The holidays are always a busy time of year – 2020 being no exception – and all of us at AV Design Consultants wanted to take a second before things got even busier to make sure to educate all of our customers on the latest and greatest in the technology and smart home worlds. 

The industry has seen plenty of ups and downs this year, but December is the perfect time to look back at some of the newer technologies and how they can improve you and your family’s home life. 

So, what are the big topics you should know about? Whether you are just getting started with the wide world of home automation, or you are a long-time adopter, here’s an explainer of some of the newer technology on the marketplace, and a look at what you should be paying attention to for the holidays and as we head into 2021!

It’s time to get your game on.

Most of the time on our blog here at AV Design Consultants is spent helping our customers learn more about all the latest and greatest aspects of smart home technology and how they best can integrate that technology into their life. 

But we all know that your home entertainment system is being used for more than TV and movies, and for a lot of you, a big screen and surround sound means one thing: Better ways to play and immerse yourself into your favorite video games. 

It’s not every day that a new generation of consoles comes out! To help mark the occasion and celebrate a little bit, we’re spending time this week to look at some of the amazing technological advancements coming from Sony and the PlayStation 5, and how to make sure that your home technology is ready to keep up. Let’s take a look and get ready to play! 

It’s time to up the ante with 8K.

While it’s still in its infancy as a resolution, if you are looking for the best picture possible this year, there’s only one to consider: 8K. A step up from 4K resolution, 8K gives you even more pixel density, clarity, and definition than you are used to seeing in Ultra HD – and 16 times as many pixels as you would find in a traditional 1080p TV. 

If you’re reading this, you probably know a thing or two about resolution already. You’ve probably already had a 4K set for a few years and are now ready to upgrade past that to 8K resolution but aren’t sure what next steps to take. Don’t worry – that’s what the team here at AV Design Consultants is for! Whether this is your first time checking out our blog, or you are a long time customer, we’ve put together a list of what to keep in mind as you start to browse 8K TVs, as well as important tips to help you get the best home entertainment experience possible. 

Smart home technology isn’t just for the young. 

Any new technology – and especially new technology in emerging and growing categories like smart home technology – tends to get a reputation of being for younger audiences. But that’s simply not the case. The team here at AV Design Consultants prides itself on being knowledgeable on the best ways, practices, and use cases for the technology we sell, and we thought it would be great to guide our customers through a not-often-talked-about, but quite important, use of smart home technology: to help older adults as they are aging in place.

There are many ways that technology can help keep users independent while assisting with their lifestyle. And as aging in place becomes more common – where older adults stay in their homes longer or multiple generations live together under one roof – using this technology is only going to become more and more important. There’s a big future for such technology out there, and it just goes to show that smart technology can help improve everybody’s homelife. Let’s take a look at how.