When it comes to home networking, you’re probably familiar with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. But with the advent of smart automation, Zigbee and Z-Waves are also becoming important protocols for wireless communication. These popular mesh network technologies can be incorporated into the automation system in your River Oaks, Texas home to increase the flow of traffic and boost reliability. Below we explain what a mesh network is and why it’s so popular when it comes to smart devices.

SEE MORE: Is Your Home Equipped to Handle a Connected Home?

What Is a Mesh Network?

A mesh network is one in which devices can speak directly with each other without having to go through a central router. Each device becomes its own standalone node in the network. All your nodes create echoes (imagine many small rocks falling into water and creating individual ripples) to give a broad reach to your signal as it finds the quickest way to its final destination.

This kind of technology is also used in cell phone networks on a bigger stage. When you call or text someone, your signal doesn’t have to go through AT&T or Verizon headquarters. Instead, the closest cell phone tower will relay the message.

One of the keys to a successful outdoor audio system is having the right equipment. You can design a great system, but if your components can't deal with the elements, then it will all go to waste. As your local Houston, Texas custom integrators we like to introduce you to some of the best AV companies in the industry. And when it comes to outdoor use, few can match the quality and reliability of Coastal Source. 

SEE MORE: How to Get Audio to Outdoor Spaces

Outdoor Specialists

Coastal Source is entirely committed to helping you craft unforgettable outdoor environments. All of their products, from lighting to audio, are focused solely on outdoor spaces. Their solutions stand out for a variety of reasons: they’re easy to install, can handle the elements, and are built with outside use in mind. They’re so popular that they’re used in amusement parks nationwide including Walt Disney World.

Comprehensive Solutions

Coastal Source offers all-in-one solutions, with everything needed to install a complete system. They have their trademark wire connectors (already built to be weatherproof, so they don't have to be spliced or coated), outdoor amplifiers, subwoofers, speakers and even durable cases where you can keep source components.

Varied Solutions

Even just within your home, different areas will require different solutions. With a variety of speaker, amplifier, and subwoofer options, Relative Home Systems can help you find the ones that work best. For example, you can use bullet speakers and a half-buried Ellipse Bollard subwoofer in your backyard for a solution that blends in with your foliage. In your patio, you can have standing 3-way Ellipse Bollard speakers with subwoofers built-in installed in each corner.

One of the keys to a successful outdoor audio system is having the right equipment. You can design a great system, but if your components can't deal with the elements, then it will all go to waste. As your local Houston, Texas custom integrators we like to introduce you to some of the best AV companies in the industry. And when it comes to outdoor use, few can match the quality and reliability of Coastal Source. 

SEE MORE: How to Get Audio to Outdoor Spaces

Outdoor Specialists

Coastal Source is entirely committed to helping you craft unforgettable outdoor environments. All of their products, from lighting to audio, are focused solely on outdoor spaces. Their solutions stand out for a variety of reasons: they’re easy to install, can handle the elements, and are built with outside use in mind. They’re so popular that they’re used in amusement parks nationwide including Walt Disney World.

Comprehensive Solutions

Coastal Source offers all-in-one solutions, with everything needed to install a complete system. They have their trademark wire connectors (already built to be weatherproof, so they don't have to be spliced or coated), outdoor amplifiers, subwoofers, speakers and even durable cases where you can keep source components.

Varied Solutions

Even just within your home, different areas will require different solutions. With a variety of speaker, amplifier, and subwoofer options, Relative Home Systems can help you find the ones that work best. For example, you can use bullet speakers and a half-buried Ellipse Bollard subwoofer in your backyard for a solution that blends in with your foliage. In your patio, you can have standing 3-way Ellipse Bollard speakers with subwoofers built-in installed in each corner.

Outdoor lighting is one of the most important components for your Memorial, Texas home’s style and functionality. Not only does it enhance your security by eliminating darkness around your home, but it also makes your outdoor spaces more livable, valuable and beautiful. For this reason, it’s important that you invest in a professional landscape lighting system that is able to meet your family’s unique needs. These are the steps our team takes to ensure you have a reliable, easy-to-use system. 

SEE MORE: Boost Your Landscape Lighting With Smart Control

1. Finding Out What You Want

Outdoor lighting is one of the most important components for your Memorial, Texas home’s style and functionality. Not only does it enhance your security by eliminating darkness around your home, but it also makes your outdoor spaces more livable, valuable and beautiful. For this reason, it’s important that you invest in a professional landscape lighting system that is able to meet your family’s unique needs. These are the steps our team takes to ensure you have a reliable, easy-to-use system. 

