You might love your media and entertainment, but also hate the clutter it creates.  With the excess equipment and audio video components, it can all be quite distracting from the film or show in front of you.  Plus, when you’re not watching a movie, these products might still be out and going unused during the day or when you have guests.  But with hidden audio video, your media room or home theater can serve an abundance of purposes in your Dallas, TX home.  Read on to learn more about veiling these smart technology features within your interior design.

Hide your Screens

There’s no doubt about it – 4K Ultra HD TVs are ideal in every way for your movie nights and viewing experiences.  But often times, they are extremely wide and take up a large amount of space.  We’ve listed out below several ways to hide your TV screen in your entertainment center.

• Moving Panels: You can feel like you’re in the future with wall panels.  Place your favorite piece of artwork or a picture frame on the panel, so when the TV is not in use, you have a nice addition to the room’s décor.  Then, when it’s time to binge-watch a series or film franchise – press a button, have the panel slide up, and enjoy.
• Furniture Lifts: Incorporate your TV into an actual piece of furniture in the room. The screen can slide up and down out of a TV cabinet or a table countertop, and will effortlessly appear when you are ready to view it.
• Ceiling Lifts: A ceiling lift allows a TV to hang up horizontally above its normal display area. Simply press a button on your smart device, and watch as the screen zooms down from the ceiling and vertically into place.

SEE ALSO: ENJOY FOOTBALL SEASON WITH THE LATEST AUDIO VIDEO TECH

Now for the Audio

You want your speakers to give you the best sound quality available.  This means no obstructions or hindrances to muffle them.  But speakers can be bulky and mess with your room’s style.  Now you don’t have to compromise your taste for quality!  Hidden wall speakers mean the product can be carefully placed within your wall, taking up hardly any space.  You can conceal the speakers’ looks and still hear their top-notch sounds.

If you don’t mind how standard speakers look, but still want them not to take up too much space, then bookshelf speakers are a viable option as well.  You get amazing, high-end sound quality, similar to larger and more predominant floor-standing speakers, but are instead able to place these on top of bookshelves or cabinets – eliminating the amount of room they would normally take up.

There’s nothing quite like the experience of watching a classic Hollywood movie or listening to your favorite music playlist in the comfort of your own home. But can your home network support the plethora of devices and streaming activities that your family uses on a daily basis including laptops, game consoles, Blu-ray players, smartphones, tablets, televisions, video streaming and game downloads? The typical home network is slow and inconsistent. Isn’t it time you upgraded? Read on to learn more about inviting the future of tech into your home.

Support 4K Streaming

Televisions are getting bigger, and prices are coming down—in particular, 4K ultra high-definition TVs. But what good is a fancy, new 4K TV if your network doesn’t have the bandwidth to support your family’s streaming habits? Greater download speeds will transform the way you watch TV and open up a world of crisp color that is sure to make your friends jealous. Slow download speeds result in buffering issues and lag time, which no doubt you have experienced.  

SEE ALSO: Are You Making these Home Networking Mistakes?

An additional piece of information to be aware of is that internet service providers (ISP) often put a cap on the total amount of data that a customer can use each month. These caps present a problem when it comes to streaming live video. If your ISP limits your data usage to 50 or 200 GB per month, you could quickly reach your limit when live streaming. 

So you’ve decided to upgrade the media room in your Dallas, TX home. Instead of the standard 1080p HD you’ve become accustomed to, you want a video display that truly pops. You want to upgrade to 4K. But now that you’ve chosen to make the move, there are some questions you need answered, like: what exactly is 4K? How do you achieve full 4K picture? In this blog, we’ll answer your questions. Read on to learn more.

See Also: 4 Unique Uses for Your Brand New Media Room

What Is 4K?

By now you’ve probably heard the term 4K so much you might think it’s a standard feature on most TV displays. But actually, 4K has only become popular over the past couple of years. But do you really know what it means?

Also known as UHD, 4K is an image standard that’s four times the picture resolution of 1080p HD. Think of picture resolution like thread count on bedsheets: if 1080p equals 400 thread count, then 4K equals 1600. And, typically speaking, the higher the thread count, the better the quality.

The holidays are nearly upon us. Is your home ready for entertaining? Many holiday traditions revolve around the television: watching the Macy’s Day Parade on Thanksgiving morning or The Grinch during Christmas break. So why not make the most of your time enjoying media with family by upgrading your outdated, clunky system with one that’s easy to use? Keep reading to learn the benefits of a modern audio video system during the holiday season. 

A Better Movie-Watching Experience

If you or your family members are squinting at the grainy image on the television or bumping up the volume to its highest setting, it’s time for an upgrade. With 4K Ultra HD, the latest advancement in television image resolution, you can now get a super crisp, clear picture of all your favorite shows and movies. Whether you’re watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation or It’s a Wonderful Life, you’ll be able to see so much detail, you’d swear you could reach out and touch the actors.

Of course, the view is only part of a great movie setup. You also need high-fidelity sound to create that immersive experience. The sleek, thin look of modern televisions comes at a price; there’s no space for quality speakers. Whether you have a dedicated home theater or a family room, it’s important to supplement your television with either a sound bar or surround sound speakers. We can work with you to help you decide on the best brand, speaker type, and placement for optimal sound.

