PRACTICAL APPLICATION: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT VIDEO CONNECTIVITY
Rob
Corddry BRINGS DOWN THE HOUSE PLUS: The Health Benefits of Multidimensional Light Object-based Audio Formats in the 4K World CEDIA Says: Joel Silver’s ISF Video Calibration is Based on Facts… Not Opinions Bandwidth-Hungry Smart Homes Require Networks That Can Keep Up
What should you believe? The Evolution of Video – 4K, 8k, 10k, and Faux K
Sept/Oct 2018
SEPT/OCT 2018
contents 54 Rob Corddry Brings Down the House By Alex Moersen Cover photo by Federico Vargas
Departments
Sections
10 By the Numbers 12 Quick Bits 14 Smart Devices 16 Beyond Installation 18 CEDIA Says 20 Connected Appliance 24 Science 70 Product Revolution 79 Events 80 Lighter Side
28 Green Tech: Protecting Sensitive Gear from Power Fluctuations
26 Innovator Profile Cloud9 COO Chris Smith
32 Audio: A Cascade of Innovations 34 Outdoor Tech: Building Tomorrow’s Connected Community 58 Health: The Ons and Offs of Human-Centric Lighting 64 Networked Home: Why Enterprise-grade Networks Matter
38 Featured From HD to 4K, 8K, and Beyond 42 T he Promising World of TV and Projector Displays 46 Audio Catches Up to 4K 50 Video Connectivity
76 Art & Tech The Design Behind Theory
6
Residential Tech Today | Sept/Oct 2018
CUSTOM INTEGRATION PROGRAM
White-Glove Service
Get the Perks and Benefits of a DISH Partnership The Custom Integration Program provides integrators with exclusive benefits like on-site surveys and installations, a dedicated support team, and account management on behalf of customers.
V I S I T U S AT T H E C E D I A E X P O AT B O OT H # 1 0 1 4 DISH.COM/CEDIA
DEPARTMENTS
CEDIA Says
Joel Silver and the Science of Images
A CONVERSATION WITH THE WINNER OF CEDIA’S 2018 LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD By Ed Wenck Joel Silver is nothing if not humble when it comes to his backstory. The man who shepherded the concept of proper calibration in the home – making your TV set or your projector and screen combo look as good as possible in its environment – says simply, “I’m a hobbyist in video who decided to start a company.” That company, the Imaging Science Foundation (ISF), “began in 1994 with the hopes of getting professional calibration practices that were common in the studios into the hands of the best custom installers in home theater applications,” Silver said. Silver worked from the premise that audio setups were subjective when it came to an end user’s impressions, but video calibrations much less so. “Most of us might have an opinion about what a TV is supposed to look like,” Silver noted. “At the Imaging Science Foundation, we have no opinions. We have facts. We have rules. We have standards.”
THE GENESIS OF ISF Silver had been writing for audio magazines on a freelance basis while holding down a day job back in the early ‘90s. When he got the notion to strike out on his own – to take the idea of providing reference-quality pictures to the public that could rival the quality of audio then available to the discerning consumer – he got a lot of pushback. His accountant thought he was nuts, even after Silver gave the man an in-home demo. After sorting through the accountant’s confusion as to why his set “didn’t come this way” out of the
18
Residential Tech Today | Sept/Oct 2018
box, after explaining that televisions are set up for storage and sales in a shop, competing with dozens of other displays and lighting that can often best be described as, well, less-thanoptimum, Silver had to confront the accountant’s fundamental concern with his business model. “This is too hard a concept,” said the accountant. “Hard to explain. Hard to write about. If you see it, you get it. But until that point, it’s rough. I think you’re going to fail.” So, Silver set about evangelizing for video calibration in the residential universe. He held a press conference, buying lunch for his old pals in the magazine biz. The stories were hard to write, it was true, but slowly, one by one, Silver made converts. “One deal at a time, we struggled, found the top dealers, the guys who came to the class for one simple reason, and that reason is the essence of what CEDIA represents,” Silver recalled. The definition of that essence? “Those dealers spent money with me. They spent time with me for the simple intent of trying to do something really cool for their clients. And to this day, we go into someone’s house, we do what we need to do to make it better, and the look on their faces says it all. Because our job is to go someplace and leave it better than we found it.”
