What's New: Residential Technology
Oct 1, 2004 12:00 PM
Subwoofers
Velodyne Acoustics
www.velodyne.com
The Velodyne Rear Port (VRP) Series enhances low bass performance and output while maintaining musical accuracy by using a low-noise, rear-port design. The VRP Series consists of the VRP-1000 with a 10-inch forward-firing driver (8.2-inch piston diameter) and the VRP-1200 with a 12-inch forward-firing driver (9.7-inch piston diameter). Both are finished in black ash with an hourglass-shaped front grille with high-gloss black accents. To power the VRP Series, Velodyne uses bipolar-MOS technology amplifiers, capable of producing significant dynamic power from their reserve headroom.
Emergency Call System
GE Security, Residential Solutions
www.gesecurity.com
The CareGard Home Emergency Call System now comes with the KeySafe Package. The KeySafe is for PERS home owners who need to keep their doors locked most of the time. The KeySafe is easily installed on the outside of the home and contains a spare key. In an emergency, a monitoring center operator can give emergency personnel the combination to open the KeySafe and retrieve the spare key.
Protocol
Smarthome
www.smarthome.com
Insteon is a home automation network technology that combines the home's existing wiring, or powerline, with radio frequency (RF) communications to deliver a secure, reliable, and fast connection for automatic or remote control of lighting, security, entertainment systems, appliances, climate, and more. By combining the powerline with RF, Insteon offers the efficiencies of powerline communication and the wireless connectivity required for certain applications in or outside the home. Insteon's enhanced powerline communications also enable it to perform mission-critical home automation tasks such as remotely locking the front door or automatically filling the swimming pool. To begin using Insteon, you plug in two RF access points in your home and two filters to prevent interference with PC power strips or certain brands of televisions.
Preamp/Processor/Tuner
Anthem
www.anthemav.com
The D1 is designed and built on the same platform and incorporating the same user-friendly advanced operating system as the AVM 20. The D1 has surround-sound modes to handle music or movie sources, including all of the available Dolby and DTS surround-sound modes, as well as the company's own AnthemLogic-Music and AnthemLogic-Cinema modes. The D1 also includes all THX modes: THX Cinema and Ultra2 Cinema; THX MusicMode; THX Surround EX; and THX for DTS ES. The D1 takes surround-sound processing a step further by including its own built-in precision Upsampler, which converts the sampling rate of all incoming digital signals to 192 kHz.
TV
V, Inc.
www.vinc.com
The 56-inch wide-screen rear-projection VIZIO RP56 features Texas Instruments' Digital Light Processing (DLP) technology. This technology produces high contrast levels, sharp images, and motion reproduction through the use of its HD2 Digital MicroMirror Device chip. At the core of DLP chip technology are thousands of mirrors spaced less than one micron apart. By minimizing the space between the pixels in a projected image, the DLP system creates a seamless and sharp digital image at any projected size.
Controller
Remote Technologies
www.rticorp.com
The T2+ provides users complete and intuitive control of their home theaters, distributed audio systems, lighting control systems, and more — with little or no operating instruction necessary. Measuring 1.1 inches thick and weighing 8.5 ounces, the T2+ is an ultraslim package that makes accessing all capabilities easy, even for smaller hands. It balances basic and advanced functions, ergonomically laying out 32 fully programmable hard buttons and a touch-sensitive LCD that displays high-contrast menus and scroll lists. A tilt sensor automatically illuminates the buttons and touch screen when the remote is picked up, and the LCD never needs calibrating.
