Smart home assistant and home cinemas
If you’re investing in a home cinema, it makes sense to make your experience as convenient as possible from the outset. This is, after all, a luxurious space where you can relax with family and friends while enjoying a favourite film, watch the latest blockbuster for the first time or even immerse yourself in a new video game.
Optimising convenience means limiting the amount of tasks you have to perform before you can get comfortable and press ‘play’. A smart home assistant is integral to this, enabling you to create the perfect viewing environment with the touch of a button or a simple voice command. There’s no need to access several apps for the thermostat and lighting, get up to manually lower the blinds and pick up a remote to switch on the projector – everything can happen simultaneously with one small action.
Here, we explore how a smart home assistant for your home cinema can add value to your experience, outline how integration works, and discuss compatibility and practical considerations.
Why smart assistants add value to a home cinema
We’ve already mentioned the convenience that smart assistants bring to a home cinema, but the benefits go beyond ease of use. Automation in home cinema systems also offers customisation for different scenarios. For example, if you’re watching a big sports match with friends, you might want to illuminate the LED strips in your team’s colours, optimise the audio to enhance the commentary and adjust the thermostat so the space doesn’t get stuffy. On movie night with your kids, however, your priorities might be a warm, cosy environment, soft ambient lighting and sound that delivers greater treble and bass for a more immersive experience.
If you or a member of your family has a disability or mobility issue, a smart assistant offers a simpler and more accessible way to control the features of your home cinema. With a voice control home theatre, a spoken command can activate lighting, audio-visual equipment, window shading and more, making the experience more comfortable.
Finally, a smart assistant can add monetary value to your home cinema. As households become increasingly connected, an Amazon Alexa or Google Home home cinema – or one integrated with an automation system such as Control4 – provides an attractive unique selling point that makes it stand out above other properties.
How the Integration Works (Technical Overview)
The integration of your smart home assistant to your home cinema setup very much depends on which device you choose and how compatible it is with the other features you want to control. Amazon Alexa, Google Home and Apple HomeKit are the most popular ecosystems, with Google and Amazon in particular being compatible with a range of third-party operating systems, audio-visual devices, lighting systems and more.
Once you’ve chosen an ecosystem, you’ll need to connect it to the Wi-Fi and follow the setup instructions. If you are using the smart assistant to control other aspects of your home cinema, you’ll have to ensure they are part of the same home account and pair them up using the respective apps.
Say you want to connect your smart assistant to the AV system, for example. You’ll need to add the devices using the smart assistant’s app or device settings. You can also group devices such as your projector, screen and sound system together so that a command like ‘Play movie’ activates all these technologies at once.
If you’re using a third-party operating system such as Control4, you can simply add the smart assistant to it. This bypasses the need for separate smart assistant/AV integration and enables you to use a voice command to execute a custom scene that you may have already programmed.
Typical Use Cases and Commands
When your new smart home assistant for the home cinema is set up, there are numerous commands you can programme in to suit your needs and preferences. Here are some examples you might want to use:
- “Movie Mode” – Switches on your projector and screen, closes the window shading, adjusts the thermostat and provides soft illumination that enables you to get comfy and select a film.
- “Play movie” – Dims the lights gradually, illuminates LED strips to provide visibility for moving around the room or reducing eye strain, and calibrates the audio system to deliver more treble and bass.
- “Sports Mode” – Activates your projector and screen, illuminates LED strip lighting to the colours of your team, leaves the ambient lighting a little brighter than Movie Mode, and calibrates the audio system to emphasise the commentary on the game.
- “Gaming Mode” – Switches on your games console, activates your gaming monitor, and turns on a light source beside or behind the screen that dynamically adjusts according to the brightness of the screen.
Compatibility and Practical Considerations
We’ve already discussed how important it is to ensure your chosen ecosystem is compatible with your other devices, from your audio-visual receiver and projector brands to your lighting and climate control solutions. You will only be able to create seamless transitions if all your technologies work together.
Another practical consideration is your Wi-Fi. In order to enjoy a truly immersive experience, it’s vital that your Wi-Fi is robust enough to cope with all the devices connected to it. Movie night is going to be ruined if a poor connection means slow responses from your equipment.
Finally, security is a big concern for many homeowners, so following best practices is critical to reduce the chances of becoming a victim of cybercrime. Strong passwords and regular updates are non-negotiable, and you could consider creating a separate network for your home cinema devices to isolate them from laptops and smartphones. With an operating system like Control4, you’ll benefit from robust security measures and frequent monitoring to ensure you remain protected.
Working with New Wave AV: Getting it Right
If you’re looking to invest in a smart home assistant for your home cinema, or you want to create your perfect cinema room from scratch with integrated smart technology, speak to the experts at New Wave AV today. With over 20 years’ experience, we’ll design and deliver a completely seamless experience supported by a strong Wi-Fi connection and dependable security measures, ensuring your home cinema is everything you want and more. Get in touch with us today to discuss your ideas or to book a personalised consultation at our showrooms in Tonbridge or Windlesham.
