 • Home Theater • Multiroom AV • Cool Homes • Slideshows

On our checklist for an award-winning, super high-end home theater: Flap-your-pants sound system, eye-popping superwide CinemaScope picture capability, “Full HD” 1080p resolution, very serious sound control, gorgeous room design, lighting control and automation systems, and optional things that make us go ga-ga like a separate lobby and a secret entranceway. This over-the-top Houston theater has it all. “I wanted to build a space in my home that was almost a fantasy land,” says the proud owner. “You can step into this, and suddenly you feel… View this story
Video Projectors • Video Screen • Home of the Year Awards 2008 • Home Theater • Cool Homes • Slideshows

In this Cleveland-area loft, the more people, the bigger the party. And what a party it is: Along with the usual nightclub suspects, like a bar, billiards table and blaring music, the loft has a TV around every turn and two theater areas. Yup, this 1,800-square-foot space packs ’em in and packs a punch. “He’s had hundreds of people in there,” says Shane Horner, whose Horner Networks installed the audio/video and home control systems in the 19th-century building. “He’s had a city engineer come out… View this story
Displays • Digital Media Servers • Home of the Year Awards 2008 • Home Theater • Enhancements • Cool Homes • Slideshows

When you’re pumping 7,000 watts of surround sound into a theater room, you’d better make sure the rest of the house doesn’t rattle. Especially if you don’t want to wake the baby. Good thing homeowner Curt Fluegel knows a lot about home theater design. When the co-owner of Trikin Home Theater got the green light to build his own theater as part of a four-story addition before his daughter Lilah was born, Curt decided to dig deep. So much so that he calls the space… View this story
Video Projectors • Video Screen • Basement • Home of the Year Awards 2008 • Home Theater • Cool Homes • Slideshows

Home theaters usually conjure thoughts of big screens and blow-your-socks-off sound. Equipped with a 106-inch Draper Onyx screen, a Sony Cineza projector and a 5.2 Energy surround-sound setup, this seven-seat theater certainly delivers in those areas. But it’s the extra attention to detail that sets the entertainment room apart from the rest. The audio/video designers and installers at Ontario, Canada–based Station Earth added a motorized bookcase, devised a slick way to trade stocks, and attached a cool tray to the owner’s favorite chair that could… View this story
Cabinets • Home of the Year Awards 2008 • Home Theater • Cool Homes • Slideshows

When you have 40,000 square feet in your home, it’s easy to get lost. Good thing this Cleveland-area homeowner typically spends most of his quality time in one particular place. With all the fixings this master suite contains, you can’t help but unwind there. The suite features his-and-hers bathrooms, a main bedroom and a sitting room, all with access to home automation, distributed audio and distributed video systems. All of the rooms have a television, but none of the setups are your everyday wall-mounted flat-panel… View this story
Multiroom Audio • Bathroom • Bedroom • Home of the Year Awards 2008 • Multiroom AV • Cool Homes • Slideshows

There are solar panels on the roof. There are monitors in the house that display energy savings. And there are efficient compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) throughout. All very green—and very automated. We should say very, very automated. Lights come on and turn off automatically. Blinds shut when it’s time to cool the home. Beyond the energy-saving green functions of this abode, a sophisticated home control system provides security alerts in a woman’s voice—yes, the house talks—and can be controlled by voice commands. Incoming phone calls… View this story
Home Security Systems • Surveillance • Climate Control Systems • Thermostats and Sensors • Home Control Systems • Voice Recognition • Lighting Control Systems • Shades and Blinds • Green Technology • Home of the Year Awards 2008 • Home Control • Cool Homes • Slideshows

What happens when the company you hired to design an entertainment system for your home closes shop midway through the project? The owners of this California residence gave their dreams a second chance by hiring a new home systems contractor. Terence Mulholland and his crew at Beyond Home Theater in Santa Monica, CA, came into the half-finished project without a clue as to where to drill holes to get to the wiring that had already been installed. They also had to persuade the homeowners to… View this story
Video Projectors • Video Screen • Acoustic Treatments • Touchpanels and Keypads • Home of the Year Awards 2008 • Home Theater • Cool Homes • Slideshows

It all began with a basic music system for the backyard. To give the patio and swimming pool a bit more pizzazz, the owners of this outdoor entertainment area hired Simply Sight & Sound of Orange County, CA, to install a whole-house music system that could deliver tunes to several outdoor SpeakerCraft speakers. Video had been available to the homeowners too, thanks to a “portable” plasma TV that could be carted to a special area on the patio. Simply Sight & Sound’s Jeff Cooper admits… View this story
Exterior • Home of the Year Awards 2008 • Multiroom AV • Cool Homes • Slideshows