Thinking about upgrading your Westlake, Texas home with a multi-room music system? It’s much simpler than you might think. DB Media Solutions can handle multi-room music installations from the initial design to final optimization of the sound in each room. Not all multi-room music solutions are created equal, so we’ve put together this list of the three main characteristics of a high-quality music system for your whole house.

SEE MORE: What You Need to Know When Buying High-End Audio Speakers

Optimized for Each Space

The acoustics in each room of your home will be different, and you need speakers that are versatile enough to accommodate the differences in room layout and furniture. To ensure a smooth, even sound as you walk through the house, speakers are carefully placed in specific locations. Speaker type is another concern with a multi-room music system. You’ll want a different style of speakers for your outdoor audio, for example, than you would for your kitchen. DB Media Solutions can help you design a system that has the right speakers and equipment in the right location throughout your home.

Hidden from View

Your home’s décor probably doesn’t accommodate bulky speakers or cluttered wires. It may be easy to hide speakers in a media room or bedroom, but what about the bathroom? The solution is to use in-wall and in-ceiling speakers, such as the Sonance Invisible Series, to completely hide the speakers. You get high-quality sound without having to deal with wires or looking at speakers.

Easy to Use

The best sound quality in the world isn’t going to do you much good if your music system is difficult to operate. When all of your music equipment is integrated into one seamless system controlled by a touchpad or your smartphone, it’s much easier to adjust volume, change the station, or pause music. You don’t have to walk to the other end of the house to turn on your music—instead, just pull up your phone and start enjoying the high fidelity audio wherever you are.

The modern smart home has gone far beyond keyless locks and 4K Ultra HD TVs. Everything from your home surveillance cameras to your window shades can be automated with technology that adds convenience and comfort to your home. Below, we’ve covered two of the main ways that upgrading to motorized shades can make your Dallas, Texas home smarter.

SEE ALSO: 3 Reasons to Invest in Motorized Shades for Your Home

Energy Management

It takes a lot of energy to keep a home cool in Dallas, especially during Texas’ stifling summer months. The large windows that add so much beauty and character to your home are actually contributing to your high energy bill. Once the sun comes up, your windows can essentially bake your home in the sunlight, significantly raising interior temperatures.

The regular approach to this problem is to hang shades on all the windows, but with your curtains always closed, you don’t get to enjoy your outdoor views, and you have to rely on artificial lighting all the time (which also requires energy). Motorized shades solve this problem by intelligently monitoring your home’s temperature and lighting. The motorized shades automatically adjust throughout the day to ensure your rooms are adequately lit without the sun blasting heat into your home. Sensors detect the amount of sunlight hitting the window and cause the shades to lower or raise as needed.

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.

Home surveillance is an important aspect of securing your Westlake, Texas home. Surveillance cameras can deter intruders and provide evidence in the event of that a determined individual manages to break through your home defenses or a natural disaster like a flood occurs. In one of our previous posts, we discussed the main features to look for in a home security system. One of those features was a surveillance system. Today, we’re going to dig deeper into the specifics of surveillance cameras and how to identify which options are best for you.

SEE ALSO: What Features Should Be Included in Your Home Security System?

The Cameras
Modern surveillance cameras no longer create black and white images so grainy you can barely make out faces. Instead, high-end surveillance cameras can produce crystal clear images in 360-degree environments, giving you a complete view of your home’s access points. Using the newest updates to video data compression, you can view and store high-resolution footage without overloading bandwidth.
When choosing your surveillance cameras, it’s important to know the different types that are available. Here are some of the most popular options:
• Dome Cameras: Named for the domed shape of their lens, dome cameras are designed to stick out of ceilings and entryways so that potential intruders are aware that they are being observed. The dome camera’s 360 view and unobtrusive design make it the go-to option for indoor monitoring.
• Discreet Cameras: Unlike dome cameras, discreet cameras are useful when you want to hide the cameras from view without compromising the footage quality. Discreet cameras can be made to resemble fire sprinklers, smoke alarms, and even decorative objects such as clocks.
• Bullet Cameras: Bullet cameras are typically used in entryways because they monitor a fixed location as opposed to having a 360-degree view. Designed in the shape of a bullet, these cameras are optimized for indoor and outdoor use.
Which camera type is best for your home will depend on a number of factors, such as a camera’s desired location, your home’s décor, and your other security features. One of our security experts can assess your environment and offer recommendations on the appropriate camera types.

The Interface
The days of security rooms with dedicated monitoring computers are long past. Now, you can pull up your surveillance camera’s view on your smartphone, enabling you to monitor your home in real time from your living room or halfway around the world. In addition to smartphone access, you can also take advantage of touch panel interfaces. The sleek wall mounted interface gives you touchscreen access to all aspects of your smart home automation system, from security to lighting control to intercoms. By integrating your intercom system and your surveillance system into one seamless interface, you can see and speak with visitors from within the safety of your home.

Our Recommendation: IC Realtime
IC Realtime is the leading supplier of home surveillance equipment ranging across security cameras, intercom systems, Digital Video Recorders, and more. IC Realtime’s products are durable and built to endure the rigors of the Texas outdoors while maintaining polished and minimalist designs that complement your décor. Their comprehensive security solutions can handle all of your home’s surveillance needs.

Connected devices have exploded in popularity in recent years. With the rise of the Internet of Things, devices communicate with each other throughout your Southlake, Texas home, from your refrigerator to your speakers. Many times when these products malfunction, it's not because of faulty manufacturing but rather a bad network. As people upgrade their technology, they fail to improve what matters most: the home network that serves as its foundation. In this blog, we guide you through some of the questions you need to ask to make sure your network is up to the task.

SEE MORE: What Are Some Perks of Living in a Smart Home?

How Do You Plan to Use Your Network?

The first step is knowing what you want out of your network. The hardware offered by your internet service providers works fine for basic functions: checking emails, browsing the web, watching videos on your computer, etc. However, if you are planning on using it as part of a connected home, you’re going to need an upgrade.

Sometimes, it may be enough to add a couple of routers and invest in a more expensive internet package to bolster your signal. Sometimes you need to upgrade to a router that can handle bigger bandwidths (if you expect to do a lot of media streaming, for example). In the case of a connected home, you may even need subnetworks called VLANS to divide up your traffic.