ISF ON THE MENU Silver traveled the world (and still does) training others, helping integrators achieve those stunning, reference-quality results. But there was another arena that would offer ISF a win: manufacturers.
“Finding the right people in the first TV set manufacturer we worked with was difficult,” Silver remembered. “The initial response from many people was, ‘You’re changing our TV. We like our TV. What you are doing is wrong. What we do is right.’ And rather than argue with those people, I just tried to find the engineers building the TV sets who knew what we were doing, who knew what we wanted to do, and who also wanted to make a superior product.” “Finding kindred spirits in manufacturing levels was our hardest job. Once that got done, products started getting better. Reviewers started to recognize a potential for the product by calibrating it.” But it was a conversation with one manufacturer that really cemented ISF’s reputation as an industry leader. Silver tells the story of a conversation he had with a particular television executive: “Your TV is even dumber than Microsoft Word,” Silver told the exec. “And he goes, ‘Oh, that’s not nice to say. Word is very dumb.’ And I said, ‘No, Word lets me save my work. I need to save my work. After we spend three hours calibrating your TV, I don’t want to hear that the dog stepped on the remote and wiped out all our work.’” “And we shook hands, put together something, and our big break happened right then. Our little company’s logo made it onto the menu of a mainstream TV set – and one person at one manufacturer changed the future of our company.” x Joel Silver will receive the CEDIA Lifetime Achievement Award for 2018 on September 5 at Petco Park in San Diego.
Coming This October
Classic 80i Smart Home + Clean Air
“Alexa, ask Blueair to clean my air” Introducing our most intelligent Classic air purifier ever. The 80i comes equipped with air quality sensors, Wi-Fi capability, and auto mode. Compatible with a variety of smart devices, you can control your home’s air quality with the Blueair Friend app or simply the sound of your voice.
100 N LaSalle St, Ste. 1900, Chicago, IL 60602
|
+1 (888) 258-3247
|
blueair.com/classic80i
GREEN TECH
Protecting Sensitive Gear from Power Fluctuations
“ The UPS you choose should have
zero transfer times, not
Photo iStock
milliseconds, not nano seconds, but ZERO.”
I recommend that during the initial consultation process you should approach your perspective client with something like the following: “I am going to ask you a few questions about the power quality in your neighborhood because poor power quality can seriously affect the performance, longevity, and ultimately the enjoyment of the equipment you put into your home. We want you to have a positive experience, therefore we must understand your power quality first.” “Have you noticed that occasionally your lights dim or flicker? Have you noticed that occasionally your Apple TV or cable box go out? Have you ever had to reboot your network? Most often those events are caused by power quality issues in your area.” “Based off your answers, I think you would find great benefit to a power quality device because as you add more automation and control to your home, the effects of poor power quality will become both apparent and annoying. In my design for the equipment in your home, I will be including a device that will eliminate most, if not all, of your power issues.” Once you’ve introduced the concept, you’ll give your client the opportunity to either opt in or, ultimately, opt out. At that point, you have provided them with the information and background needed to have a positive experience. If they decided to opt out, then you cannot be blamed for the effect that power surges and sags will have on their system.
