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Savant’s New Virtual Control Could Be a Game Changer
Savant’s new “virtual control” interface uses swipe technology just like an iPhone. The touchpanel skin is an actual photo of the home itself, like this great room. Users simply press directly on the light, shade, TV, etc. to turn on, off, dim, etc.
Making a touchpanel's user interface intuitive is one of the keys to satisfying a homeowner with a whole-house control system.
With that in mind, Savant debuted a new intuitive "virtual control" interface that allows users to touch or swipe an actual photo of their home as the touchpad skin to turn on and off (or dim) a light, lower or raise shade, change the thermostat or even turn on and off the TV screen.
No more icons of light bulbs. No more mentions of the word "zone" on the touchpanel. If you want a light to turn on, you simply touch the actual light.
Not only does the light in the room turn on, but it also "turns on" via animation on the touchpanel. Even a stranger to the home could intuitively control functions with little to no instruction.
That new iPhone-like swipe control is just one of the new innovations unveiled by Savant during its third annual Dealer Conference in Hyannis, Mass.
Virtual Control Tech Uses Tethered Touchpanel
Specifically, the yet-to-be-named virtual control technology is a tethered tabletop 9-inch touchpanel with full capacitive touch technology delivering iPhone-like gestures and active control of lighting and shading, and other subsystems via images of residence.
The installation requires only power and a single Cat 5 for full functionality. The capacitive glass allows to gesture control.
As part of several "stimulus packages," dealers in attendance at the Savant Dealer Conference were given a special price on a virtual control demo unit.
One potential monkeywrench to the system brought up by attendees is how to create the UI in a new construction situation. Most likely, the home and individual rooms are unfinished when the integrator is creating the interface.
One solution would be to use architectural renderings as placeholders for the touchpanel skin, then replace them with actual images later.
Professional Services Division to Handle Photos
What about the photos themselves -- are integrators supposed to be professional photographers?
Savant has that handled too. It newly announced Professional Services division will coordinate the photography on behalf of the dealer.
The product was debuted to the group by CEO Bob Madonna, who admittedly could not stop "playing with it" during the demo.
In the design, one room of the home would be the background skin on the touchpanel, while all the other rooms of the home will be located in a scroll box across the bottom of the screen that can be swiped left or right, just like an iPhone.
The new virtual control UI follows up Savant's previous debuts that made many CE pros turn their heads including the candy-dish remote, flying-icon on-screen display, the first iPhone interface, iTunes integration and AppleTV integration.
Check out video of the virtual control in action.
Attendees at the Savant Dealer Conference play with the swipe control on the new virtual interface. New capacitive glass enables the technology. Savant's Professional Service division helps dealers get the professional photography shot for jobs.
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26 Comments (displayed in order by date/time)
This is definitely cool but IMO the picture of the room novelty would wear off pretty quick for me. We all love it because were techno geeks. Its the GUI equivalent of buttkickers on theater chairs. “woo.. wow.. cool.. how do i shut this thing off”. Floor Plan view with Lighting/Climate/AV icons will serve the same purpose.
Years of experience with clients and user interfaces has shown me that 99.9% of my clients want to press ON and OFF for lights. They have a handful of ways that they use the room and “Scene” macros give them the ability to do this much faster than clicking each light and adjusting it.
I cant tell how close they have come to the iphone/itouch from the video but the applesque gestures are cool.
Im not very familiar with Savant. I have never seen it in person. From what i have seen on the web and no idea how it compares to Crestron or AMX in terms of pricing.. I don’t really understand where they fit into the market. The coffee table touchscreen for example. I cant see my clients hunched over a coffee table trying to control their home.
I am adding it to my bucket list. I need to make sure there’s enough sugar in the koolaid.
The youtube video is not working. All I can find on the net are some shaky cam videos of savant in action.
I’ve shown customers picture backgrounds and floorplan backgrounds and they prefer basic on/off, bright/dim, and bargraph feedback of dim level time after time. They do prefer fixture “icons” for better visual representation (table lamps, overheads, ropes, chandeliers, etc). Also I agree with “39centstamp” that scene buttons and the ability for customers to adjust their lights and scene-save/recall are the mostly used for quick lighting adjustments most of the time.
All of what is mentioned in the article can and has been done with crestron/amx, but how much time did it take to do it in all of the systems as a comparison, and how functional is it really? Is it a novelty first impression or does it work the best long term (for any of the 3 major two-way systems).
I’ve shown customers picture backgrounds and floorplan backgrounds and they prefer basic on/off, bright/dim, and bargraph feedback of dim level time after time. They do prefer fixture “icons” for better visual representation (table lamps, overheads, ropes, chandeliers, etc). Also I agree with “39centstamp” that scene buttons and the ability for customers to adjust their lights and scene-save/recall are the mostly used for quick lighting adjustments most of the time.
All of what is mentioned in the article can and has been done with crestron/amx, but how much time did it take to do it in all of the systems as a comparison, and how functional is it really? Is it a novelty first impression or does it work the best long term (for any of the 3 major two-way systems).
Savant removed the YouTube video. It’s not a game changer it’s trying to keep up with the other control systems, or to justify the $$$$ cost.
Savant is planning to post a better video that will answer many of the questions here, plus show the functionality better. I hope it will be up soon (hint, hint)
Casey—in regards to your question about “hidden” lamps, it’s a good one. Obviously, for the demo all the light sources were visible that they were activating.
The demo did have buttons for “Lights” “TV” etc. that the homeowner can use if they prefer that type of interface.
My guess is they pulled the video after a patent infringement threat
Looks cool, but kinda ‘gimmicky’ to me. I tend to agree with 39 Cent Stamp on this one. The bonafide control solutions that Crestron and AMX, and even Control4 to a lesser extent, are introducing are technologically way more advanced, extremely scalable, and not flash in the pan products.
Just my opinion and the 17 years of “in the trenches” integration experience I’ve accumulated over the years.
Wow, I cannot wait to see what they can do with such technology. Think a lot of good things are coming for us gamers!
This is certainly impressive, and I can’t wait to see some video games come out using this.
Most wealthy clients are smart enough to realize that the money they save with Control4 can be put into the hardware. Unless they’re an idiot, Savant makes sense.