With more and more smart electronics playing a central role in our daily lives, they deserve an even smarter role at home. Control4 has the mastermind solution, making it possible for virtually any appliance or device in your home to intelligently communicate with another—from locks to lights, doors to drapes—and you the ability to control them, no matter where you are.

Create the perfect movie ambiance in one touch. Tell your thermostat what to do from Thailand. Manage music in multiple rooms. Get a text when your teenager comes home. Control4 gives you flexible solutions to design the home automation system of your dreams on a very real budget.

Life’s better when everything works together. This is your home with a brain. A genius idea, indeed.

So… what do you want to control?

Full Systems on demonstration in our Harrogate Store – call ahead or pop in for details!

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Samsungs New Elite Series 3D TVs

Samsung’s 2011 LED TV range not only has the improved picture quality and crispness from being back lit with thousands of LEDs but also a whole multitude of new features to make it one of the worlds first ‘Smart TVs’. These features include a fully integrated Web Browser, Skype Programme for connecting with family and friends across the world, a ‘Social TV’ widget that provides the ability to log into social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter with the added bonus of LoveFilm.com and a BBCiPlayer app.

Sizes vary in the D Series with Samsung bringing out models in 22”/27”/32”/37”/40”/46”/55”/60”. For prices please don’t hesitate to ask any of us and we will be able to show you the complete range.

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Harrogate Home Cinema offers iRoom’s iDock Basic iPad 1 and 2 Kit in Horizontal and Vertical Formats (3/5/2011)

The iDock Basic from German manufacturer iRoom is now available from Harrogate Home Cinema. The iDock Basic is an iPad dock that is available in a portrait (vertical) or a landscape (horizontal) format, and is compatible with all iPads thanks to two conversion sets – the iPad 1-kit and iPad 2-kit. These kits, developed by iRoom, include rails and adapters to allow you to use your iPad in any of its docks.

iRoom Dock For iPad 1 & 2

The iDock Basic in portrait format (left) and landscape format (right). The image shows the inserts and guide rails highlighted in a lighter colour, but in reality, they are the same colour as the dock.

iDock Basic in portrait format

The iDock Basic in portrait format is essentially designed for the iPad 1, although this vertical format can also support the iPad 2 using the iPad 2-kit. The kit includes an insert for the flap of the dock and a frame that fits the outer measurements of the iPad 2 perfectly. It only takes a few moments to assemble.

iDock Basic landscape format

From June 2011, the iDock Basic will also be available in landscape format. This horizontal format is essentially designed for the new iPad 2, although it can support iPad 1 using the iPad 1-kit. The kit is easy to assemble, comprises two guide rails and a matching faceplate, and simply requires the guide rails to be clipped into the dock.

The iDock Basic in portrait format and the iDock Basic in landscape format are available in the UK from May and June respectively,

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wirelessly plays music from your iPhone or iPod

The put anywhere, listen everywhere, wireless dock to access all the music from your iPhone® or iPod®. Dock and charge wherever it’s easiest and wirelessly spread your music to every room of your home. Hear it all with roof rattling HiFi digital quality without ever converting your music to analog.

R.R.P – £99.00

BENEFITS

PLAY EVERYTHING.

If it’s stored or playing on your iPod or iPhone, and that includes many music apps, the DOCK will play it. You can even set it up to automatically start playing what you’ve been listening to the moment your iPod or iPhone hits the Dock.

DOCK ANYWHERE.

and play everywhere with perfect synchronization. State-of-the-art wireless allows you to dock your iPod or iPhone whereever you want and play back the music on any or all your Sonos players

CHARGE WHILE YOU LISTEN.

This is multi-tasking at its best. Put your iPhone or iPod in the DOCK and charge it up while enjoying your tunes.

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Meridian designs, engineers and manufactures state-of-the-art audio and video home entertainment systems.

Audio equipment of such high quality that if a microphone can detect it, the system can reproduce it. Video components so advanced they offer a uniquely realistic cinema experience.

With groundbreaking developments in high performance audio and visual technology, Meridian pursues its desire to lose as little as possible from the original source. The result: richer, more detailed reproduction where information is processed beyond the range of the human ear and to the limits of the human eye.

Discover Meridian and discover the true meaning of high performance.

