Comcast (which will soon be re-branding its cable TV, high-speed internet and digital phone services under the new name of Xfinity) is beginning to roll out a new version of its digital cable guide software to DVR customers. The new software brings a host of new features, including:

• DVR folders: The guide software will automatically organize multiple episodes of the same series into folders, cleaning up the recorded shows list and making it easier to find your favorite episodes.
• DVR Search and Record: Now you can set up “wish lists” based on actors, keywords or titles and your DVR will automatically record programs for you.
• Remote DVR scheduling: Customers with Comcast high-speed internet service and a Comcast.net username can now log into “MyDVR Scheduler” and set DVR recordings and manage series recordings from a web browser, or using the Comcast Mobile app for iPhone and iPod touch.

For more information and to download a printable user guide, head over to the New Guide page on the Comcast website. Your DVR box will download the new software automatically in the overnight hours over the next few weeks, and the new software is expected to be activated in early March.

Here at SoundVision, no project is too small for our staff of expert technicians to handle. Interested in upgrading to the latest flat-panel TV or universal remote control, adding an Apple TV or iPod input to your existing media system? How about installing a new TV in the bedroom or underneath a cabinet in your kitchen? That’s where SoundVision’s new FastTrack division can help.

The SoundVision FastTrack division was created specifically to handle quick projects like system additions and upgrades rapidly, but with the same attention to detail and quality of workmanship that have become hallmarks of SoundVision projects since our inception. FastTrack projects are also backed by SoundVision’s low price guarantee and lifetime guarantee on workmanship. If you’re interested in making an addition to your existing SoundVision system or adding a TV to another room in your home, get in touch with us today.

SoundVision’s FastTrack division: making it easier than ever to get what you really want.

Like many of you, those of us here at SoundVision HQ were tuned to our computers last Wednesday morning as Apple CEO Steve Jobs took the stage in San Francisco to unveil the company’s latest product, the long-rumored tablet computer that’s since become known as iPad. In case you missed the countless news reports immediately following the device’s debut, the iPad is Apple’s new tablet computer based on the iPhone’s operating system, but featuring a 9.7-inch multi-touch screen in a case that’s just a half-inch thick and weighing in at a meager 1.5 pounds.

While we tend to agree with most of the experts who believe that the iPad will breathe new life into publications like magazines and newspapers, it’s also going to provide a new way for our customers to control their home’s electronic systems. Currently, Crestron, Lutron HomeWorks and Sonos all offer apps to control these devices from an iPhone or iPod touch. These apps will run out of the box on an iPad, but it’s hard to believe that these manufacturers won’t create an iPad-specific app to take advantage of the new device’s vastly larger screen real estate. While the iPad might not completely “change the custom electronics industry” as editors at CEPro magazine might believe, we do think that iPad will provide a great new way for SoundVision clients to control their media and home automation systems.

The WiFi (802.11b/g/n)-enabled version of iPad is scheduled to go on sale in April, with a starting pricepoint of $499. A 3G-enabled version, powered by AT&T, will launch 30 days later. We’ll definitely post more about new iPad apps for home electronics once the announcements start rolling in.

The 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show has come and gone, and those of us here at SoundVision were eagerly anticipating some of the major new products announcements that are bound to lay the groundwork for the year to come in the home entertainment industry. If this year’s show was any indication, 2010 will be the breakout year for 3D TV, with new 3D-capable models on the way from nearly every TV manufacturer, including our favorites Panasonic and Samsung. It’s also clear that Internet-connected TVs are quickly becoming the standard, echoing our belief that the time for enterprise-grade home networks is now.

Panasonic pushed the plasma TV size barrier a few years ago with the introduction of a 103-inch 1080p plasma HDTV, and they’re pushing the envelope once again with a new 152-inch 3D 4K2K ultra-high definition plasma display at this year’s CES. (Thanks to our friends over at SlashGear for the image of the plasma on display at Panasonic’s CES booth.) This new mega TV features a resolution of 4,096 x 2,160 pixels, or a resolution more than twice as higher as your ordinary 1080p HDTV. As expected, the picture quality on this beast of a TV is reported to be stunning. No word on pricing yet.

