Now that CEDIA has hit, technology season is in full swing. Just in time for the holidays, we’ve seen some interesting things coming out of one of the biggest custom electronics expos in the country. Whether you’re looking to install massive flat-panel TVs to enjoy beautiful Ultra HD Blu-rays or you’re just now considering the perfect additions to your home theater, CEDIA 2016 had something for you. After the jump, we’ll take a look at some of our favorite products.

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Sony’s Big Surprise

When we say “big,” we mean it. Sony unveiled one of the largest and brightest TV displays at this year’s event: the 100” Z9D. It’s part of their Z-series of TVs, which aim to challenge LG’s OLED units for the best-looking 4K HDR images available.

If you’re a fan of home theater tech, you know that OLED is widely considered the best display technology around. It gained praise from industry professionals in recent years because unlike more traditional LED displays, which use white LED backlighting but LCD technology for color and clarity, OLED does away with LCDs, allowing for a deeper, more natural black and sharper contrast between pixels.

Home Theater Installation Plus Security

With Halloween behind us, Election Day having come and gone, we now turn our attention towards the fun holidays of the year: Thanksgiving, Hanukah, Christmas, and New Year’s. The coming two months present plenty of opportunity for merriment, family gatherings, and good times all around. The increasingly cold temperatures outside make indoor activities more fun, and encourage family and friends to gather round, enjoy a drink or two and take it easy. It’s the perfect time to bust out some festive music, sing along, and get into the holiday spirit. Doing just that has never been easier than with Atlanta Audio & Automation. Our home automation allows you to easily crank your favorite tunes or simply create some nice background music while you catch up and create memories to last a lifetime. Plus, with the recent addition of security systems to our arsenal of products you can now outfit your home with everything you need – home automation for lighting, heating, and audio, plus home security and security surveillance capabilities to ensure the safety of you, your family, and anyone you invite into your home.

The Glory of a Media Room

Everyone approaches their home entertainment a little differently. With so many great ways to watch TV and movies, people have become accustomed to carving out their own unique way to settle down and watch in the comfort of their own home. One of the best ways to enjoy your home entertainment is by establishing your very own media room. With our help, it’s a cinch – we can have your media up and running with impeccable audio in no time. Our expert installation team is well experienced and can ensure your experience is unlike any other. A well-equipped media room engenders excitement, because everyone who clambers in knows they are going there for a treat.

Make your Holidays Special with Atlanta Audio & Automation

Whether you are throwing a big holiday bash or a small family gathering, we at Atlanta Audio & Automation wish you a safe, fun-filled holiday season. Be sure to browse our complete collection of services and products, from our delightful home automation products to our reliable security systems. We are happy to help make your holiday season better, safer, and more memorable than ever before.

Atlanta Audio & Automation and Sonos are official partners who provide you with the high fidelity audio and video systems in Atlanta. Sonos brings you a line of wireless speakers that are perfect for any room in your home. Wireless hardware has a reputation of not performing to par with its wired counterparts. Tracking in wireless mouse isn’t as good, wireless keyboard strokes aren’t as responsive and internet speeds aren’t as fast over Wi-Fi. Does this line of thinking apply to wireless audio?

Dispelling The Myth

While people’s fear of poorer audio quality in wireless audio systems are understandable, it is not justified by facts. A wireless audio system can indeed bring high quality audio as well as a wired counterpart. Hi-Fi audio is possible because of lossless coding.

Digital audio signals must be coded, or placed in a format that can be transmitted and received, when it travels from one point to another. The better the coding, the higher the fidelity of the audio. Many wireless systems use lossless coding to output a signal, which means the signal the system is receiving is the same as it is leaving the transmitter. Together with a strong Wi-Fi signal, wireless Hi-Fi audio is achievable.

What Do You Need For Hi-Fi Wireless Audio?

 Besides having a strong Wi-Fi connection, your playback hardware needs to be high fidelity. It doesn’t matter that your audio files are lossless coded if it’s being transmitted through poor speakers. Amplifiers and speakers make up the quality of your wireless system so here is what you need to look out for.

If you are using your speakers for parties, they need to provide enough power to achieve high volume levels without compromising sound quality. An underpowered speaker will clip or distort sound, damaging them if it outputs sound at a high volume. Check the frequency response which tells you the range in which a speaker can reproduce musical tones. This is important for finding a speaker that can give you true, realistic bass. Lastly, examine the sound quality of the speakers themselves; does it produce clean, transparent sound that is tonally accurate?

Smart home automation is about bringing the highest level of convenience into your Atlanta property. With one touch, you should be able to command the lighting, shading, AV, security systems and more. So it’s no surprise that one of the fastest-growing manufacturers of smart home technology would also be a leader in developing systems that are easy to use and fully customizable. At this year’s Custom Electronics, Design and Integration Association convention – commonly known as CEDIA – Control4 announced big things for their new operating system. Learn more after the jump.  

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New Connections

At the 2016 CEDIA show held this September, Control4 announced the latest upgrade to their operating system, the OS 2.9.  The new operating system comes complete with the “Connects with Control4” program, which allows as many as 10,000 connectable devices – including Sonos. This marks a big move for the popular wireless audio company, who famously has avoided getting wrapped up with smart home automation installers in the past.

Plus, one of the biggest developments in the smart home space over the past few years was the introduction of Amazon’s voice-controlled Echo. While many homeowners took advantage of the incredible verbal technology, they were oftentimes disappointed with the limited range of components it could control. That’s why it’s incredible that they’ve collaborated with Control4 to offer the best possible control options in your home.

In our blog, we write a lot about how a home theater enhances your movie- and sports-watching experience. One aspect that we rarely touch on, though, is how it affects gaming. With the recent announcements of the 4K-capable Playstation 4 Pro and Xbox One S, now’s the perfect time to begin planning your video game upgrade. But how does smart automation improve your gaming? We’ll show you after the jump.

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Earlier this month, Sony announced they would be taking pre-orders for the Playstation 4 Pro, according to The Verge:

“The console — codenamed Neo, which the company discussed in brief just ahead of E3 in June — upgrades the three-year-old PS4 hardware with a faster processor, better graphics, and support for 4K resolution. It launches November 10th, and it will cost $399.”

The new version of the system will also sport HDR compatibility, an upgraded GPU and an improved clock rate. Sony’s console also currently supports Dolby Atmos, and the new version will as well, making it an excellent addition to a modern home theater setting.