30
Residential Tech Today | Sept/Oct 2018
Now, for the second initiative, it’s important to understand that the level of equipment is not a place to compromise. You should recommend the best equipment to suit your client’s needs. The uninterrupted power supply (UPS) you choose should have zero transfer times, not milliseconds, not nano seconds, but ZERO. Once you have a zero-transfer time device, check the distortion specs on the output. It should never exceed five percent, and a very good one will be below three percent. Zero transfer time and low distortion equals high quality power conditioning. And, lastly, the UPS should also provide enough battery run time to suit your client’s needs. Depending on where your client lives, you might want to consider protection against lightning strikes. The average lightning strike contains 40,000 volts and if your device is not capable of absorbing that, it is not capable of protection. Your final choice is whether to use a panel-level device, a rack-level device, or a device that protects an individual component. The benefit of a panel level device is the flexibility provided in the types of products and location of the products you want to protect. For instance, if lighting control, shade control, security, and networking products are not in a rack, as long as you can run a power line to the panel, you are protected. The most important message I can offer is to always introduce the concept early in the consultation phase of the sales process. Make sure the equipment you choose is of the highest possible quality. x
A M E R I C A’ S L A R G E S T CO N S U M E R A U D I O S H O W
15TH ANNUAL ROCKY MOUNTAIN INTE RNATIONAL AUDIO FEST 0 5 - 07 OCTOBER 201 8 / D E NVER, COLORADO www. a udi ofe st . n et
Rocky Mountain International HiFi Press Awards 2018
ISSUE FOCUS
Video
The Strange Trip from HD to 4K, 8K, and Beyond
ATSC 3.0 is on the Way: What This Change Will Mean for Cord Cutters To date, a significant amount of the content for 4K has been through “Over the Top” (OTT) streaming services. In a market where cordcutting is increasing, however, “Over the Air” (OTA) is not only making a resurgence, it is cutting into OTT. OTA had to go digital on June 12, 2009. That is what brought HD to traditional TV thanks to the ATSC 1.0 standard, replacing the NTSC system dating back to the early 1950s. Looking at that, it is logical to ask, “If ATSC 1.0 delivered HD, how will broadcasters bring free-of-charge 4K to the home, and when?” Although a 16K image was displayed earlier this year at NAB, it took 16 screens and a lot of bandwidth to show it. NOT ready for prime time yet.
One of the biggest reasons is that to deliver 8K content on a single-wire connection, the increased bandwidth of HDMI 2.1 is needed. Despite the arrival of HDMI 2.1 and features such as eARC, VRR, and ALLM, 48GB transport is still a bit off on the horizon as of this time. Despite the availability of eARC and some of the other components of HDMI 2.1 – such as the VRR and ALLM modes previously mentioned – the increased data speed of 48 GB needed to send 8K content is not yet available.
or distribution gear, it was shown on a video wall playing 8K content upscaled to 16K by powerful Intel-based computers. It’s definitely still a “science project,” so don’t be concerned about this one yet. Along the way, our video trip has sometimes been a bit strange, but as the Dead also opined, the best thing to do is to get the facts and keep on “truckin.” We’ll help you with the former; the latter is up to you! x
40
Residential Tech Today | Sept/Oct 2018
ATSC 3.0 offers a wide range of advanced features such as HDR video, both immersive and interactive audio, an advanced captioning system, accurate mobile reception in moving vehicles, an advanced, location-targeted emergency warning system, and much more. Oh, and, yes, 4K is part of the standard. It is, however, important to know that the implementation of specific features of the system, indeed its availability by a broadcaster, is optional, NOT mandatory. As you hopefully did during the first “digital transition,” it is a good idea to keep in touch with all of the TV stations in your market to see what their plans are.
Will the first 8K sets be worth recommending? For someone with a big budget who wants to definitely be “the first one on the block,” perhaps yes. For everyone else, the answer is probably to get the best 4K/UHD set and enjoy it instead. A final note on the “strange trip” video is on. As HD has morphed into 4K, and with 4K looking over its shoulder at the pending arrival of 8K, cynics will undoubtedly ask, “What’s next, 16K?” To which you can answer, “It’s out there well over the horizon, but don’t hold your breath.” Yes, I’ve seen it demonstrated, but since there are no 16K cameras, displays,
The answer will come with the ATSC 3.0 set and approved standards. Regular ATSC 3.0 transmission is already available in Korea, and tests in the U.S. are underway in Dallas, Phoenix, and soon a few other cities. Just as the first ATSC standard broke ground with digital broadcasting, new ones will advance even further with the use of IP to transport the content.
Look for TV sets and “gateway boxes” with ATSC 3.0 to start appearing at CES in January with widespread availability timed to coincide with the full roll out by broadcasters later in 2019. Until HDMI 2.1’s full bandwidth capacity is available, it takes four current HDMI 2.0 connections to deliver 8K, as seen here on an 8K set from Sharp. Not yet “consumer friendly.”