Spread Holiday Cheer in Every Room

Nothing gets people in the holiday spirit quite like music. Instead of blasting the Christmas carols from one room or individually going into each area of your home to set up music systems and pick out playlists, it’s possible to set the same music, optimized for easy listening, in every room at once. By upgrading to a multi-room music system, all of your audio equipment, music, and streaming services are instantly accessible via your smartphone or tablet. So when Santa Baby comes on the radio for the fifth time that day, all you have to do is press “Skip” on your phone, and the multi-room music system will immediately respond to your command.

Of course, it’s possible that not everyone in your family will be gung-ho for Christmas music 24x7. Your audio system can have separate music zones that allow everyone to listen to their own music in different areas of the home. So if someone in the family is ready to go on a rampage from too many Christmas jingles, they can retreat to their room without interrupting the holiday atmosphere.

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.

Many families these days boast about having home theater systems. Usually, these entail a high-definition TV and a soundbar or surround sound speakers. But what if you could truly recreate the experience you get in a commercial theater? DB Media Solutions works with you to create a custom theater in your Dallas, Texas home that will let you escape into your favorite movies. For that to happen, we urge you to upgrade the following components:

SEE MORE: 4 Reasons to Invest in a Professional Home Theater System

Say Goodbye to Your HD TV

If you want high-quality larger-than-life images, a traditional HD TV is not going to cut it. First of all, it's time to embrace 4K Ultra HD, which has four times the resolution of 1080p (HD). For an authentic theater experience, we also encourage you to go with a screen-and-projector combination. Not only does it help to set the scene, but it is also easier to get larger displays if you opt for a screen rather than television. If you're tight for space, you can invest in retractable screens that disappear into a niche in the ceiling. 

Embrace the Dolby Atmos Experience

A 5.1 surround sound setup or even a quality soundbar is a huge upgrade from relying on TV speakers. But if you want a home theater system designed to impress, you should upgrade to Dolby Atmos. This new technology separates sound into unique objects, rather than relegating them to a designated channel. This way your audio moves freely throughout the room to create a more realistic experience. We help you find manufacturers that offer this technology and design the right speaker layout to optimize your new equipment.

Upgrade Your Media Library

What good is a great home theater setup if you have nothing to play on it? People often focus their investment on expensive televisions and speakers and forget about the rest. Not only do we help you figure out what source components are best for you (streaming services like Netflix, media libraries, Blu-Ray players, etc.), but we also make it easy to manage them. From a universal remote, touchpad, or tablet it's easy to alternate from one to the other, so you don't waste time trying to find what you want.

Getting the family to agree on anything can be difficult. Your sixteen-year-old daughter's ideal media room is going to be much different than yours. It may be enticing to say, "I've got the money, so I choose what we get." But you don't want one of the most important rooms in your Colleyville, Texas house to be a source of resentment. We specialize in creating multi-purpose media rooms that are sure to please the entire family. 

SEE MORE: 3 Ways to Fill Your Home With Music

Mellow Out With Your Favorite Music

With bookshelf speakers, ceiling speakers and in-wall speakers expertly laid out throughout the room you can have a versatile listening space. You don't need a dedicated 2-channel stereo system to break out the scotch and listen to your favorite albums. Many actually sound great on 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound setups as well. Whether you're breaking out Pink Floyd or B.B King, you can get an immersive experience and truly natural sound. While you enjoy your favorite albums, your daughter can use the same system to stream her favorite Pandora channel or Spotify playlist when she’s hosting friends.

Challenge Friends to a Gaming Marathon

A great way to use your 4K Ultra HD television and surround sound is playing games with friends. Create the perfect environment when playing your favorite first-person shooter game. Like a TV show or movie, video game soundtracks are edited to give you a greater sense of the action. Get ahead of the competition with a system that lets you know exactly where your enemies are coming from.

There are a few other ways we can deck out your media room to make it the best place for an Overwatch marathon. In PC gaming, many players opt for multi-monitor systems to increase their peripheral vision. We can recreate this set-up with a multi-screen media room. We also increase the strength of your home network, so your play is never interrupted due to a bad connection.

Needless clutter, broken signals, and uneven audio are just a few of the problems usually associated with a home theater system. Designing your own system on the fly using equipment found off the shelf can end terribly. Video signals need the right cabling, speakers need to be expertly laid out, and a professional needs to ensure that all components are compatible. On the whole, there needs to be a comprehensive plan in place to create an immersive entertainment space in your Westlake, Texas home. 

1.Prepare a Comprehensive Plan

If you learn one thing in this blog, make it this: it’s all about the planning. Whether you’re installing a fire alarm or a home audio system, the best results will come if you lay out every possible detail in advance. Come up with an answer to these questions before getting started:

• Do I want to use a television or screen?
• Will I be transmitting HD or 4K content?
• How many people will my theater seat?
• What kind of stylistic theme do I want to have?

In future blogs, we'll go in depth into some of those questions to help you understand how your answer can impact your home theater installation.

2.Invest in the Best Equipment