Smart Home IO

If you are trying to hide your cable or DirecTV box from visibility and still have the factory remote control still work you will need to install and connect an Infrared IR repeater kit. The kit allows a receiver IR eye to pick up and transmit the remotes IR signal through the powered IR kit. An IR emitter also connected to the IR kit gets stuck to the front of the DirecTV or cable box where the boxes Infrared receiver is which will complete the IR kit installation having the IR codes pass through the IR kit to the hidden equipment. The IR kit relays any IR signal not limiting you to just a DirecTV or Cable Box. See link below for an cost effective IR kit.

The new Apple TV's generation 4 and 5 both have eliminated the digital audio output connection which in many setups and systems has created issues when not being able to now send a separate audio feed to separately amplify the audio signal.

The fix for getting a new separate digital audio connection is to install an Audio De-Embedder / Audio Extractor which essentially strips the audio signal from the HDMI output of the Apple TV and allows the de-embedder to send the audio to a separate device or amplifier.

An additional HDMI cable is also needed to go from the Apple TV output to the De-Embedder input which is required for proper connection and installation.




Below are two options that are recommended to get the digital audio connection of your choice from the Apple TV to your system or amplifier.

Control 4 has now released the latest software Composer 2.10.0 to the smart home eco-system with added products and improvements upon existing features. See below for the full updated details and 2.10.0 release notes.

Savant DaVinci 8.5 software release introduces the new Savant Touch 8 inch screen the ITP-E8000x into Savant's product lineup. The other major announcement with the 8.5 update is the release of Savant's new lineup of motorized shades. 




The full Savant daVinci 8.5 software details and new features can be seen below.

The new Sonos 8.0 app update contains major UI changes that will be and is a new learning curve for Sonos users. Below are the following major changes Sonos has implemented with their newest 8.0 software release.
New Tab Bar


The new Sonos 8.0 app Tab Bar now allows you to access your favorites, browse your available music services, select rooms from the dedicated tab, search your Sonos music and use the more tab to get to your Sonos system settings right from the bottom of the app all the time.
Easy Room Control



The easy room control allows the Sonos user to send the now playing music to other rooms within the Sonos system by tapping the room name at the bottom of the app and then selecting either an individual room or the convenient everwhere slide button which plays the now playing music to all Sonos devices within the system. 
Favorites All In One Place


The favorites are now located all in one place from the My Sonos tab on the lower left of the Sonos 8.0 app. Adding a favorite is…