Home Automation/Sound

[MSU_Electrician]

Does anyone have any experience with home Automation? I am looking at trying to add this to our services. We've recently installed 4 tvs on every bedroom wall, living, and den. The customer is wanting to control them all separately with a smart hub. I'm lost, any resources would be great.

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[hbiss]

4 TVs in each room???

-Hal

 

[ptonsparky]

4 TVs in each room???

-Hal

Or 16 if every wall? Unless it’s a triangular room.

 

[GoldDigger]

Control them as with a single remote control device that selectively affects one TV or as with a single remote control that simultaneously affects all TVs?

The latter can likely be done (although probably not efficiently) with off the shelf RF-to-IR bridges with IR outputs aimed at each TV.

If I were using that many TVs, I expect that I would want to be able to watch a different channel or stream on each TV and rapidly switch each TV's audio on and off. But if the TV only accepts IR commands or does not allow specific remote to TV RF pairing, that will be difficult to set up.

There are very high end home automation systems which are specifically aimed at controlling multiple devices from one remote, but I am not familiar with any of them.

 

[hillbilly1]

If they are all smart tv’s, a Google device in each room can.

 

[MSU_Electrician]

Sorry I never saw any of the replies! It is 4 tvs in each room he wants a touchscreen type pad in every room on the wall/ removable to control the TV, lights, and surround sound. The tvs will have xbox, PlayStation, Wii, directtv and internet connection.

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[GoldDigger]

I have seen a rented ballroom/conference room with a rack mounted system in the AV room that had a large touch screen that controlled
all of the electronics in the room, including digital projector. But it did not work very well and looked pretty expensive.

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[hbiss]

It is 4 tvs in each room he wants a touchscreen type pad in every room on the wall/ removable to control the TV, lights, and surround sound. The tvs will have xbox, PlayStation, Wii, directtv and internet connection.

That goes beyond what most commercial venues install. And it's not home automation. It's something that you will need to sub out to a company that does high-end home entertainment systems.

That's all they do and unless you want to quit the electrical business, get lots of training and become a dealer for one or more of the manufacturers I wouldn't even consider doing it.

-Hal

 

[hillbilly1]

I have seen a rented ballroom/conference room with a rack mounted system in the AV room that had a large touch screen that controlled
all of the electronics in the room, including digital projector. But it did not work very well and looked pretty expensive.

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One of my friends has a system like that in his multi-million dollar lake house, and it is always broken! LOL! They film some of the scenes of the Netflix series Ozark there, and one of the stage hands used the guest bath, and broke the toilet. Flooded the AV room downstairs, he probably got some new equipment out of the studio!

 

[ptonsparky]

One of my friends has a system like that in his multi-million dollar lake house, and it is always broken! LOL! They film some of the scenes of the Netflix series Ozark there, and one of the stage hands used the guest bath, and broke the toilet. Flooded the AV room downstairs, he probably got some new equipment out of the studio!

That's why I hate to borrow stuff. Invariably something breaks.

 

[hillbilly1]

That's why I hate to borrow stuff. Invariably something breaks.

They take all of his furniture out, along with changing all of the light fixtures out to film, then put it all back after they are done. They are not permitted to use the bathrooms in the house. They must use the portajohns!

 

[Todd0x1]

Friend of mine has screens all over his house, along with all the other stuff found in today's big nice houses. His is all controlled by a Control4 system.

 

[brantmacga]

It sounds like you need a Crestron system.

The thing about getting into professional automation/control systems is that you’ll need to pick brand, apply to be a dealer, and go through training. If you have no experience with this, getting a Crestron dealership may be tough.

With any of these companies, you’ll have to meet minimum sales goals and likely have to build a showroom.

My advice is to find a reputable dealer you can work with on projects like this. I do some basic automation/control systems, primarily Legrand for lighting controls and Nuvo for audio. For large projects though I bring in a Control4 dealer if that’s what is right for the customer. The Legrand stuff I sell and install integrates with Control4 and other 3rd party systems. I’ll do all the cabling and terminations, install the devices, and bring in the dealer for setup and support.

You really need to have a firm grasp of this stuff before you start selling it to be able to support your customer.

If you can get a few projects under your belt working with a dealer, that will help you to learn what options are available and how to design and install a system.


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