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The Digital
Home: Exploring new Possibilities for
Integrating Home Electronics |
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Home Automation, Lighting Control, and Electrical Basic
Training |
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The Digital Home:
Exploring new Possibilities for
Integrating Home Electronics
You wouldn't want to live in
a house without electricity or indoor plumbing.
Many consumers take their home electronics for granted, but complain
about "too many remotes" and the difficulty of using many devices and
of distributing their videos, pictures, and audio around the house. Solutions to these problems are becoming
cheaper and more readily available, but many consumers are confused. They see that the lights come on when they
open their car door, but not their front door.
Consumer electronics and
digital technologies are now becoming one--a so-called "digital convergence". This trend will only accelerate in the
future. This convergence is creating
completely new possibilities for the homeowner.
The technology to create a user friendly "smart" home,
sometimes called a digital home, is here now and will become mainstream and
pervasive. Don't be left behind.
If you are building a new
home or are remodelling your present home, the time is now to prepare your
home's infrastructure. In addition to
providing conveniences for your family, an integrated smart home will bring a
premium selling price, and will be more attractive to many buyers. Future proof your home.
In this class, you will
explore the present and future possibilities for fully integrating your home
electronics into a seamless digital home system. Manufacturers are making new electronics with
easier user interfaces to enhance the consumer's quality of life and experience
of living. This course will explain the
new possibilities and prepare the homeowner for the future.
These new fundamentals will
be covered at the consumer level.
Digital Television Fundamentals for
Consumers
The Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) has tentatively set 2006 as the date for broadcasters
nationwide to cease transmitting conventional analog television signals over
the air, and switch to broadcasting digital television signals only. Among the reasons for this are that within
one conventional analog channel, up to five standard definition (SDTV) digital
channels or one high definition (HDTV) digital channel can be broadcast. In addition to this efficiency, new
applications of broadcasting are possible with the conversion to digital. These include such things as program guides and
many more programming choices. As with
any new technology, astounding changes are predicted to come in the next three
years as the changeover to digital takes off.
Many television broadcast
stations are already simulcasting in digital preparing for the changeover
date. Most households in the
What is digital? Is digital better than analog? What is a digital television? What does the consumer need to know to
prepare for the future of digital broadcasting?
High definition (HDTV)
digital television requires new connectors.
These are HDMI, DVI, 1394, component, and composite video
connectors. Why are there so many, and
what do you use? Why is is digital
content protection important, and what does it mean for the consumer?
These new fundamentals will
be covered at the consumer level.
Broadband, Broadcast, and Wireless
Technologies in the Home
Wireless, digital broadcast,
and broadband are the new buzz words for everything new in electronics. New applications of these technologies
simplify and enhance everyday life.
There are many new applications of these technogies that are here today
or are coming in the next few years.
However, many consumers are unaware of new applications of these
technologies and how they could contribute to the quality of their life.
Broadband, broadcast, and
wireless are typically different in scope, but all use radio waves to
distribute voice, data, and video to and/or around the house. Typical broadband services are cable and
satelite services, sometimes including internet services, which are distributed
through a cable. Over the air
broadcasting distributes television, which is going completely digital within a
few years, radio, and soon data streams, locally in your community. Broadcasting also includes new satelite radio
services. Wireless, on the other hand,
is most often thought of as mobile phone services and wireless connectivity
within the home. Within the home,
typical wireless connectivity includes WiFi, bluetooth, and Zigbee, among
others.
This course will cover
current and new applications of broadband, broadcast, and wireless technologies
throughout the home. Learn possibilities
for sending your home videos, pictures, and audio throughout the house through
your cable. Learn how to send the same
television show to all television sets in the house by adding your own cable
channel. Learn about the advantages and
disadvantages of wired and wireless approaches.
For example, Zigbee is a new wireless standard approach for creating a
"smart" home.
These new fundamentals will
be covered at the consumer level.
New Television Set Technologies and
Smart Shopping Tips
High Definition (HDTV) and
Standard Definition (SDTV) digital television are now available over the air to
Metro area households. If consumers want to take full advantage of the HDTV
broadcasts and other new features digital television has to offer, they will
need to buy a new television set.
New digital television set
technologies are both visually astounding and expensive. As with any new technology, consumers may
find it difficult to obtain reliable, knowledgeable and independent sources of
information about new television set technologies. As the saying goes, smart shoppers are
informed shoppers. Don't be disappointed
with your choice.
Human visual perceptions are
very important to the choice of a new digital television. To understand the benefits and shortcomings
of the different technologies, the principles of light and the response of the
eye are important. Therefore, the human
perception of color, brightness, contrast, and resolution must be understood
and will be discussed.
