Smart Home & Home Automation
For over 20 years, Custom Audio Video has been installing and programming smart home and home automation systems in Hilton Head, Bluffton & Savannah. We have been a part of an industry that has blossomed from providing niche specialized projects into a wide range of choices for any kind of home. In today’s world of inexpensive computing and dynamic manufacturing practices, the connected home has never been smarter or as valuable.
What It Is and What It Can Do
Smart home and home automation systems can tie together the flexibility of smart phone and tablet access with the robust options of a networked control system. As the modern home has gotten more complex with more and more technological systems, each with their own list of parameters and controls, it has become more important than ever to simplify control across the whole home to create a system that is intuitive and elegant.
The easiest way to understand the immense number of possibilities within the automated home is to distill it down to the subsystems that connect to it. Common examples of these might be lighting control, HVAC systems, audio/video systems, and motorized window shades. Once a part of the control network, these subsystems will be able to communicate with each other and be presented to the homeowner to control in a simplified way. The capabilities of a home automation system are limited only by the which subsystems are designed to be connected and controlled.
Some practical examples:
Having lighting control working in concert with motorized shade systems can be immensely convenient. If with a control button labeled “Bedtime” curtains can be drawn and various lights can be dimmed with the press of one button.
Door camera systems and audio-video systems can allow automatic notification when someone is at the front door by bringing door camera video onto the television being watched. Smart programming will also allow this feature to be turned off when undisturbed TV viewing is desired.
Temperature sensors and HVAC systems can be used to protect wine collections and notify homeowners if temperature or humidity tolerances are exceeded. A prudent plan of action can call in the house manager, Custom Audio Video technicians, and even HVAC service in the right order depending on the critical nature of the alert.
Programming Expertise and User Interface Are Key
Connecting various subsystems through the home automation system will give the homeowner control of those systems though a unified user interface, usually a smart phone or tablet, but also where it makes sense, wall mounted touchscreens and keypads. Custom Audio Video design practices focus on consistent control devices across the home and placing the right control for the right person in the right place within the home.
It cannot be denied that smartphones and tablets have changed the connected home as much as the world at large, however with an app for every subsystem and a pile of options in every app, control of a home can become cumbersome without a central control system to tie it all together and allow for customization to match the home and homeowner alike. Manufacturers of subsystems are obliged to create their products with broad appeal and usefulness, but when it comes to control, it takes a company like Custom Audio Video, with her years of experience, to peel away the unnecessary, prioritizing and separating buttons needed every day from those only occasionally used.
The Importance of Quality
Because home integration systems interconnect different things in the home, they can have a lot of connected parts talking in the background, even if the controls distill down to just a few buttons. In any complex system, the quality of the finished system comes down to three things: the dependability of the parts used, the experience of the system designer, and the skillfulness of the programmer. Your Custom Audio Video system designer will work with you to define your needs and to determine which automation system will best fit your budget and your home. When it comes to the personalization of the system, your CAV designer will work with you to layout a programming plan that will give you convenience features that make sense and customization that add personalized control, without going over the top. As for skilled programmers, Custom Audio Video’s programmers have more experience than any others in the Lowcountry and Coastal Empire. For the best combination of quality, design, and implementation of a home automation system, come to Custom Audio Video.