SEE MORE: Boost Your Landscape Lighting With Smart Control

1. Finding Out What You Want

It’s finally summertime! The weather is beautiful, the kids are home from school, and your summer vacation is just around the corner. This time is all about relaxing with a beer by the pool or a movie marathon with the family. So what better time to take advantage of a smart home control system? Find out how the right solution can simplify the day-to-day living in your River Oaks, Texas home so you can focus on basking in the sun.

SEE MORE: 3 Ways Smart Control Can Be a Parenting Tool

Get the Most of Your Outdoor Spaces

Smart home control simplifies all the technology in your outdoor spaces. Want to listen to some music? Use your smartphone to pick out the song you want to play on the speakers installed throughout your patio. If a new guest arrives while you’re out back, receive a notification on your phone and let them in remotely. The celebration doesn’t have to end as soon as it gets dark. Schedule your landscape lights to go on at 7 p.m. to keep the darkness from spoiling the party.

Let Your Home Counteract the Heat

As your local Savant Systems dealer, part of our job is keeping you updated whenever any new features or products are available for your Austin, Texas home. In this blog, we'll talk about the company's latest releases which include new music streaming and control options, an improved user interface and new video distribution products. Read on to explore all the latest Savant offerings. 

SEE MORE: 4 Best Features of the Savant Systems App

Improved User Interface

When it comes to the average consumer, the change to the Savant Systems user interface is the biggest news from the company’s Pro 8.0 software release. The new user interface is all about creating a comprehensive view of the system. On your main screen, icons represent all the technology included in the home. If you hold down a particular icon, you can get a drop down menu showing all the control options for that specific subsystem. This general user interface is the same for each room in the home. This way it's easier to get what you want within a few button presses.

New Streaming Options

Creating a safe environment in your River Oaks, Texas home should be one of your top priorities. You want to create a spot where your family always feels safe and protected; somewhere they can go for comfort after a tough day. For this reason, you've likely invested in a security system that includes an alarm, power locks and maybe even surveillance. In this blog, we'll discuss how a smart home lighting control system can also be a big asset for your security. 

SEE MORE: 4 Ways to Control the Lights in Your Home

Eliminate Dangerous Unlit Areas

For added protection, convenience and comfort, you always want your home to have a well-lit environment. With the right lighting, you can protect your family from both external and internal threats.

You want to ensure general access points - like your front door, garage, or gate - are illuminated at all times. This way it's easy for you to spot anyone approaching. Schedule your landscape lighting to go on each evening, so these fixtures are always turned on when needed.

Distributed audio video is your interior designer’s best friend. Through a whole home audio video system, clunky source components can be hidden away in a closet. Replace the pile of remotes with a stylish touchpad flush-mounted on the wall. You can retain your unique style without having to sacrifice your favorite entertainment. Making equipment disappear may sound like magic, but we promise we're not wizards. Below we'll explain exactly how this kind of system works, and how it could fit into your Memorial, Texas home. 

SEE MORE: How Can Crestron Enhance Your Media Distribution?

It’s About Much More Than the Wiring

At face value, it seems like a media distribution system is all about wiring. As long as you have a long enough cable, you can put your sources as far away as you want and just line the cables behind your walls to get the signal to its end point. That’s not really how it works.

Your whole home audio video system actually includes the following components: a multi-channel matrix switch, cables, power amplifiers, speakers, televisions, sources and controls (touchpad, tablet or smartphone). All of these work hand-in-hand to ensure that your signal makes it to its end point without a dip in quality and that your content is easy to access. 

The technology you bring into your River Oaks, Texas home should be the perfect fit, just like anything else you invest in. This doesn’t just mean it’s the right size or fits squarely into your budget. As Crestron dealers, Relative Home Systems can design a full smart home technology solution that gives you control just the way you want it. Work with the manufacturers you love most and the devices you use most, all from a custom user interface designed to match your needs.

SEE MORE: Picture the Perfect Scene and Crestron Can Create It

Personalize Your User Interface

A Crestron smart home automation system brings all your technology–lighting, entertainment, security, climate and more---together within one user interface. This type of system can have a lot of benefits, but only if your user interface is efficient. If it’s confusing, it may create more problems than it solves.

Your Crestron dealer works with you to personalize your user interface. We make the rooms and technology you use most easily accessible. We also go through an extensive training period with you to make sure you know how to use your Crestron system inside and out.

Do you find yourself wondering how much easier it would be if you had a nanny to help you with the kids? There’s a solution that can offer support seven days a week, 24 hours a day without taking any sick days or vacations. Help comes in the form of smart home control. Every system in your Houston, Texas home—from security to entertainment—works hand in hand to create a more efficient household. Automated scenes, centralized control, and remote access are a few ways smart technology can help with your daily parenting tasks.

