By Heather L Sidorowicz June 18, 2013
As I sat on the plane to Orlando early Wednesday morning, (a flight I am
familiar with since us Buffaloioans must escape to Florida during our
bitter cold winters or risk freezing to death), I was excited for what
lay ahead. I was off to my first InfoComm for a total of 50 hours and
had packed my schedule accordingly.
By Heather L Sidorowicz June 12, 2013
All of our techs were on deck at a new golf clubhouse we had been
working on for months. The new clubhouse would offer six zones of audio,
five flat screens in the bar/restaurant, plus one more in the pro shop
(two of these sets would be digital signage TVs). The system would be
controlled via Crestron, complete with a 5-inch touchscreen housed in
the bar.
By John Sciacca June 12, 2013
As an industry that prides itself on doing custom work, we like to
promise the moon and stars. No wish or desire is too grand, no hope or
dream too elaborate or unobtainable. “You want the lights to turn on,
the thermostat to drop, the blinds to raise, and the music to start
playing the Rocky theme at full volume every time you walk into this
room? Yep, sounds totally reasonable to me!”
By Todd Anthony Puma June 11, 2013
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you may remember that
several months ago I was invited to a neighbor’s house for dinner. He
didn’t know what I did for a living and he was raving about his Sonos
system and Harmony remote. I promised to write again when I had them
over to our house. Well, now that I’ve fully installed my Crestron
system, had all the bells and whistles programmed in by industry veteran
Richard Fregosa, and have installed all of my floorstanding, in-wall,
in-ceiling, and invisible speakers, I was ready to have them over.
By Heather L. Sidorowicz June 06, 2013
Remember when a 57-inch TV was huge? I’m talking 196 pound of
rear-projection TV hugeness. Standing tall at more than 54 inches with a
depth of over 27 inches, these mammoth sets dominated the room. Yet,
those who owned these goliaths were proud.
By Todd Anthony Puma June 05, 2013
Several times in this space I’ve mentioned the Home Theater Rebuild.
This is an organization I started a couple of years ago to give back to
the industry that gave so much to me. It also has helped develop new
service providers in the industry and assisted those who need a little
guidance or advice on taking their business to the next level. It’s been
a labor of love, and I’ve been rewarded several-fold in with new
friendships, business relationships.
By John Sciacca June 04, 2013
Perusing the June 2013 digital edition of Residential Systems, I came across a column by Ira Friedman, titled “Targeting the Mega Rich: Why Ultra High Net Individuals are the Best Custom Integration Clients.” Ira
had some interesting points in his piece. For one, he defined Ultra
High Net Individuals (UHNI) as households with over $30M in disposable
income” saying they “represent your best potential clients.”
By Heather L Sidorowicz May 30, 2013
I spend a good portion of each week quoting and designing systems. Each
quote is different since each client is unique in their wants and
desires. I do have products I use regularly, but I always try to find
the best solution for the client.
By John Sciacca May 28, 2013
My particular brand of reality fetish has nothing to do with singing or
dancing, morbid obesity, rednecks or trailer parks, dating shows or
contests where genital obliteration is a very real/hoped for
possibility. No, the shows that I am drawn to are on-going contests
where “normal” people are thrown into abnormal conditions and then
forced to deal with one another.
By Michael Heiss May 23, 2013
With E3 less than a month away, both Sony and Microsoft have taken the
interesting stance of "pre-announcing" their next generation of console
gaming platforms. Sony previewed PS4 a while back and Microsoft teased
us this week with some top-level details on what we now know will be
called "Xbox One." We'll all know more at E3, but what is clear at this
point is that both of these new products will have significant impact on
how consumers access and manage content as well as what games they play
on them.