Is 4K coming to broadcast television for cord cutters? The answer is definitely yes, but be cautious about quoting an availability date in your specific market.
The most valuable five inch circle of real estate on the entire planet is located right above your head, and you probably have never even given it a second thought… …Just ask anyone fortunate enough to narrowly escape a burning home with their family, thanks to being awakened just-in-time by that otherwise overlooked piece of plastic on their ceiling.
WHEN IT COMES TO PROTECTING THOSE WE LOVE FROM FIRE, MINUTES REALLY DO MATTER! Did you know that we have only about 2½
minutes to safely escape a typical burning home after a Smoke Alarm first sounds? That is only 150 seconds… Wouldn’t it be great if there were a smarter, higher-quality alternative available here in the U.S. that didn’t false alarm every time that you cook a hamburger, capable of providing you & your loved ones precious minutes of extra time to escape a life-threatening fire or carbon monoxide event?
STAY TUNED… Soon there will be! Ei Electronics, Europe’s leading manufacturer of premium quality life-safety products teams up with OneEvent Technologies to provide improved safety with “OnePrevent™” advanced analytics early warning capabilites.
Learn more: http:www.ei-electronics.com/saferfamily
ISSUE FOCUS
Video
Bits and Pieces of Video Connectivity
Video may be kept on a networkattached storage (NAS) device, then managed by a client such as a Plex Media Server, and finally accessed at an end point via a browser or the app resident in an Apple TV 4K, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Roku, Nvidia Shield, Sling player, an Android TV device, or directly in the smart TV.
media sources such as DVD, Blu-ray, and UltraHD Blu-ray. Your clients will expect maximum quality for the main theater/media room, but the demands will vary for secondary displays around the house. As such, the way you structure each could be quite different. For the primary displays, native uncompressed HDMI signalling is best. Things to look out for in system devices are: 18Gbps data rate — The FULL capacity of the HDMI 2.0 standard is required for 4K video with 60fps frame rate, increased color bit rate, and full chroma sampling. Some standard combinations such as, “4K/60, 12-bit, 4:4:4,” are possible, but are borderline irrelevant if they don’t encompass HDR. It’s confusing, so best to just look out for 18Gbps, and make certain that all legs of the HDMI network don’t output video that is over the 18Gbps “speed limit.” That type of “speeding ticket” is one that will create problems for an installation. HDMI 2.0a/b compliance — This is essential for HDR-10 support. Be certain that every product in the HDMI chain has this capability. HDCP 2.2 — This is the latest copyright encryption system used for HDMI. It is also mandatory for virtually all 4K content sources. Any terminated HDMI cable that you use has an inherent data rate limit, whether passive, active, or active optical cable (AOC). In all cases, investigate that limit to ensure it can support at least 18Gbps at the required length. Higher is even better, as is compliance with HDMI’s “Certified Premium” program. Taking all of these factors into consideration,
52
Residential Tech Today | Sept/Oct 2018
always plan for redundancy when mapping an installation where cables run inside walls. Remember that any AV cable that you pull has two primary functions: 1) to reliably deliver the requisite signal without screwing it up, and 2) to serve as the draw wire for the cable that comes after it. Of course, the most versatile path in planning for redundancy is to install a conduit, so whatever new cable comes along can be pulled through as required. But just make sure it’s big enough to accommodate the connector past existing cable fill, with elbows sized appropriately to easily navigate the bends. As a side note, even when running cables behind shelves, in cabinets, or in racks, always make certain that there is sufficient access to change cables or run new ones at a later date. Which cables to run? For standard HDMI connections, again, use cables capable of carrying the full 18Gbps payload without degradation. For general network infrastructure or for HDBaseT use Cat6A, always make certain that any cable run inside walls has the proper “riser” or “plenum” certification rating. For fiber, OM3 is a great all-rounder and the most datascalable option by far, capable of supporting well in excess of the coming 48Gbps of HDMI 2.1, depending on the extender electronics. In any case, run at least two optical strands (eg; one duplex) to be safe. As for distributing HDMI signals around the house, the two leading contenders are the HDBaseT matrix switch, and AV-over-IP. They both have the advantage of running over a standard Catx infrastructure, so one may even
