Reading Time: < 1 minuteA pair of good headphones, both over the head and earbuds, with good noise cancelation is an essential accessory for our home cinema room. There are times when we must keep the sound in the home cinema room at very low levels, e.g., late at night when our younger family Read more
Reading Time: 2 minutesSmart lighting is essential for home cinema (see previous posts). One elegant smart light which is essential for the decoration and function of the home cinema room is the Govee Neon Led Strip Light. This strip is very flexible. It can take a plethora of shapes. Read more
Reading Time: 3 minutesA windows PC is for me the heart of the home cinema. It has the power to handle everything related to home cinema including gaming. Its use is easy, and most people know how to use it. The main parts of the Home Theater PC (HTPC) are the case, the Read more
Reading Time: 3 minutesSmart home market According to Earthweb, the world smart home market amounted to 98 billion USD in 2020 and is expected to reach 495 billion by 2028. The smart home market is generally dominated by big companies such as Google Nest, Amazon, Samsung Smartthings, Apple HomeKit. Nevertheless, there is a Read more
Reading Time: 5 minutesElsewhere in this blog (see posts here, here, here, and here) I presented a general overview of smart lighting systems. I also touched upon their usefulness and effectiveness when considering automations. In this post I list the steps that one must follow for smartening his/her home lights. Smart home enthusiasts Read more
Reading Time: 3 minutes NFC technology The Near Field Communication (NFC) technology allows us to wirelessly transfer data between two devices that are less than 4 cm apart. Our phone has an electronic reader which reads the data stored on NFC tags. We first need to download the NFC Tools app, which is Read more
Reading Time: 4 minutesContinued from post here. The following issues must be also considered when setting up a smart lighting system: wireless protocol brand compatibility battery duration of accessories malfunction and customer support compatibility with smart home platforms and price. Wireless protocol As described in an earlier post, smart light devices Read more
Reading Time: 4 minutesContinued from here Turning lights on/off We have installed and named all lights/ accessories and allocated them to the available rooms. Now we must turn them on and off and adjust their color and brightness to fit our mood and/or the time of day. We do this using six methods. Read more
Reading Time: 3 minutesContinued from post here For all smart light brands, the brightness and color of installed lights as well the behavior of accessories (e.g., motion sensors, remotes) are controlled with an app. Generally all apps are user friendly and guide you through a step-by-step instruction set. Thus, the average user Read more
Reading Time: 2 minutesContinued from post here Installation For all brands, the installation of smart bulbs, strips, plugs, switches, and sensors is done through the brand’s app. Albeit not perfect, all apps are constantly improved and make the process simple. In addition, there are numerous YouTube videos on the installation of almost Read more