If you’ve read up on smart home technology, you may have come across conflicting suggestions and advice. Many people recommend a DIY approach with smart devices like the Nest thermostat, Ring video doorbell, and Phillips Hue lightbulbs. But most technology experts, including ourselves, consider these approaches to home automation weaker than a system like Control4’s OS 3. But why?

As a Control4 dealer in Austin, TX, we’ll shed some light on what makes Control4 many steps ahead of off-the-shelf gadgets. Continue reading to see how a smart home system will enhance your daily life.

SEE ALSO: The Smarter the Home, The More Reason to Hire a Professional

One Press of a Button

As more household objects become smart—from coffee pots to lighting fixtures— you’ll spot more smart gadgets in stores like Best Buy. You can bring home a smart speaker or a Ring doorbell and quickly plug-and-play. But the thrill of your new devices fades when you have to juggle different apps for every subsystem in your home. You won’t have an integrated home, but rather a disjointed experience that’s mildly inconvenient for you and completely inaccessible to visitors.

Getting started in smart home automation with a few smart devices, like an Amazon Alexa speaker or a video doorbell, is an easy enough endeavor. But that isn’t really a smart home, is it? A true smart home incorporates many systems that work together automatically. We may not be able to have our homes cook for us, pick out our clothes, or clean for us as it was depicted in The Jetsons (yet). But your home can play music, turn on lights, lock doors, and lower blinds automatically or when told to, controlled by the same smart system.

So if you’re planning on building a smart home system, at what point should you bring in a professional home automation installer? Continue reading to see how a professional can bring your Austin, TX home into the future.

SEE ALSO: Where & Why You Should Use Home Lighting Control

Are your meeting rooms equipped for modern collaboration? Today’s business moves at a faster pace than ever before. Beyond the basics like Wi-Fi and high-speed internet connectivity, today’s workers use software tools like Slack, Zoom Trello, Asana, and many others to manage work both across the organization and with external suppliers and partners. On top of this, they want to use their devices of choice too, be they smartphones, tablets, laptops, from different platforms. Your collaboration tools need to keep up with what modern teams are using.

Instead of traveling to meetings – whether across town or the country – video conference systems are increasingly being used to communicate faster, share information, and move projects, products, and services along quicker. If you want to keep your Austin, TX business up-to-date, keep reading to learn about video conferencing upgrades that will boost your organization’s productivity.

SEE ALSO: Why Your Company Needs an Upgraded Video Conference System

High Definition Video and Audio

Your meeting spaces should have high definition video capability at a minimum, and for future-proofing, the ability to display 4K as well. Large flat-panel displays provide an easy way for meeting attendees to share presentations and other information. Projectors have always been a staple in conference rooms, and today’s models have better brightness, contrast, and 4K resolution, as well as being better able to perform in more brightly lit rooms.

A variety of video cameras from many vendors, offering up to 4K resolution, can be employed with many of the popular videoconferencing platforms like Zoom and Skype. Some cameras have remote control capability for panning and zooming to change the view if needed.

There’s no denying lighting control is entertaining. By connecting your lighting fixtures to a smart home system, you’ll be able to turn on every light from your tablet or smartphone. Watch your entire house light up in one touch of a button or use a voice-activated speaker to command your lights with just a phrase.

But home lighting control offers more than just a fun party trick. Smart lighting connected to a system like Savant or Control4 can provide unique benefits to each area of your home. Continue reading to see where and why you should be using lighting control in your West Lake Hills, TX, home.

SEE ALSO: Why You Should Hire a Home Automation Installer

Outdoors

Your home’s landscape lighting is much more impressive and useful when you go beyond an on/off switch. Through your Control4 or Savant app, you can create scenes specific for each time of day and schedule when they will activate. At twilight, the pathway lights will turn on at your entrance, and by sundown, all exterior lights will flick on and illuminate your outside areas. Then by the time you go to sleep, lights will conveniently turn off to save energy, or some can stay on till sunrise for security. If you incorporate color tuning in your lighting system, you can also play with colors, basking your walls in bright whites, blues, greens, reds, and more for festive fun.

Living Room

The way you light your living room should depend on the time of day and what activities you’re enjoying. A tunable lighting system allows us to adjust the brightness and temperature of lightbulbs. So, during the daytime, schedule your lights for a cool, bright appearance that will energize your mind and feel more comfortable than dim, warm lights. In the evening, your lamps and overhead lights can shift to warmer hues for a softer, cozier atmosphere. You can also create scenes to set the mood, whether it’s movie time or a reading session. Select the scene and watch each light dim, turn off, or adjust its color.