Entertainment Via Ethernet Mobile AL

One of the greatest value-added services that we provide our clients is our knowledge of where entertainment technology has been and where it is headed. No one area of the home offers a clearer example of the added value we bring to our custom installation clients than the knowledge of how ethernet-connected devices in the family rooms audio/video center can significantly enrich the overall entertainment value of their home.

In some cases, we have had to install an eight-port switch to an entertainment zone to connect all of the IP-based network devices that we now install in the family room A/V center. Lets review a few of our more successful offerings:

The XBOX 360. Microsofts XBOX 360 gaming platform is one of the most engaging and addictive entertainment platforms that you can buy. But what makes these games particularly compelling is that the XBOX 360 has an ethernet port that supports online gaming over a broadband connection. Our clients can play games against anyone in the world, and with the wireless headset they can talk over this IP-connected line to their playing partners or adversaries. The network connection behind the TV makes this a much more exciting platform.

Slingbox. This inexpensive video streaming device will encode any A/V content (up to S-video in quality) and stream it to any computing device in the home. You can even access your home A/V content remotely. A typical example is one where the Slingbox is connected to a personal video recorder (like a TiVo) and the content from one of the TiVo A/V output ports is streamed to any computer in the home loaded with the Slingbox client player. Slingbox has even included the IR remote codes in its software for most of the common in-home A/V devices so you can be watching your favorite episode of CSI on your laptop in the backyard and use the built in TiVo software remote to fast forward through commercials. Better yet, you could be sitting at that same laptop in a hotel room in Japan with a broadband Internet connection and watch and control a CSI episode that resides on your homes personal video recorder. This is a great example of how an ethernet-enabled product can leverage the A/V content in the family room entertainment center and distribute it to a location and time convenient to the homeowner.

Sonos Audio Player. The Sonos Player can search for music on any hard drive in the home (or from the Internet) and play it back through local in-room speakers or a whole-house audio system. Think of a whole-house audio system (like Russound, for example) and now include the Sonos Player as one of the Russound audio sources for your clients system (in addition to the traditional AM/FM/XM or CD sources). They can now listen to any ripped CD or Internet radio station from any room in the home where the Russound whole-house audio system is installed. Your clients can control their music from either the wall-mounted keypads or the Sonos handheld remote controller. Locatin...

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