There are a lot of different options out there for home surveillance cameras. How do you know which ones are right for your Colleyville area home? The answer to that question will depend on the unique aspects of your property, and DB Media Solutions can help you design the best mix of cameras for your needs, but to give you a general understanding of the differences between the most popular cameras styles, we’ve put together a brief overview below.

SEE ALSO: 5 Statistics that Highlight the Importance of a Home Surveillance System

Bullet

Often installed in the corners of rooms or entryways, bullet cameras have a limited range of visibility, but they provide an excellent image of wherever they’re pointed. This style of camera is commonly used in both indoor and outdoor environments. If you’re looking for a camera that can monitor a specific location, such as the front door or the area in front of your safe, then the bullet style is a good choice.

Dome

Dome cameras are great for areas where you need full visibility. You often see dome cameras installed in the middle of rooms so that they can take in a 360-degree view. These cameras fit easily into the ceiling and are fairly unobtrusive. Depending on your needs, you can get dome cameras outfitted for each space. So in a living room, you might opt for a high-fidelity camera that can capture footage even in low lighting conditions. For your outdoor spaces, you should go for a weather-resistant design and perhaps a camera that allows for long distance recording.

Discrete

If you prefer to keep the presence of your surveillance system unknown, then discrete cameras are the way to go. These cameras are designed to look like something else while still maintaining clear, high-definition footage. You can get cameras that look just like smoke detectors, water sprinklers, or other devices you would commonly find throughout the property.

Most homes in the Dallas, Texas area have a network of some sort. With so many internet-connected devices available now, there’s no denying that a network is an essential part of everyday life. So why are networking issues so common? If you want to avoid making the mistakes that so often result in an unreliable, unsecure, and glitchy home network, then read on.

Mistake One: Thinking “Off the Shelf” is Good Enough

With networking equipment, you absolutely get what you pay for. The standard routers you find in your local electronics store might be adequate for a home without any smart home automation devices, but if you’re the type of person who embraces the Internet of Things, you’ll have much better luck with a professional system. Professional-grade networking is about more than high-quality equipment (although that plays a big role). It’s about finding the right equipment for your needs – both today and for the future.

Mistake Two: Not Changing the Default Settings

Although networking companies are getting better about giving unique default usernames and passwords, the most common combination is still admin, admin. In fact, it’s easy to find complete lists of the default login IP addresses, usernames, and passwords for all the popular networking brands.

So what does this mean for you? It means that if someone wants to gain access to your network, they can do it in less than a minute. After hacking into your network, they’ll be able to see all the data transferred to and from your computer as well as track some web pages you’re viewing. It could be a very big problem, but fortunately, it’s easy to avoid: just update the default settings with a secure username and password that’s not easily guessable.

SEE ALSO: 5 Questions to Ask When Upgrading Your Home Network

The very first universal remote debuted in 1985. While the technology was clunky and basic, the idea behind the original universal remote is still true today: consolidating control of your media devices makes using them easier. In modern media rooms, universal controls are a must-have item. With sound systems, media players, televisions, and more, having one remote to manage everything definitely makes life simpler. To learn about the best universal remote on the market today, read on. 

A Design that Everyone Can Enjoy

Bigger isn’t always better. The Savant Pro remote is designed to fit easily into your hand, with all the controls in easy reach. The top portion is a curved touchscreen that helps you navigate the options quickly. For those of us who prefer the traditional button feel, the remote has that option too.

One Remote for Everything

The Savant Pro remote has a huge range of supported devices. Everything from your Apple TV to your Sonos sound system to your Blu-ray player can all be controlled at the push of a button. Of course, Savant doesn’t just do your typical media devices; it can also manage the lights, climate, motorized window treatments, and more!

Preset Scenes

Media rooms often have a lot of different uses, from watching movies to playing games with friends. The Savant Pro remote allows you to “set the scene” for each activity with the push of a button. These scenes are a collection of preprogrammed settings for the perfect lighting levels, temperature, music, and more. So when you want to watch a movie, just select the “Movie” scene. When you do, the lights will dim, the shades will lower to block out sunlight, and all your media equipment will turn on instantly.

SEE ALSO: Top Do’s and Don’ts for Media Room Design

Finding a good home security company in the Colleyville, Texas area can be a challenge. With so many options, how do you ensure that you’re choosing a company that will be able to meet all your needs? Below, we cover the characteristics that set DB Media Solutions above the rest for smart security and surveillance.

Diverse Supported Technology

Watch out for companies that only do one type of security, like surveillance cameras. If you truly want your home to be fully protected, it makes sense to choose a company that can offer a wide range of security products and services.

You may not be aware of how many different security technologies are available, but consider exploring some of the options listed below:

• Alarm systems: trigger audible alarms, silent notifications, etc.
• High-definition video surveillance: view real-time surveillance footage from anywhere.
• Smart entry systems: use fingerprints, personalized codes, geofencing, and more to give access to your property – no physical keys required.
• Central monitoring services: have 24x7 access to monitoring services that alert you or the authorities the moment there’s a problem.
• Smart sensors: track motion, water leaks, doors, windows, etc.
• Fire and life safety devices: stay on top of carbon monoxide, gas, smoke, and more.

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

Completely Customized Solutions

You shouldn’t be shoehorned into a preset security package. The devices or services that make sense for one home might be a completely wrong fit for you. And often with this approach, you end up paying for products or services that you never intend to use.

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.