SEE MORE: The Beauty and Benefits of a Connected Home

Streamline Daily Routines with Pre-Set Scenes

Reduce the time it takes to go through your daily routines with the use of pre-set scenes in your smart home control system. For example, waking up the kids for school doesn’t have to be a chore. Create an automated scene that opens the shades, turns on the lights, and begins playing music in their room until they’re out of bed.

When it’s time to leave the house, you can focus on getting the kids into the car and making sure they have everything they need. Your smart home control system will take care of the rest. Press an ‘Away' scene as you leave that turns off all lights and appliances, locks the doors and arms your security alarm.

Do you find yourself wondering how much easier it would be if you had a nanny to help you with the kids? There’s a solution that can offer support seven days a week, 24 hours a day without taking any sick days or vacations. Help comes in the form of smart home control. Every system in your Houston, Texas home—from security to entertainment—works hand in hand to create a more efficient household. Automated scenes, centralized control, and remote access are a few ways smart technology can help with your daily parenting tasks.

SEE MORE: The Beauty and Benefits of a Connected Home

Streamline Daily Routines with Pre-Set Scenes

Reduce the time it takes to go through your daily routines with the use of pre-set scenes in your smart home control system. For example, waking up the kids for school doesn’t have to be a chore. Create an automated scene that opens the shades, turns on the lights, and begins playing music in their room until they’re out of bed.

When it’s time to leave the house, you can focus on getting the kids into the car and making sure they have everything they need. Your smart home control system will take care of the rest. Press an ‘Away' scene as you leave that turns off all lights and appliances, locks the doors and arms your security alarm.

Installing a private home theater is all about enjoying the big-screen experience. Whether you’re watching a movie, your favorite TV show or the Astros, it all just feels a little different when it's shown on a 120” screen. As you’re looking for the best equipment for your brand new theater –from Dolby Atmos-enabled speakers to 4K Ultra HD projectors—it’s important that you don’t skimp when it comes to your screen. You also need to consider that bigger isn’t always better. Read on to see how you can find the right one to fit your room’s specifications.

SEE MORE: 5 Steps to Creating the Home Theater of Your Dreams

Figuring Out the Perfect Size
While one of the biggest advantages of a private home theater is having larger-than-life images, you need to be careful when choosing the size for your new screen. You want to go big, but there some things that will affect just how big you should go: your space limitations, seating distance, and your projector.

1. Space Limitations: These will likely have to do with height rather than width. You don’t want your screen to go all the way to the floor for a variety of reasons. For one, you may have a central speaker that needs to go under the screen. In bigger rooms, the row in front of you will impede the view of those in the back. It’s the same with the televisions in your home. They’re usually raised at least three feet off the ground for optimal viewing.

2. Seating Distance: You also want to take into account the length of the room. If you’re sitting too close to a large screen, the image may look pixelated, and you'll have to be moving your eyes constantly to take in the entire picture. A general rule of thumb is that for a 120" screen, you want to be at least 12 feet away.

Crestron has been the standard bearer of the home automation industry since its foundation in the 1970's. It excels at creating whole-home solutions that incorporate your lights, security, entertainment and more. For all your entertainment needs, it offers its DigitalMedia solutions. Crestron dealers must go through extensive training to become certified. What does this mean? It means they have the knowledge and experience to ensure success in all their projects.

SEE MORE: Why Working With a Trained Crestron Integrator Matters

What is DigitalMedia?

DigitalMedia is Crestron's standard 4K Ultra HD distribution system. As an official Crestron dealer with more than fifteen years of experience, Relative Home Systems can design a solution that takes into account the challenges that come with the digital era. Which means we have learned all the distribution specifications necessary to build a successful system in your home.

What is the DM 3.0 standard?

When you're building a network for a connected home, you need more than just an Ethernet cable connected to the wall. If you want to use your home networking system for smart control, smartphones, computers, and media streaming, you're going to need a lot more than that. You're going to need a comprehensive solution that offers strong, reliable coverage in every corner of your space.

How can you build that type of network? By finding the best equipment possible and installing it in a strategic way. Below we take a look at the components you should include in your system and how they affect your network's performance.

See More: Is Your Network Equipped to Handle a Connected Home?

Modems

In most instances, the first piece of hardware you need is a modem to convert analog signals to digital so your router can read the signals. It communicates directly to your internet service provider (ISP) to receive both your internet and cable signals. As opposed to their dial-up or DSL predecessors, most modems today are cable modems with coaxial connections. These modern variations can also serve as routers, which we will discuss in the following section.

