There are a lot of great smart home automation technologies out there. You can control your lights, your HVAC, and your home security all using one simple system. A popular component of a smart home is a home video distribution system, in which all of your A/V devices are connected to simplify access to shows, movies, etc. To help you decide if a video distribution system makes sense for your Dallas, Texas smart home, answer the three questions below.

SEE ALSO: How to Connect All the A/V Devices in Your Home

Do you have 3+ TVs?

The amount of A/V equipment you have in your home is usually a good indicator of whether home video distribution is a smart investment for you. If you have just a few TVs, each with their own Blu-Ray player or gaming system already set up, then a distribution system may not be as valuable as another automation technology. However, for homes with TVs in the bedrooms, dedicated home theater, living room, patio, etc., a video distribution system can vastly simplify the process of using and managing all of your different TVs.

Do you waste time moving A/V equipment from room to room?

If you want to play your Xbox in your bedroom but it’s currently in the living room, what do you do? Without a home video distribution system, you may resort to unplugging the equipment and lugging it to a different room, only to have to repeat the process the next time you want to use that system elsewhere. It’s time-consuming and annoying, and it makes it difficult to hide your equipment away where it’s not cluttering up your home’s décor. This issue is solved completely by a home video distribution system because you can centralize all of your equipment in one location, such as a utility closet, then easily switch sources using a remote, smartphone or tablet to access the device you want in whatever room you’re in.

Do you have redundant gaming systems, streaming services, etc.?

When faced with moving those devices from one room to the next, many people will decide to skip the inconvenience by just buying an extra device for each room. While that makes it easier to access your media content, purchasing redundant equipment isn’t the best option for two primary reasons.

The days of only having a TV in the family room are long past. Today, you can enjoy high definition television, movies, and video games in every room of your home, from a dedicated home theater screen to an outdoor TV next to the pool. To make the most of your TVs, you want to be able to control what’s showing on each screen throughout the house with ease, and the way you accomplish that is through home video distribution.

In this blog, we go over the basics of home video distribution and how it can add convenience to your Colleyville, Texas home.

SEE ALSO: What is the Best Entertainment Gear for Your Outdoor Spaces?

What is Home Video Distribution?
In a technical sense, home video distribution is a method of sharing a single input, such as a Blu-Ray player or Xbox, across multiple displays, no matter where those displays are located. What this means is that you don’t need dedicated video equipment to go along with each TV you have in your home. You can use one device to connect to all of your TVs at the same time.

How Does Home Video Distribution Work?
Using an AV switch, such as Savant’s SmartMedia Pro, you can connect all of your media devices together, from gaming consoles to music servers to cable boxes. The switch then sends out the necessary signal to each television, allowing you to choose which TV to watch or even having multiple TVs display the same thing at once.

The world has changed a lot in the last decade. Before 2007, iPhones didn’t even exist, and technology in the home was far from commonplace. Now, it’s not unusual to have televisions and smart devices in every room of the home. You might think that the more technology you have, the harder it is to manage it all, but that doesn’t have to be the case. Solutions like home video distribution allow you to easily control all your media across multiple devices.

In a previous post, we covered how home video distribution works, but let’s delve deeper into how you can make the most of this system in each room of your home.

1. Living Room

Let’s get the obvious room out of the way first. The living room is typically what comes to mind when somebody mentions televisions, and it’s usually the main reason why homeowners decide to go for a video distribution system. Either they’re tired of cluttering up the living room décor with countless media devices or they’re tired of being limited to a single room just to watch a movie or enjoy the latest episode of a TV show. Whatever the reason, consider the living room a must-have for video distribution.

2. Kitchen

There are plenty of great reasons to add a TV to your kitchen. You can try a new recipe alongside an episode of your favorite cooking show or have reruns playing in the background while you prep dinner. However, a TV in the kitchen isn’t much good if it can’t play the TV show or movie that you want to watch. With a video distribution system, your waterproof kitchen TV can have access to all the same media as the TV in your living room—sans cords or equipment.

3. Home Theater/Media Room

Like the living room, any home theater or media room worth its weight will have a video distribution system in place. A large part of what makes home theaters special is the ability to sit down, press play, and enjoy the immersive cinema experience. That experience shouldn’t involve sifting through different Blu-rays, booting up the Blu-ray player, finding the right remote for the projector, and so forth. Instead, all the devices are connected to one central control system that you can access right from your smartphone or tablet.