Every time there’s big news in the A/V industry, we make it our goal to help our clients learn everything they need to know about the latest products and features. Right now, everyone is talking about IMAX Enhanced. Since you're probably wondering what the company best known for its large screens and immersive viewing experience has to do with home theaters, we're here to sort it all out for you. In this blog, we're going to explain what the IMAX Enhanced program is and how to get it in your Georgia home. 

SEE MORE: 3 Necessary Accessories for Every Home Theater System

What is IMAX Enhanced?

IMAX Enhanced is a certification and licensing program. Its primary goal is to help consumers discern which high-end electronics will best showcase the company’s 4K Ultra HD content and DTS audio mixing. The secondary objective is elevating filmmaker's visions by making sure premium IMAX-remastered content looks just the way they envisioned when viewed in a home theater.

For the last three years running, Control4 has been named the top whole house automation company by industry professionals. That is in large part due to their ongoing innovation from acquiring significant players like Pakedge and Triad to bringing in top-level talent like Amazon Alexa architect Charlie Kindel.

At the 2018 CEDIA exhibition, Control4 continued its commitment to innovation with its new OS Version 2.10.4 which adds new music and personalization features for homeowners. Check out their top CEDIA announcements below. As your local Control4 dealer, you can also experience them first hand at our Alpharetta, GA showroom.

SEE MORE: Are You Curious About Smart Home Technology?

Do you dream of the ease and convenience found in the Jetsons’ futuristic home? The 1962 series featured the home of 2062, with space-age appliances that made food and flying cars. We’re not quite there yet when it comes to flying cars, but even the Jetsons might be impressed at some of the smart technology we have today.

From lights that automate to your every wish to personalized home entertainment settings at the touch of a button, the Control4 smart home solutions provide tried and true smart home technology that is definitely worthy of being labeled “the future.”

Experience for yourself some Jetsons-style smart home automation, available right now, for your home in Atlanta, GA. No need to wait until 2062! Simply submit your comment or question in chat box at the bottom of your screen and a Certified Showroom Professional will respond.

See Also: Curious About Smart Home Technology? Seeing is Believing

Control4 has pioneered high-end, innovative lifestyle automation solutions, making them a leader in smart home technology today. For an example of their smart home options, just imagine this: After a busy day of work, shuttling kids to after-school activities, and a quick trip to the grocery store, you pull into the garage. A sensor in the garage knows you’re home. A preprogrammed “welcome home” scene illuminates the garage and the hallway to the kitchen, then turns on the overhead lights in the kitchen and family room. The alarm has been disarmed. You like a little soft background music to unwind after a long day, which automatically starts when you walk in the door.

After putting away the groceries in the refrigerator, you tell the kids to start their homework at their desks in the upstairs nook. You have a Control4 touchscreen controller in the kitchen and a minimalistic camera upstairs, allowing you to keep an eye on the kids to ensure they’re really doing homework and not playing video games. All you have to do is bring the video up on the touchscreen. 

Often when you’re interested in a product or technology, you turn to the internet. You Google a product to see reviews, look up technical specifications, and read articles about features and tests. However, when it comes to smart home automation, it can be hard to take abstract specs and turn them into a complete understanding of the everyday solutions that smart tech offers.

Why? Because a true smart home automation experience is not about specs and features. It is about finding solutions to make your life simpler. So, if you’re considering adding something to your home, you may find it difficult to evaluate what automation technology can really do for you and which options will fit your needs and lifestyle. 

Our partner Control4 strongly believes that the customer should be able to see and feel what smart home technology is all about. To that end, they created the Control4 Certified Showroom program.  We are excited to participate in the program and have built a showroom right here in Atlanta, GA to let you experience the latest smart tech for yourself.

Visit our Control4 Certified Showroom to see, hear, and touch smart home automation for yourself. Let us know you’re interested in the chat box at the bottom of your screen and one of our Certified Showroom Professionals will respond.

What You’ll See

When you visit our showroom, you’ll get to see and use the smart technology in action. Control4 takes the different elements of smart home automation—lighting, entertainment, climate control, networking, and security—and blends them together seamlessly to create the effortless environment you want in your home. 

Most of our clients reach out to us with an idea of the type of technology they want to upgrade whether it be displays, speakers, thermostats, or locks. Rarely do they realize there’s another part of their home ripe for improvement: their shades and drapes. Clients consider shades a crucial stylistic feature they can optimize with the right fabric and color. Few recognize how vital control can be as well.

In fact, upgrading your shades from traditional chords and cables can have a drastic impact. Read this blog to find out some of the ways motorized shading can transform your Atlanta, GA home beyond the clear interior design implications. 

SEE MORE: Take Control of Your Home Lighting

Listening to music can enhance your health, improve your daily tasks, and bring friends together when hosting a party or dinner. It should come as no surprise then that multi-room audio is a big priority for a lot of our clients. Getting access to their favorite artists anywhere in the house is a must-have feature.

However, many are reluctant to embrace multi-room audio because they’re scared of the stylistic impact of having a large number of speakers in their home. That’s why we use in-ceiling speakers in our multi-room audio installations. Unleash high-performance sound without the clutter with fixtures that blend seamlessly within your Atlanta, GA home.

