Russ Maynard, owner of Cinetouch, talks with CE Pro's Lisa Montgomery about their software product that eliminates the programming of AMX, and allows same day deployment of a whole house control system.

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Home Automation Inc. (HAI) President, Jay McLellan talks with CE Pro's Lisa Montgomery about HAI's new IP enabled product introductions.


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Black & Decker's VP of business development Dave Albert explains the new Residential Access Control systems to CE Pro's Lisa Montgomery.


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Centralite is a sleeper in the lighting controls business but a favorite among many integrators. At CEDIA Expo 2009, they're sharing a booth with Somfy, a giant in the motorized shading business.

Rumor has it that Somfy may be acquiring Centralite.

It would make perfectly good sense. Lutron has shown us again and again that lighting and shade control are great complements for comfort and energy savings: Turn off the lights during the day when the motorized shades lift to let in the sun.

For a perfect trifecta, Somfy should acquire Residential Control Systems (RCS), a sleeping giant in residential HVAC controls and home automation.

They could follow Lutron's lead of integrating lighting, thermostats and motorized shades.

If your customers love AMX, but not the price or the button configuration of its touchscreens, they can use Philips Pronto remote controls instead.

Former AMX dealer Brian Anderson of Axis Control has created Emulinx for Pronto – software that basically turns a relatively affordable Pronto into an AMX touchscreen.

In a demo at the Philips booth during CEDIA Expo 2009, Axis demonstrated the emulation software pitting a Pronto TSU9800 Web-enabled touchscreen against an AMX Modero touchpanel.

Sure enough, the two touchscreens tracked each other perfectly.

Anderson said he got the idea last year at CEDIA when he visited the Philips booth with a friend who was a heavy Pronto user.

"I didn't really understand how powerful ProntoScript is," he says of the Pronto JavaScript programming environment.

Emulinx is not necessarily plug-and-play but Anderson says, "If you can program AMX and you…

As part of its new commitment to the custom installation channel that has covered several new programs, Sony has announced new partnerships with multiple control vendors.

The list is a "who's who of control as well as many others" for the custom market, according to Neal Manowitz, director for the Sony Home Audio and Video division.

The integration partners are:

• AMX
• Control4
• Crestron
• Escient
• ReQuest
• Universal Remote Control
• Remote Technologies Inc.
• Vantage

Last week Sony announced a renewed commitment to the CE pro channel. To find out more about these partnerships and where Sony is heading with its new focus, integrators are invited to stop by the Sony booth at CEDIA Expo 2009.

You can't miss the massive 70x80-foot booth that includes a full stage with professional talent presenting the details on Sony's new Advance Exchange warranty policy,…

Control4, perhaps best known for its iconic (static) home page, is letting dealers get a little groovy with their home automation systems.

At CEDIA Expo 2009, Control4 is showing OS 2.0, which allows integrators to design their own GUIs, at least to some extent.

"There's more flexibility and personalization around the GUI," says Control4 president Glen Mella. "We've always been the guys with one default screen. Now, if you want just TV and music in a room, then you can do that level of customization."

During a sneak preview before CEDIA, John Yoon, director of marketing demonstrated a "global" thermostat view, in which users could navigate through all of the home's thermostats.

Previously, you had to back in and out of the various rooms to get to each thermostat.

You can change icons and backgrounds, using your own, or the options that Control4 provides.

Biker chick that…

AMX has released some details about its CEDIA Expo 2009 contest in which dealers can win a home theater.

The contest was teased in our “Where to Find Free Stuff at CEDIA Expo 2009” guide, but AMX now offers more on its “AMXhome Configure This!” challenge.

Basically, CEDIA Expo 2009 attendees that enter the contest in AMX’s booth (No. 1707) are given some parameters for a system installation. They can then use an AMXhome Web Configuration Tool at several stations in the booth to design a solution.

The solutions that AMX deems best win various prizes, including a grand prize $27,653 home theater and Modero MVP-5200 EXPerience Kits.

From AMX:

Build an AMXhome using the AMXhome Web Configuration Tool from the request of a ‘typical home owner’, submit your solution for review and win one of the…

Universal Remote Control (URC) is coming out with the KP-4000 in-wall touchscreen and it looks cool.

The company will be showing the product, but not demonstrating all of its capabilities, at CEDIA Expo 2009.

URC, a leader in remote-control technologies, is not making any formal announcements on the KP-4000, but marketing director Jon Sienkewicz gave CE Pro a few details about the product.

The nice form factor not withstanding, the key thing about the touchscreen is that it is URC's first product with two-way RS-232 and IP communications. The company is rapidly developing drivers for two-way A/V components, cameras, thermostats, lighting and other home control products. So not only can you operate your A/V gear with this thing, you can check on the baby cam, change the temperature in…

Control4 dealers: How would you like to design a project and create a proposal … and then import the system directly into Control4's Composer programming software.

That's the premise behind a new application from Simply Reliable, developer of proposal and design software for custom installers.

The company's SmartOffice is a popular project management application that takes dealers through initial customer contact, the proposal process, design, project management, labor integration, accounting and billing.

The only thing it doesn't do is program a system for you … until now.

"It would sure be nice if we could take everything we have in quotes and push it right into the [Control4] box," says Simply Reliable's Tom Coffin. "You build the proposal, press 'yes,' and it gets loaded into Composer."

And that's just what Simply Reliable has done.

Control4 drivers are linked to products in the SmartOffice software. Just click the…