Reading Time: < 1 minuteHue Labs was a successful beta platform for Hue routines and automations. It led to many excellent smart home features. Hue Labs died in March 2024. Most or all of the beta features were migrated to the Hue app (there is a Beta annotation on features in the app). Lets Read more
Reading Time: < 1 minuteThe different parts of our home cinema setup are connected to each other with cables. Several years ago there were different video and audio cables available: Composite video cables DVI cables Coaxial video cables Component video cables Stereo RCA cables Coax digital S/PDIF cables Optical cables HDMI Speaker cable. Today Read more
Reading Time: 3 minutesHTPC and home theater AV receiver Sound is an essential component of a home cinema setup. Its new surround formats, such as Atmos or Auro-3D, decidedly add to the overall home cinema experience. In an earlier post I discussed the cheapest and simplest way to add different surround sound formats, including the Read more
Reading Time: 2 minutesHTPC and sound Sound is an essential component of a home cinema setup. Its new surround formats, such as Atmos or Auro-3D, add dramatically to the overall experience. The main feature of Atmos is the addition of height channels. Auro 3D consists of three distinct layers (base Read more
Reading Time: 3 minutesMovies and media files A good HTPC system can handle all types of media you throw at it. If we already have many movies or intend to build up a library of movies, we need a storage medium to store media files, i.e., build a digital library. Nowadays nobody uses Read more
Reading Time: 3 minutesThe big screen In previous posts we examined what we need to set up a PC-based home theater (or cinema, HTPC). Now we need a screen, on which we will project the HT part of the HTPC, and the sound system. With respect to the screen, there are two different Read more
Reading Time: < 1 minuteSmart plugs and switches are important elements of the smart home cinema. Sonoff wall switches are cheap and versatile smart switches that can be operated through Alexa, Google Home, Smartthings, Home Assistant as well as the good EwELink app. All of these platforms allow the build of automations that contribute Read more
Reading Time: < 1 minuteSmart plugs are very useful for the smart home and the smart home cinema. They control several appliances. There are several smart plug brands out there. IKEA also produces a smart plug at an affordable price. However, they seem to be defective. During the last three or so years I Read more
Reading Time: < 1 minuteThe new Sonos headphones, the Ace, are out. They are certainly very expensive, especially when compared to other headphones out there that are cheaper. However, the Ace is an excellent companion of the smart home cinema setup when this is based on the Sonos Atmos Read more
Reading Time: < 1 minuteA smart remote control that can work with a smart home platform, such as Alexa and Google Home, is an essential part of a smart home cinema. Logitech, which produced the best universal smart remotes, discontinued its product line. Thus the options are very scarce now. One of the best Read more