SEE MORE: Choosing a Speaker Setup for Your Home

Technology is essential to the way we live our lives. And with many homeowners investing in smart home technology for their Atlanta properties, there’s more of it than ever.

If you feel like enjoying the benefits of integrated technology comes at the cost of your home décor, you’re not alone. Some components can look clunky or otherwise distract from the overall feel of a space.

Thankfully there’s a solution. Hidden technologies are the perfect way to maintain the look of your home while simplifying your lifestyle. Here, you’ll find four ways to get started.

See Also: What is the Best Way to Take Your Entertainment Outdoors?

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 Smart home automation is all about making your lifestyle simpler. Whether it’s controlling your home entertainment system or protecting your property with advanced security features.

And there’s no easier way to take command of each device than with a Control4 home automation system. Connect just about any smart device you can think of into a simple, comprehensive, and user-friendly system that makes your technology easier to us.

Don’t believe us? Now’s your chance to find out just how much a system could benefit you!

Join us on May 31 for the opening of our new Atlanta showroom and experience what it’s like living in a Control4 home. Find out more below!

Why limit the fun to the indoors?  Your next get-together or family reunion can be next-level with the right technology on your side.

Take the entertainment outside with only the best features and equipment.  An outdoor AV system can elevate your Atlanta, GA backyard space, and make hosting any event that much easier.

We’ve highlighted our top product picks from brands we know well and trust to run smoothly and work efficiently in the long run.

Keep on reading below to learn more about what they can do for you and your home.

SEE ALSO: ENJOY YOUR HOME ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEMS IN ANY SPACE

There’s no doubt about it – smart home automation can change the way you go about your everyday life.

But have you wondered what an automated system entails exactly? Or what its smart features even do or how they work?

The great news is you can see for yourself at our Control4 certified showroom here in Atlanta, GA. In this blog, we’ll go through what our showroom has to offer and how you can optimize these features in your living space.

A customized home automation system is possible for you and your family. Read on below to learn more!

SEE ALSO: HOW SMART HOME AUTOMATION IS CHANGING IN THE NEW YEAR

There’s a common complaint among many Atlanta, GA homeowners when it comes to their high-end audio gear.

It sounds great, but it just doesn’t look very good.

For some, the best solution is to hide away their equipment. A great solution given current selections of hidden technology components, but it’s not always ideal.

What do you do with great-sounding, powerful floor-standing speakers? Or the soundbar sitting in front of your 4K UHD flat-panel?

The solution is simple. You lean in.

Home theaters are becoming amazing popular with long-time homeowners. After all, who wouldn’t want to come home after a long and busy day and unwind with your favorite movie or television series? If you’re in the market for the perfect home theater complete with full surround sound audio, you can rely on Atlanta Audio and Automation to help you with everything from construction and design to wiring and full assembly. But what about the extras? Here are four things that every home theater should include for convenience and comfort.

Home Theater Seating

Comfortable seating is going to make the difference between an awesome time and a sore back. Fortunately, there are lots of options to choose from, including full theater-style reclining seats to cozy sofas and sectionals that can seat the whole family. You can even customize your seats with bass shaker systems that rumble whenever the bass of the movie begins to vibrate. It’s all about comfort and class when choosing our furnishings; make sure you love what you choose.

Universal Remote

Nothing will make your home theater setup more confusing than having to play with three or four different remotes. Instead of bothering with all that, take advantage of our Control4 user experience and control everything in your home theater (and your home) from one device! Change the channel, raise the volume, turn on steaming services, or listen to music. It’s all at your fingertips with our universal controls.

Home theater technology constantly is evolving.

Whether it’s the latest in picture resolution or audio quality, manufacturers continuously are improving their products.

This was as apparent as ever at this year’s CES 2018 – the annual consumer technology show in Las Vegas.

So, what did we learn at this year’s convention? And how might it impact the home theater in your Atlanta, GA area residence in the near future?

We answer those questions in the sections below. Just keep reading to find out more.

  May 31, 2017 - Framingham, MA - Electronic House, the leading information site for smart home consumers, announces the winners of the 2017 Home of the Year Awards, recognizing the best technologies, products, and services for the smart home.

"Our annual Home of the Year contest winners represent the finest implementations of smart home technology," says Electronic House editor Lisa Montgomery. "From creative integration of systems to innovative design and installation techniques, the winning home systems integration companies and projects serve as inspiration to any homeowner interested in incorporating smart elements into their own residences."

All entries were judged on integration and engineering, and specific ways in which the technology has enhanced the lives of the people who are using it.  

 Best Smart Home Less than $150K - Traditional Home

 Gold

Well, this shouldn’t come as a surprise: the developers of the MP3 file format have officially killed it. Just like VHS tapes, standard-definition DVDs and 8-track cassettes, the once-pioneering format has gone the way of the dinosaurs. But what does that mean for your whole home audio system? Should you prepare to replace all of your music files once again? Not exactly. In this blog, we’ll explore what the end of the MP3 means to your system.

See Also: Is This the Era of Lossless Audio?

