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CNET's quick guide to home integration
Home theater ($3,000 and up)
Certifications to look for: CEDIA Installer I or II; CEDIA Designer
There's more to home theater than a TV, a DVD player, and a pair of speakers. A contractor or designer with home-theater experience can help you choose and set up the right equipment, lighting, speaker placement, and a few extra touches for that will literally turn your room into a miniplex.
- Video: Have your flat-panel LCD or plasma screen mounted in a cabinet, hung on a wall, or even installed on a platform that slides up from a slot in the floor (à la Tom Cruise's slick setup in Vanilla Sky). Once your screen is installed and connected, a video calibrator can tweak the set's settings to get the picture just right.
- Audio: You can have the speakers built into your walls and the subwoofer installed in the floor for earth-shaking sound without unsightly boxes and wires.
- Media: Sick of having bulky components clutter the living room? Have a media closet built in another room or in the basement that you control with a universal remote.
- Lighting: No need to jump up and turn off every lamp before the movie starts. You can set the lights to dim and window blinds to close when you fire up the home theater. You can even have curtains automatically pull aside to reveal your flat-panel screen--a feature guaranteed to impress your jaded friends.
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Multizone systems, such as this one from NuVo Home Audio, let you listen to your music collection in any room of the house. |
Multiroom audio and video ($3,000 and up)
Certifications to look for: CEDIA Installer I or II; CEDIA Designer; HTI+
If your idea of music in every room is turning up the stereo really, really loud, try the whole-house approach to audio and video.
- Speakers: Instead of big black boxes in each room, speakers can be installed unobtrusively in the walls or even the ceiling.
- Music: Your media closet can include a huge digital jukebox that stores music for every member of the family.
- Video: Ever wanted to watch CNN in the bathroom? You can wire virtually every room in the house for cable or satellite TV.
- Acoustics: Sound designers can help position speakers to deal with the different acoustics of, say, a carpeted bedroom versus a dining room with hardwood floors and a glass table.
- Motion detectors: When you walk into (or leave) a room, sensors can detect your presence and turn music on or off automatically; in other words, your music follows you around the house.
- Zoning: Listen to jazz in the kitchen while the kids blast hip-hop in the bedroom. By dividing the house into separate zones--kitchen, living room, bedrooms, and adjoining hallways, for instance--everyone can listen to his or her preferred music from the same central audio system.
Energy/power management ($3,000 and up)
Certifications to look for: CEDIA Installer I or II; CEDIA Designer
Do your power bills bring you to tears each month? Automating your heating, air conditioning, and lighting can save you hundreds of dollars a year.
- Heating and air conditioning (a.k.a. HVAC): So-called smart thermostats can adjust the temperature at night or any time you leave the house, and they can also set different temperature zones for, say, the bedroom versus the living room and kitchen.
- Lighting: Motion sensors can detect when you enter a room, then turn the lights on automatically; after you leave, they can turn the lights back off. Meanwhile, light sensors can adjust the lighting and open or close curtains depending on whether it's day, night, or dusk.
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No more busy signals: take a business call in the den while your kids use the second line. |
Phone systems
Certifications to look for: CEDIA Installer I or II; CEDIA Designer
The days when you had a phone in the kitchen and an extension in the bedroom are over. The latest phone systems will give you the power of an office setup in your home.
- Multiple lines: Whether you have a home office or a talkative teen, you can set up multiple phone lines for your family members.
- Intercom: Pick up the phone in the kitchen and page the living room or greet visitors at the front door.
Security ($3,000 and up)
Certifications to look for: CEDIA Installer I or II; CEDIA Designer
The latest home security systems do more than just ward off intruders; they also let you check on your home while you're away, saving you from dreaming up nightmare scenarios while you're on the road.
- Lighting and alarms: Motion sensors can detect suspicious movement (in neighboring rooms, for instance) and either turn on the lights or notify a dispatcher.
- Closed-circuit TV: Eagle-eyed video cameras can transmit signals to your TV or a Web site, which you can check from any Net-connected PC.
- Environmental sensors: Worried that you left the sink running? Sensors can detect flooding, excessive heat, and power outages and can send warnings to your cell phone, your pager, your e-mail address, or a dispatcher.
- Timed lighting: Slightly more elaborate than the timers you buy at the drug store, timed lighting systems can switch on or off every light in your home.
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Save up to $300/year on phone bills
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