When you're building a network for a connected home, you need more than just an Ethernet cable connected to the wall. If you want to use your home networking system for smart control, smartphones, computers, and media streaming, you're going to need a lot more than that. You're going to need a comprehensive solution that offers strong, reliable coverage in every corner of your space.

How can you build that type of network? By finding the best equipment possible and installing it in a strategic way. Below we take a look at the components you should include in your system and how they affect your network's performance.

See More: Is Your Network Equipped to Handle a Connected Home?

Modems

In most instances, the first piece of hardware you need is a modem to convert analog signals to digital so your router can read the signals. It communicates directly to your internet service provider (ISP) to receive both your internet and cable signals. As opposed to their dial-up or DSL predecessors, most modems today are cable modems with coaxial connections. These modern variations can also serve as routers, which we will discuss in the following section.

Landscape lighting is a must-have in any home. It strengthens your security, boosts your architectural features and enhances your outdoor entertainment. Due to its many functions, it is important that you have the right solution in place to get the most out of your technology. Aside from serving different functions, creating a layered lighting design can also add warmth and depth to your space. In this blog, we will discuss the various kinds of fixtures you can incorporate in your Houston, Texas home and the best control option for each.

See More: Transform Your Outdoor Spaces with Landscape Lighting

Ambient Lighting

Ambient lighting will make up the majority of your outdoor fixtures. It sets the overall tone by casting light over large areas of your patio, driveway, garden and other outdoor spaces. These lights help keep your home secure while creating a distinct ambience.

When it comes to your security, these fixtures benefit greatly from smart control. Use pre-set schedules to turn on lights as soon as the sun sets. If you're hosting friends for a barbecue or pool party, you can then use your smartphone to change the intensity of the lights to set the perfect mood for guests.

While there are many benefits of having a connected home where all your technology works together, there’s one glaring drawback for many potential clients. What if someone hacks your home networking system? Not only would they get access to your computer’s information, but also to your security system, climate control and more. The integrators at Relative Home Systems make it their priority to strengthen your network’s security protocols in order to protect your family’s safety and privacy.

SEE MORE: Is Your Network Equipped to Handle a Connected Home?

Buying the Right Equipment

Many of the new connected devices on the market –from thermostats to speakers—where created with convenience in mind, not security. For our Savant or Crestron automation systems, we bring together only products with an established track record of performance and security. We ensure all your connected devices include the necessary software to reduce the risk of viruses or malware.

It all begins with a router with enhanced security features. For example, Pakedge routers come with a multi-layer security system. Through the use of firewalls, VPNs and guest networks, they can reduce the risk of outside parties hacking the system. For advanced systems, like a full home automation solution, go with a Unified Threat Management system which lets an administrator monitor your system for any security vulnerabilities or issues.

While there are many benefits of having a connected home where all your technology works together, there’s one glaring drawback for many potential clients. What if someone hacks your home networking system? Not only would they get access to your computer’s information, but also to your security system, climate control and more. The integrators at Relative Home Systems make it their priority to strengthen your network’s security protocols in order to protect your family’s safety and privacy.

SEE MORE: Is Your Network Equipped to Handle a Connected Home?

Buying the Right Equipment

Many of the new connected devices on the market –from thermostats to speakers—where created with convenience in mind, not security. For our Savant or Crestron automation systems, we bring together only products with an established track record of performance and security. We ensure all your connected devices include the necessary software to reduce the risk of viruses or malware.

It all begins with a router with enhanced security features. For example, Pakedge routers come with a multi-layer security system. Through the use of firewalls, VPNs and guest networks, they can reduce the risk of outside parties hacking the system. For advanced systems, like a full home automation solution, go with a Unified Threat Management system which lets an administrator monitor your system for any security vulnerabilities or issues.

How often do you use your phone during a given day and how are you using it? A recent Pew Research study stated that 46 percent of smartphone users couldn’t live without their phones. That’s because they’re much more than phones to us. We use them to check emails, do our online banking and even watch our favorite shows. So why not use them to control your Houston, Texas home? With the Savant Systems App, you can manage your lights, security, entertainment and more right from your phone.

SEE MORE: 4 Questions to Ask When Upgrading to a Smart Home

How Does Savant Systems Control Your Home?

A smart home automation system brings together all your home’s different components. Instead of buying individual smart devices, you get a comprehensive approach in which all systems are compatible and work together for optimal results. By consolidating all the technology in your home, you can centralize control to the touchpad, tablet, or smartphone of your choice. So why do clients decide to use their phones? Read on to check out some of the best features of the Savant Systems App.

1. Personalize Your System