Just when you thought Samsung’s line of ultra-thin, LED edge-lit LCD HDTVs couldn’t get any thinner, they did. The new 9000-series of Samsung LED LCD TVs made their debut at this year’s CES, and like many of the other new displays introduced this year, include 3D processing capability when paired with a 3D-capable Blu-ray Disc player. Like Samsung’s other HDTV products, the 9000-series includes built-in WiFi to access online content, such as YouTube streaming and Netflix video-on-demand. Check out Engadget’s hands-on post for the skinny on this amazing new ultra-thin TV.

It’s clear that the real star of this year’s CES was 3D, and we’ll definitely be seeing and learning more about this emerging technology as the year progresses. Stay tuned!

Fresh off the heels of last month’s news about a new TiVo HD DVR for DirecTV, we have even more news affecting SoundVision customers who receive their television programming from the satellite broadcaster.

Effective Tuesday, February 9, DirecTV will be replacing the XM Satellite Radio music channels currently in the 800s channel range with a new, commercial-free music service from SonicTap. The music channel lineup will remain largely unchanged, so your favorite music formats will remain on the channels that you are already used to finding them on. In addition, DirecTV will be adding 19 new unique music channels to the lineup with the change to SonicTap. You can get the full details on the new channels and a revised listing on the DirecTV website.

As always, if you need any assistance or have questions about the change as it relates to your SoundVision system, feel free to call our office at (415) 456-7000.

Here’s an early present for TiVo fans with DirecTV! We’ve learned through our friends at Engadget HD and Multichannel News that a new DirecTV TiVo HD DVR will debut sometime in the spring of 2010. You can definitely expect some more details to emerge at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in a few weeks, along with other news about the various DVRs in TiVo’s lineup. Our longtime clients with DirecTV might remember that the satellite provider’s original high definition-capable DVR was powered by TiVo, but the functionality of these devices today are severely limited as they are unable to tune in most of the HD programming now available through DirecTV.

The new DirecTV TiVo HD DVR is rumored to include access to all of the great add-on features that cable subscribers with TiVo HD DVRs enjoy, like Blockbuster and Netflix streaming video on demand, YouTube, podcasts, Amazon Video on Demand and much more.

We’ll have more information about the new DirecTV TiVo HD DVR as we get it. Also, look forward to our coverage of the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show in the coming weeks!

Original Article: New DirecTV TiVo HD Due in the Spring of 2010 (Engadget HD)

This week’s frigid temperatures around the Bay Area were reminder enough that the holiday season is upon us, and 2010 is just around the corner! We’re seeing lots of “products of the year” lists being published this time of year, but of particular interest to us here at SoundVision was the 2009 Top Products List published by the editors at CEPro Magazine.

The editors included several Blu-ray Disc players in this year’s list of top products, including models from Sony, Pioneer and LG. With the format war of 2007 and 2008 behind us, Blu-ray really grew as the preferred way to watch movies at home in 2009. Prices on these players continue to fall, giving customers even more reason to include them as part of their new home theater or media system. Most new Blu-ray players also include Ethernet or Wi-Fi connections to your home’s broadband network, unleashing a myriad of online content such as BD-Live enhancements, Netflix video on demand, photo sharing, YouTube and more.

On the remote control side, CEPro gave top honors to Universal Remote Control’s (URC) MX-980 remote, which we’re frequently recommending to customers over similar URC remote models. The MX-980 improves on the MX-900 and MX-900i by including a rich, full-color LCD screen with radio frequency technology, allowing you to operate equipment in a separate location or behind closed cabinet doors. The MX-980′s charging cradle and rechargeable batteries is another significant benefit over the MX-900 series.

For more information about all the products featured in CEPro’s list of the Top Products of 2009, head over to the CEPro website.

The Winter 2009 issue of HD Living magazine has been mailed out to select homeowners around the North Bay area, just in time for the holiday season. If you weren’t one of the lucky ones who received one in your mailbox, don’t worry! We have your online copy available right here.