be able to be swapped out for the other. AVover-IP is a strong emerging technology with a decentralized approach, as all the smarts are at the endpoints with sources and displays. It’s highly scalable, with different options available to operate on a 1GbE or 10GbE network. Either way, it’s best if kept completely separate from the main home network. When distributing HDMI, be mindful to manage the EDID presented to any source devices. The use of many displays means many EDIDs, but the source wants only one. Taking control of the EDID that’s presented to the source is key to everything working properly, and may be as simple as a series of dip switches on the little black in-line box. Secondly, 1080p down-scalers are handy if you want to distribute 4K content, but some TVs are 1080p. Simply install a down-scaler behind each 1080p TV in the system, and distributed 4K content can be displayed optimally according to each TV. In conclusion, more and more content that we watch will be delivered via IP, whether streaming over the internet and/or in-home network, or distributed over an AV-over-IP system. HDMI will be relegated to a bridge into such systems for whole-home distribution. But for the primary viewing screens, it will remain the high-end solution to deliver flagship uncompressed video, taking us into the next generation with 4K/120 and even 8K video. HDMI is not going away, it’s just going to be a matter of picking and choosing by application. x
Build with “Alexa, play ‘New Home’ playlist”
Smoke & Carbon Monoxide Alarm
Premium Audio Speaker
Alexa-Enabled
Presented by:
Home Safety & Entertainment Solution Maximize your projects with this innovative 3-in-1 device. Perfect for Smart Home Upgrades! www.brkelectronics.com ©2018 BRK Brands, Inc. All rights reserved. Distributed by BRK Brands, Inc. 3901 Liberty Street, Aurora, Illinois 60504. BRK Brands, Inc. is a subsidiary of Newell Brands Inc. (NYSE:NWL). BRK is a registered trademark of BRK Brands, Inc.
FEATURED
Cover Story
exactly that. They know who we are better than we do; that’s the scary part. RT Today: Is there one thing you wished your smart home could do for you? RC: Probably shower me. I hate taking 20 minutes out of my day just for the whole rigmarole. You have to take some clothes off and then you have to put new ones on. And drying yourself off? Forget it. I would like to just lift my arms and walk through some kind of vaporizer. Like have the hallway from my bedroom to the kitchen be a vaporizer. That would be cool. RT Today: For this issue, we’re focusing on television and entertainment systems. As a TV/movie actor, what is your entertainment setup like? RC: I think I’m a pretty solid representative of my demographic in terms of how I consume TV.
I have Direct TV, which I love, but I mostly only find myself watching sports on it. Most of the time, if I’m watching TV or movies, it’s my wife and I, we’re just in bed watching Apple TV, which is great. The new version of Apple TV is awesome. If it’s a big movie, like if we’re watching Thor with the kids, we’ll watch it downstairs because it’s a bigger TV and the sound is better. I don’t go to the movies anymore. I’m the reason my business is struggling. RT Today: How about music? RC: See, I like Sonos for when I’m doing stuff around the house and you’ve got anything you want in the background, in any room you want, it’s incredible. But, when I’m actively listening to music, I listen on vinyl. I’ve got a great little setup in my office. I think I realized, this was around 2005 or so when I just started ripping; I
Photo HBO
In HBO’s Ballers, Rob Corddry portrays Joe Krutel, Spencer’s (Dwayne Johnson) friend and business partner. According to Corddry, Krutel “says the wrong things and really doesn’t know it until it’s too late.”