As one of the most popular integrated systems around, Control4 home automation is a perfect addition to your Georgia property. But many homeowners wonder why working with a professional integrator is such an important part of the process. After all, don’t you get the same level of service from a DIY system? The answer is more complicated than it may seem. In this blog, we’ll show you why you may want to work with a Control4 home automation expert if you’re thinking about upgrading your home.

See Also: Control4 Home Automation: A Smarter Way to Live

If you’re a fan of technology, you’ve probably already had a home theater integrated in your Atlanta property. For some homeowners though, they expect limited content when it comes to 4K. After all, 4K Ultra HD was a big shift from now-standard 1080p, which requires increases in network bandwidth and upgrades to some of your home technology. But if you’ve gone through the trouble of integrating that new tech, you don’t want it to go to waste. In this blog, we’ll cover some of the ways you can enjoy 4K Ultra HD resolution right now. Read on for more.

See Also: Using Sonos for Excellent Audio in Your Georgia Home Theater Part 2

4K Physical Media and Digital Downloads

It seems like forever ago that we were talking about 4K Blu-ray first hitting shelves. Today, many of your favorite movies are getting prestigious 4K UHD re-releases on home video. And just about every major studio blockbuster of 2016 received a simultaneous HD and UHD release when they hit home video. If you’re in the market to bolster your collection with more discs featuring 4K UHD and Dolby Atmos compatibility, you won’t be shortchanged at the local video store.

However, as 4K UHD continues to grow, digital downloads are becoming more and more common. Homeowners are waving goodbye to their physical collections and replacing them with digital downloads. Companies are offering full 4K video storage servers that minimize space requirements while hosting a wide selection of full Ultra HD movies.

Technology is cool, right? Whether you want to surf the web on your smartphone or ask Alexa to order you a pizza, you can do more than ever with the devices in your Atlanta home. But with added convenience comes increased complexity – unless you invest in a system that simplifies everything for you. A Control4 home automation system can streamline the controls of every device in your house with a single, easy-to-use interface. Control4 seamlessly integrates all of your favorite devices for enhanced convenience. Read on to learn more.

The Devices You Love

Are you a fan of Sonos? Or Amazon’s Alexa? Control4 was among the first smart home manufacturers to announce compatibility with both. Why? Because they sensed a change in what homeowners want: instead of an exclusive system that only offers proprietary compatibility, users want to select the brands they love without sacrificing the convenience of a single control interface. In a recent press release, Control4 CEO Martin Plaehn said this:

“Everything working seamlessly together is central to the connected home experience, yet fluid interoperability remains the number one frustration for consumers, especially when bringing new connected products into their homes. The power of Control4… helps to remove that frustration and delivers the required orchestration and personalization of the connected home to every member of the family.”

Along with the aforementioned Sonos and Alexa, Control4 seamlessly integrates with Nest, Somfy and Lutron. It’s also Z-Wave certified, so it can control most Z-Wave devices as if they were native to the Control4 interface.

For the past few years, lossless audio has been slowly creeping into the minds of music fans across the country. First there were the lossless files like FLAC and DSD, but they were too big to store on easily-accessible hard drives. When high capacity hard drives began to shrink in size, streaming services began to dominate the market. For a long time, it looked like “better than CD-quality” sound was just a pipe dream. Today, two major streaming services, Tidal and Spotify, are competing to be the top lossless streaming service. Find out what that means for your Atlanta whole home audio system after the jump.

See Also: Is iTunes Gearing up to Replace the Movie Theater?

Spotify Hi-Fi         

First off, the big news from earlier this month: in order to compete with the announcement late last year that Tidal would be streaming lossless audio as part of its highest tier subscription, Sonos has unveiled their very own hi-fi streaming service, appropriately called Sonos Hi-Fi. According to The Verge, a number of Spotify subscribers were offered a chance to test the service in late February, including a new pricing tier for the upgraded subscription.

So it looks like Spotify is serious about the move to lossless streaming. That makes it the second service to offer high fidelity streaming after Tidal. Will this spark a new generation of streaming wars? And where does Apple Music fit into all of this? Only time will tell. Until then, it’s best to get your whole home audio system ready.

Last month we highlighted why Sonos makes a perfect addition to any secondary home theater, thanks in part to the wireless capabilities and compatibility with Amazon’s Alexa. In this blog, we’ll explore some of the new products and technology upgrades the wireless audio giant is releasing to take center stage in surround sound. If you’re looking for a way to enhance a second home theater in your Georgia property, or you want to begin building a small, entry-level system, this blog will show you where to start. Read more after the jump.

See Also: Using Sonos for Excellent Audio in Your Atlanta Home Theater

The Sonos Playbase

One of the big releases this year is the Sonos Playbase. The Playbase isn’t Sono’s first foray into home theater or media room tech – their Playbar remains a strong contender in the soundbar market. But the soundbase offers an added kick, particularly for homeowners with a smaller setup.

While the Playbar is designed to be mounted on the wall underneath a hanging TV screen, you’ll place your display directly on top of the Playbase. The added real-estate that the TV balances on is put to good use, with plenty of room to emphasize deeper bass notes. The result is a system that offers a lot of power in a relatively compact package.