In addition to an updated profile all about SoundVision, some of the other topics inside this quarter’s issue of HD Living include:

• Casual Cocooning – Some affordable home theater alternatives to suit any budget
• Music in Every Room – Today’s in-wall speakers offer top-quality audio throughout your home that’s nearly out of sight
• Home is Where the Hearth Is - Profile of the various types of fireplaces and some tips for safe use

Plus much more. It’s all waiting for you in the Winter 2009 issue of HD Living Magazine!

Fifty years ago, it was easy to control the lights in one of the rooms in your home. The switch on the wall controlled the one ceiling-mounted light fixture, and it was either on or off. Since that time, lighting designers and homeowners alike have discovered the benefits of layered lighting, where a given room may have multiple lights with each serving its own unique purpose. Good lighting design takes the following into consideration:

• Ambient lighting to give the space a warm, well-lit feel
• Task lighting for reading or to light work surfaces and tables
• Accent lighting on artwork, sculptures and architectural details
• Pathway lighting to ease navigation in darker areas

This layered form of lighting has made a dramatic impact on how our spaces both look and feel. But, there is a downside to all this lighting: it’s inherently difficult to control. The more lights you put in the room, the more switches must be placed on the wall–and in some cases, this can result in banks of four or six or even more switches and dimmers on the wall. In this case, you most likely spend some time flipping each switch on and off to find the right one, or you end up placing unsightly labels on the switch or dimmer to identify it out of the lineup. Not exactly an ideal solution.

It doesn’t take a designer to appreciate a well-lit room, and most of us spend our time at home with the lights on than we do during the daytime. A good lighting system is one of the least expensive ways we can impact the look and feel of a space. The biggest complaint about modern lighting plans is that there are too many switches and dimmers, and since homeowners don’t know what switch controls what light, lights get left on all the time when rooms are unoccupied.

Lighting control allows you to replace a bank of switches with one keypad, like this seeTouch model from Lutron.

Unparalleled simplicity

A lighting control system can help make your home a better place to live by giving you 1950s-style, push-button simplicity when it comes to controlling your home’s lights. Imagine being able to replace a huge bank of wall switches with one simple keypad, allowing homeowners to have customizable lighting “scenes,” one-touch recall of your favorite lighting settings, and a one-touch “off” button to turn off all lights in a space. These control systems allow you to control your lights based on your activity, not how they are wired.

Energy savings

In addition to outstanding ease of use, a lighting control system also allows you to save more energy through your lighting system than you ever thought possible. Keypads make it simple to turn off lights in areas that are unoccupied. By adding occupancy sensors to rooms, lights in unoccupied areas will turn off automatically without you having to do a thing. These systems are “smart,” meaning they know what time it is and will turn off unnecessary lighting during the day and turn on essential pathway lights automatically after sunset. We can even program a “vacation mode,” where the system recreates your daily routines, turning on and off lights around the house, giving the illusion that someone is home at all times.

A lighting control system is the key to really getting the most out of your home’s lighting design, and SoundVision is the North Bay’s experts in lighting control. We have extensive experience working with a variety of Lutron lighting control products, such as HomeWorks, GRAFIK Eye, Sivoia QED shades, Maestro dimmers and more.

Fresh off the heels of our two Best Practice Awards wins at the 2009 CE Pro 100 Integrators Summit, SoundVision was awarded four Remmie Awards from the Bay Area Chapter of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI). We swept both the Home Theater Under $150,000 and Home Theater Over $150,000 categories, taking home the first and second place awards in each.

“We’re thrilled to back up our CE Pro Best Practice Awards wins with four Remmie Awards for achievement in home theater design and installation,” said SoundVision President Scott Sullivan. “Thanks to the NARI Remmies committee for recognizing our work again this year.”

The awards were handed out during the Bay Area NARI’s annual awards and leadership dinner at the Marines Memorial Club in downtown San Francisco, and recognized professionals around the remodeling industry including general construction, architecture, interior design and more.

2009 marks the third straight year where SoundVision captured the top prize in the Remmies’ Home Theater category. In 2008, SoundVision took home the first place award in both the Home Theater and Green Home categories for our work on the Zero Energy Home in Tiburon.