Living in Sarasota, FL, the Odegard family spends a lot of the year outdoors enjoying the beautiful warm weather and wanted to create a stylish, relaxing outdoor entertainment center where they could watch movies and sports all year long.
Sarasota, Florida-based SmartHouse Integration chose ELAN g! for the outdoor theater and multi-zone audio system, featuring a super-bright 5,500 lumen 1080p Digital Projections projector, a permanently installed Stewart StarGlas 102-inch glass rear projection screen, and a 2,000 Watt surround sound system.
“I’m not a huge tech guy,” Eric Odegard said, “and this was the first time I really saw how all the systems in my home could be tied together and controlled on my iPhone, which I carry with me everywhere. Now that I’ve gotten used to having all of this control, I’m going to expand the system to include the pool heater and the Jacuzzi controls, and also the security system in the main house. I’ll be able to have the jacuzzi heated up and ready to go when I get home, and then disengage the security system as I’m walking up to the front door. How cool is that? Add that to the great parties we’ve been able to throw, including the outdoor Super Bowl party we just had, and this system really blows us away. SmartHouse Integration and the guys at Onyx Development who designed the pool house really created an amazing backyard living space that we can enjoy year round.”
With the ELAN g! system, the Odegard family can use their iPhones or iPads to control the theater and audio system, the landscape lights, the HVAC and audio in the pool house, and soon the security system in the main house.
According to SmartHouse president Mark van den Broek, “When the Odegards were getting ready to start their home addition and pool renovation, they said they wanted a great outdoor audio system, of course, but they’d really love to be able to watch movies and sports with family and friends while lounging at the pool. I told them that not only could I design a beautiful outdoor home theater like they’ve never seen, but I could let them control everything—the projector, the LED landscape lights, the pool house HVAC and multi-zone audio, and even the pool equipment—with an iPad and iPhone through the ELAN g! system. Eric is a huge iPhone fan, so that really put him over the top.
“As you can see, the results lived up to the hype. We used some of the best projection and outdoor audio equipment available to give them a theater that rivals the quality of any commercial movie theater out there, and the entire system can be set up with a couple swipes and taps on an iPad. The projector is so powerful the family can even watch sports outdoors in the daytime, partly thanks to a removable TV overhang that Onyx built. We also installed an ELAN TS2 in-wall touch screen in the pool house that allows anyone to control the whole system from inside.”
The poolside theater is complete with a DirecTV HD receiver and Samsung Blu-ray player, so the homeowner can enjoy all of his sports and movies in the comfort of his own backyard.
