Make Your Life Easier by Using the Right Components

I was reminded this weekend of the difference it makes dealing with a professional who is specifically trained in their field versus dealing with a big box retailer or an online store.  It started when the ceiling fan in our master bedroom started making a grinding noise.  For over a year now, I have been adjusting the fan in order to keep it quiet.  It now seemed we had reached the point of no return.  

So fairly sure we needed a replacement, we walked into the fan store. Instead of just picking what we liked we were asked a bunch of specific questions.

1. What room was the fan for?
2. What size is the room?
3. What is the ceiling height?
4. What type of blade were you looking for?

Now, those all seemed like pretty standard questions to me. The light bulb that went on in my mind at that moment was the actual answers to these questions. In other words, the reasons why the questions were asked. For example, in the case of ceiling fans, we would want a blade with less pitch so that the wind would not blow down directly, but would instead move the air around in the room. Also, fans with decorative blades usually need more pitch because they are less efficient, and that increased pitch requires a more powerful motor. These are all aspects relevant to the fan’s optimum operation.

So how does that relate to the AV business and a professional home av installation? Well, if we are doing a complete custom system for you, more than likely part of that system is going to be operated via remote control. If we are doing a remote control as part of your home installationit is important to get products that behave correctly in relation to the custom programming we will be doing. 

For example, when you hit the button we have designated as “Watch Cable TV” a lot of processes will fire in the background. The activation of that one button on a “typical” system macro will include:

1. Turning on the TV

2. Turning on the AV Receiver

3. Setting the TV to HDMI input #1

4. Selecting the HDMI input on the AV receiver that is connected to the cable TV box

Additionally, the reason why we use certain brands is that we know they will respond properly to the codes the remote control sends. Many cheap AV receivers do not have a separate “On” and “Off” command. Many cheap TVs (including a common one that’s begins with a “V”) will not go to certain HDMI inputs when we need them to. What that means to you is a miserable experience watching your system. It’s supposed to be easy, just hit one button and watch TV.

What actually happens is that you hit the button to turn the system on and only part of it works. So you hit the button again and your TV turns off, but now the sound comes on. Finally when you get everything to come on, the TV won’t show a picture because it won’t go to the correct input. Now you have to get up and select the correct remote so everything is as it should be. All of that to save a few hundred dollars on a TV or AV receiver. Clearly, after dealing with that for a few weeks most people would have gladly spent the money to do the job with compatible components. That's why it's the things you don't necessarily think about, that make a professional home av installation less of an expense than you think. n some ways it's actually a savings because you buy the right things the first time and you only buy once.

As home AV integrators it is our job to convey this to you. However, sometimes that is easier said than done. Sometimes people are so afraid we are trying to get more money from them they don’t understand what we tried to help them understand until they actually live with the pain of a poor choice.

This entire explanation focused on one single command on a remote control. In the installation of your AV system you will likely have more than two components and a remote control as well as several other rooms with audio/video capabilities. It’s important to understand that the same challenges exist for every room and every piece of gear in the installation of your system, as well as every process you wish to engage for each one.

We repair or install home AV systems every single day almost 365 days a year and we still learn things on every job. Do you think we might actually be able to save you some money? We know we can definitely save you a lot of trouble. Most of all we can make sure that components are compatible and work as expected. That’s worth something isn’t it?