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Short teaser for the Philips Pronto TSW 9500 in-wall touch panel, soon to be available from Harrogate Home Cinema – more about Philips Pronto control systems from Harrogate Home Cinema

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“Apps Provide Powerful RTI System Control From Anywhere With Complete Customization Via Integration Designer(R) Software

At InfoComm 2010, Remote Technologies Incorporated (RTI) announced that the company is bringing the power of its control solutions to the iPhone(R), iPod touch(R), and iPad(R) with the new RTiPanel app. With the app installed on any of these popular Apple(R) products, users can have complete control of RTI’s XP series of remote processors — including the flagship XP-8 and upcoming XP-3 and XP-6 — and all connected electronic systems from virtually anywhere in the world. For intuitive operation, the graphical user interface is completely customizable to any system via RTI’s award-winning Integration Designer(R) software… read full article“

What this means to us at Harrogate Home Cinema

This could potentially be phenomenal news, as up until now, use of the iphone for home automation has fallen into one of two categories:

- multiple apps controlling multiple devices e.g. a blu-ray app for the blu-ray player, a lighting app for the lighting, an audio app for the multi-room audio etc. time consuming and confusing to say the least

- apps with little or no customisation or support, leaving you lost wandering through your clunky control system with an all-too-unhelpful user interface confusing you at every turn

At Harrogate Home Cinema, we have found neither of these solutions to be too helpful to our clients needs, and welcome the concept that we can finally use our mobile devices to control our home automation systems with the swift, graceful approach we have been promised for so long. Now we just have to wait a couple of months longer for pricing details. The anticipation is mounting…

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Onkyo, the UK’s No.1 home cinema receiver maker, announces the release of two new landmark, high-end products: the TX-NR5008 and TX-NR3008 network-enabled home cinema receivers. Both models offer a dazzling array of state of the art technologies, user-friendly home cinema features, and THX Ultra2 Plus certification. They also support network audio streaming, versatile multi-room set-up capabilities, iPhone/iPod playback over USB (with cover art display), and fully immersive, 3D-compatible home cinema.

Both of these models feature eight HDMI v1.4a inputs, with compatibility specified for an Audio Return Channel and 3D video. Both mandatory video formats for 3D broadcasting are supported and, with the quantity of 3D content soon set to rise dramatically, users will be able to take advantage of the unique visual experience made possible by this dynamic new format.

Dual HDMI outputs are also provided on both models, allowing users to connect two high-definition displays simultaneously. In conjunction with HDMI, HQV-Reon VX processing enables 1080p upscaling of all video inputs, regardless of source resolution. Staying with video, these flagship integrateds feature advanced ISF video calibration. This allows users to make fine-tuned, independent adjustments for each video source, delivering the best video quality possible.

Audio networking is a particular strength too. A rear-side Ethernet port enables easy firmware upgrades and links the receivers directly to the internet or to a home PC. Users can access streaming internet radio through vTuner, or play back a wide variety of PC-based audio files, including FLAC, MP3, WAV, Ogg Vorbis, WMA, WMA Lossless, AAC, and LPCM. The two models are Windows 7 compatible and DLNA 1.5 certified to ensure optimal compatibility with other network-enabled equipment in the home.

With 9.2 audio channels available on both models, users have a great deal of flexibility in how they set up their home cinema system. The 9-channel configuration allows users to take advantage of the expanded surround dimensions of Audyssey DSX or Dolby® Pro Logic IIz. The former adds extra height or width channels for greater spatial ambience, while the latter provides the option of extra height channels. Both width and height channels can be used simultaneously when Audyssey DSX mode is selected.

Naturally, support is also provided for Dolby® TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio™, the popular lossless codecs found on Blu-ray Disc. Furthermore, compatibility with DSD Direct means that users will be able to enjoy their SACD (Super Audio CD) collections in all their pristine clarity. High-quality Burr-Brown DACs allow these Onkyo models to handle the heavy demands of multi-channel audio processing.

In a modern home cinema, matching audio output to the dimensions of the room is all-important which is why a full suite of Audyssey room-correction and equalization technologies are included. These work to optimise audio performance, regardless of room shape and volume level. Audyssey MultEQ XT32, for example, uses information gathered from up to 8 positions throughout the room to calibrate speakers for optimal audio balance.

Flexibility is the word when it comes to multi-room audio set-ups. The TX-NR5008 and TX-NR3008 let users play a 5.1-channel source in the main room, along with fully-powered stereo audio from two different sources in Zone 2 and Zone 3. On top of that, users also have the option of Zone 2/3 pre outs and Zone 2 video output.

The TX-NR3008 features a front-side USB port, while the TX-NR5008 features USB ports front and rear. As well as handling audio content from flash memory devices, the USB ports let users play music – and display album art – from a connected iPhone/iPod.

Build quality is as you’d expect of flagship products, with gold-plated audio inputs and sophisticated PLL jitter-cleaning circuit technology provided as standard. The receivers feature separate transformers for audio and video processing, with the TX-NR5008 also adding a massive toroidal transformer and specially selected 22,000uF power capacitors.

Other useful features include an analogue RGB input for displaying video content from a connected PC (output via HDMI); a backlit and customisable remote controller; and Onkyo’s new overlaid graphical OSD (onscreen display) for seamless ‘on the fly’ adjustment of settings while viewing.

These new releases reinforce Onkyo’s well-deserved reputation for being at the forefront of high-end integrated home entertainment, and demonstrate the company’s ongoing commitment to providing state of the art performance for home cinema fans across the world.

Prices

TX-NR5008 – £2400 (available August)

TX-NR3008 – £1700 (available August)

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