56
Residential Tech Today | Sept/Oct 2018
got a membership to this site, kind of like a Napster site out of Amsterdam, and I was just ripping music. I had anything I wanted for free, and then I realized I wasn’t listening to it because it was too easy. It was too ... I don’t know … there was something about it. I started to appreciate the tactile experience, actually having to get up and turn a record over. It makes you active, and I listened to the music and appreciated it more. So when I’m really listening to music, I’m all analog. RT Today: You mentioned your kids earlier. As a father, do you let your kids use technology or do you try to limit it? What’s your strategy? RC: I looked into a lot of those policing apps … It made me realize, they’re not that good and
FEATURED
Cover Story
you shouldn’t count on an app to police your children’s tech life. That’s something that will make you lazy and stupid as a parent. We’re very open and honest with them about the internet in general, that it is a minefield, and there are things out there they don’t want to see. Their laptop itself never leaves the living room. That’s a big rule. They have iPads, but we only crack those open during vacations on the plane. It’s the best. They don’t watch a lot of TV at all. We watch movies on the weekends, but they don’t really watch TV. We starved them of video entertainment as little children so we could throw them an iPad on a plane and they’d be quiet. In 2008, Rob Corddry created Children’s Hospital, a dark comedy which takes place in, well, a children’s hospital. For eight years Corddry wrote for and acted on the show and went on to win three Emmys.
So they do that. And they’ve got a few little games on there too. But in terms of a cell phone, my oldest daughter is in seventh grade and I got to tell you, I don’t know yet. A lot of her friends have them and we’re getting to the point where it would be more convenient for me if she had one, but I just don’t know. I think, now’s the time, like today, my wife and I really have to sit down and figure it out. So I’ll get back to you on that one. RT Today: There’s no denying the fact, for better or for worse, that technology is growing and becoming more and more a part of our daily lives. In your opinion, are we going in a good direction with technology? RC: I think so. Let’s use AI as the example of the ultimate technology that people are working on right now. And you know, technology has evolved exponentially over the years. It gets faster and faster. I think AI, when that is finally cracked, will proceed at the speed of light, because once we have computers working on these innovations, that will be insanely fast. Now, in terms of quality of life, everyone is afraid of artificial intelligence because all of our movies that portray artificial intelligence do so in a negative light because that’s a good story. Photo Adult Swim
(continues on pg. 78) Sept/Oct 2018 | Residential Tech Today
57
PRODUCT REVOLUTION
Maximus Camera Floodlight – Maximus already offered a smart front porch light, and now the home security company is introducing a Camera Floodlight that allows consumers to see what’s happening around their property in real time and prevent burglaries and break-ins. The floodlight is equipped with smart event detection that begins recording 10 seconds before an event is triggered with a live 1080p video feed. Additionally, it detects movement within an improved 70-foot range in the front or back of the home and sends instant alerts to your smartphone. With an enhanced user interface, the mobile app allows users to sound a siren, see and speak to people no matter where they are, and call the police via 911 directly from the app in the event of an intruder. $249 Phase Technology HV Subwoofer – The HV subwoofers from Phase Technology are designed to provide highperformance audio at entry-level pricing. The line of subs, which includes the HV101-LP, HV101-II, and HV121-II, features treated pulp drivers with high-excursion rubber surrounds. Each sub includes on-board DSP smart limiting to monitor and adjust output for dynamic, undistorted bass, along with a gain control, phase switch, variable crossover, L&R inputs, and a dedicated LFE input. Starting at $390
Stealth Acoustics LRX-85 Invisible Speakers – As one of the pioneers in the “invisible speaker” category, Stealth Acoustics knows a thing or two about making speakers that are meant to be heard, not seen. The new premium-grade LRX-85 benefits from the company’s proprietary FidelityGlass technology. Durable UV protected radiating panels ensure pleasing spacious sound is produced in the full audio spectrum from 40Hz to 18kHz, as well as a 170-degree hemispherical coverage pattern. A two-panel design allows for increased power handling, lower octave bass response, and reduced intermodulation distortion at outputs of over 103dB. Price TBA
72
Residential Tech Today | Sept/Oct 2018
Planar 1 Plus Turntable – The Planar 1 Plus can be connected to any line level input via a standard pair of RCA cables. The Planar 1 Plus benefits from all of the advantages of its sibling, the Planar 1, such as the low noise 24v motor, precision hub bearing assembly, and hand-made RB110 tonearm with a factory-fitted Rega Carbon cartridge. Setup remains possible in as little as 30 seconds, making this the easiest to use and most flexible Rega turntable to date. It’s available in gloss black or white. $595
THE FUTURE OF PE T TOYS
IS HERE
Automatic tennis ball launchers and brain games for dogs
goifetch.com