The main display technologies
at present are: CRT, PDP, LCD, LCOS,
D-ILA, and DMD. What do these acronyms
mean? These display technologies are
important, but since digital television sets must adapt to many different types
of received signals and many resolutions, the design of the digital video
processors inside television set itself is just as important. Don't base your television purchase on advertising. Tips on how to test a candidate television
set before you purchase are given in the class.
The session will be informal
and casual. It will help participants
understand what to expect in the next few years, show off their knowledge to
their friends, have fun, and learn new information. One advantage of taking this course is
meeting others in your community interested in DTV and want to continue the
discussion among themselves after the session is over.
These new fundamentals will
be covered at the consumer level.
Home Theatre Basic Training: High Definition Audio
The quality of life and the
experience of living are enhanced for many folks by going to the movies. In the past, it was cost prohibitive to build
a quality home theatre system into most homes.
This scenario is changing rapidly.
Movie projectors and audio systems for the home now rival the quality of
the movie theatre. High definition audio
and video are becoming more common and will become pervasive in the near
future. Consumer electronics is becoming
mostly digital, with accompanying increases in quality at an affordable
price.
This being said, many
consumers have never experienced theatre quality sound in their own home. To re-create the quality of the movie theatre
experience in the home, special care must be taken to integrate the visual and
the audio systems. Most people have
never heard quality audio in their own home.
This course covers the basics of quality home theatre, especially the
audio. Another class already focuses on
the visual side.
To start, the basics of
hearing and the ear are described. Then
the differences between ordinary stereo sound and "high def" (movie
quality surround) sound are described.
The
These new fundamentals will
be covered at the consumer level.
Digital Media Services within the Home
Consumers are increasingly
embracing the ease and convenience of many new digital products for the
home. These include cameras for taking
family photos and videos. Seamless
integration the digital media content inside the home is now possible. While most people watch internet videos on
their computer, with seamless integration, they can be routed to the comfort of
family room television instead.
In this new digital home,
consumers will have the capability to store their DVD's and CD's on the
harddisk drive of their home media center.
Like is common now with portable digital audio devices, like Apple's
iPod, the home media center will store digital audio, videos, and pictures for
use either in the home or on the road.
The capabilities of mobile
phones will soon extend from just voice to multimedia applications. Broadcast television and 3D video games on
mobile phones are coming within the next year or so. Consumers will be able to download their own
content from their home media center to their mobile phone will become common,
whereever they are in the world.
Digital cable and satelite
services are a source of entertainment and information services. Once digital
content is acquired, consumers want to playback, record, store, and edit their
digital media content. However,
consumers will face new levels of "digital content protection"
enforced by content creators, such a movie studios and recording
companies. This will enable digital
content to be acquired, but not copied and redistributed outside of the
home.
This course will cover the
applications of digital media centers and home and mobile digital media
distribution. A media center will be
shown and some of the issues involved in setting up and using a media center
will be discussed.
These new fundamentals will
be covered at the consumer level.
Home Automation, Lighting Control, and
Electrical Basic Training
With new wired and wireless
technologies, home automation is becoming affordable for most homeowners. The most important reason for home automation
is safety. In a home fire, for example,
it is extremely important to turn off the heating and air-conditioning systems
when the smoke alarm sounds. Otherwise,
smoke will be blown all over the house, and the fire will be fed with fresh
oxygen.
Did you know that your car is
smarter than your home? When you open
the car door, the lights turn on, unlike most front doors. In the past,
home automation has been difficult to install, and has often been
avoided except in new constuction. When
homes are retrofitted for home automation, power line control is often
used. A new wireless system, called
Zigbee, will soon make it easy to integrate home automation with the rest of
your home's electronic systems.
Benefits of the new home
automation systems are the ability to monitor heat, lights, and children when
you're away from home. In addition, home
automation includes opening and shutting drapes, turning on and off lights, and
automatically directing multimedia, such as radio or television programs around
the house as you move about into new zones.
There is no longer any need
to buy a separate security system. With
the same sensors that tell you if someone has broken in the front door, a home
automation system can turn on the lights when you open your front door. Home automation systems are much more
versatile and not much more expensive that a stand-alone security system. Home automation systems come with integrated
home security systems.
This course will cover the
basics of electricity and lighting as well as covering new home automation
systems. Integration of the automation
system into the infrastructure of your home will be discussed. If you want your coffee ready for you in the
kitchen when you get home from work, all you have to do is integrate you cell
phone into the automation system.
Choices for automation of lighting will also be covered.
These basics will be covered
at the consumer level.
If you have any questions, please email or call me at (952) 906-3492.
Contact me at:
The
Integrated Home
Electronics
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© 2005 Donald F Hanson |
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