Recently Filed in Home Control

The electronic trappings alone stand out—a basement home theater, a pop-up plasma in the bedroom, a TV over the fireplace, multiroom audio, climate and lighting control systems, and more. However, this stylish Lincoln Park–area Chicago home isn’t merely about fancy audio/video and automation. They’re big brush strokes in an overall green picture that’s been carefully crafted by everyone from the builder to the interior designer to the electronics systems contractor. Because it was constructed as a spec home without an owner waiting in the wings,… View this story
Kitchen • Green Technology • Home Control • Cool Homes • Slideshows

So what’s the best course of action for adding dimmers? Should you change out every single switch in your house or start with just a couple of rooms? According to the experts, you’ll get the biggest bang for your buck in the kitchen and bath. “These two rooms have a tremendous amount of installed lighting,” says Phil Scheetz, home systems marketing manager at Lutron Electronics. In a kitchen, for example, there might be recessed lighting over the stove and cooktop, pendants above the island, a… View this story
Lighting Control • Fixtures and Switches • How To • Home Control • Info and Answers

Home automation is all about control, and who wouldn’t want to control household lights or appliances from their bedroom, or even their car? And don’t you want your home to look lived in, every day of the year? Still, most home automation is sold as individual components, so it can be difficult to know what you need to get started. We decided to see what a few hundred bucks would buy. We reasoned that a starter package would be the best value, as these are… View this story
Home Control • Networking and Communication • Home Control • Info and Answers • Slideshows

Thermostats have gotten smarter. They’re able to adjust automatically to converse energy and stay in synch with your daily schedule. Unfortunately, many of these smart stats look pretty much the same as they did 10 years ago. AMX and other companies want to change all that, by adding some visual pizazz to their thermostats. The AMX ViewStat is one of the first thermostats with a color display. The current indoor and outdoor conditions come at you in color instead of boring black and white. It’s… View this story
Climate Control • Thermostats and Sensors • Home Control • Info and Answers

This Teleport won’t beam you up (no matter how hard you try), but it can flip to your favorite channel, turn on lights, and do a slew of other electronic tasks. Wayne-Dalton’s Teleport remote combines Z-Wave and infrared technology. That combo can easily handle all of your A/V equipment, as well as any Z-Wave-enabled home control devices you’ve got kicking around. “Teleport augments our home controls line by providing access to some of the most important components in a home—the home theatre A/V equipment,” said… View this story
Remote Controls • Home Control • Product News

Add the home phone to the arsenal of home automation controllers. Panasonic teamed with Control4 in New York this week to showcase the integration between Panasonic IP-based phone systems and a Control4 home automation system. The demonstration was part of an overall event launching Panasonic’s Network Communication Platform and new phones targeted primarily to small and medium-sized businesses as well as high-end homes. According to Peter Cosenza, director of integrated systems at Control4, the integration between the Panasonic IP PBX phone system and Control4 could… View this story
Home Control • Networking and Communication • Home Control • Product News

It’s about time somebody revamped the remote control. Rectangular clickers are fine, don’t get me wrong. But no matter how many buttons, colors or touchscreens you put on them, they’re all still the same basic shape. Savant has recently broken the mold with its Rosie Contemporary remote. Shaped a like a candy dish, this beauty is small enough to sit in the palm of your hand. Using your thumb as you would to operate an iPod, you navigate the remote’s scroll wheel to move through… View this story
Remote Controls • Home Theater Accessories • Home Control • Info and Answers

Good news for those who would like to dim energy saving compact fluorescent and LED lights. Lighting control company Lutron has CFL dimmers that can be used with Philips Energy Saver CFL bulbs, and is in the process of marketing dimming drivers to LED manufacturers. Soon, hopefully, Lutron HomeWorks, Grafik Eye and RadioRA systems will be capable of dimming certain LED lamps down to 1 percent, if needed. Lutron’s Skylark and Diva dimmers can work with Philips’ Energy Saver EL/A R30 DIM 16-watt, EL/A R40… View this story
Lighting Control • Green Technology • Home Control • Info and Answers

Those with a pile of Bryston gear may be sitting on a pile of money, but that doesn’t crank up the CD player, baby. The Canadian company just announced the BR2 multifunction remote to take control of some of those Bryston goodies. If you’ve got the aforementioned Bryston gear, that money pile may be slightly smaller than it used to be, but the BR2 runs for a mere $500. That’s actually very cheap in Bryston-land. The company says it’s designed to deal with the company’s… View this story
Remote Controls • Home Theater • Home Control • Product News

Living green doesn’t mean you have to give up the creature comforts of home. It doesn’t destine you to a stark, odd-looking abode where you’ll need to don multiple layers of clothing just to stay warm in the winter. You don’t even have to sacrifice your TV, stereo or that great big fridge full of food, either. Across the nation, innovative builders, architects, designers and home systems installers have come together to demonstrate the positive aspects of green living. This is where cutting-edge technology and… View this story
Green Technology • Home Control • Enhancements • Info and Answers • Slideshows

Lights are a beautiful thing. Softly dimmed, they can evoke relaxation and play up features of your home’s décor and architecture. The controls that you use to adjust the intensity of the lights can be just as eye-catching. Manufacturers of lighting control system offer a myriad of different styles of switches. You can go with something sleek and minimalist like the Vierti dimmer from Lutron or a keypad that’s trendy like the Euro-style models from LiteTouch. Colors run the rainbow, from trendy blues and browns… View this story
Lighting Control • Fixtures and Switches • Home Control • Info and Answers • Slideshows

For more than 20 years, Steve Hunter has been designing and installing advanced electronic systems into homes. He thought he had seen and done it all—until he got a phone call from Control4. It seems that some products from Control4’s line of home control systems had been chosen to be part of a huge green home project to take place in Brentwood, CA. As one of Control4’s leading dealers in Southern California, Hunter and his company, The Hunter Group, were given the opportunity to outfit… View this story
Home Control Systems • Green Technology • Home Control • Cool Homes • Slideshows