Tea London’s Elton gives some thoughts on the future of home automation, and how the humble PC can play an important role in changing your TV viewing habits.

From a young age I have always been surprised how ideas and concepts imagined by the fertile minds of Science Fiction authors and scriptwriters became to be realised as significant technical accomplishments later on. I have come to understand that pretty much anything is possible if we have the vision to imagine it and the willpower to accomplish it.

Nowadays home automation presents home owners with the level of automation and integration so advanced that it is not so much what it automate for you, but more a case of how much you can invest in it. With the advent of affordable home control system products such as the hardware based Control4 systems to software driven systems like Stardraw Control, the notion of installing a home automation system no longer exclusively applies to the incredibly wealthy. It now puts it within reach of those consumers who can comfortably afford to buy, say, a Mac notebook computer.

In addition to installing home automation control systems, I still see the PC as the essential piece of ‘kit’ as the centre of any home AV system, and will likely will win out over more complicated and specialised home control systems as time goes on. It already provides a compelling array of Media storage and delivery services. Windows Media Centre, which is a ‘built-in’ feature of most versions of Windows Vista and Windows 7, provides you with a media-centric, intuitive user interface that is designed to be displayed and comforttably on flatscreen TV’s.

We are looking forward to the next release in Windows 8, which is currently in test or ‘preview’ stages of development. The first version of the new Media Centre Metro application included in the latest preview release.

Some reasons why Windows Media Centre is good for you:

•  Simplified file sharing. File sharing is not a big deal, it can be achieved with most computers or even with NAS drives, however something like recorded TV is not something that is typically shared. Using Media Centre to record TV, means that recorded TV is stored as a video file, that can be opened by any other system capable of running Media Centre. If you imagine how, for example, SKY+ operates, where recordings are only accessible on the box that recorded a programme, you may being to understand how this subtle difference can bring about significant advantages to you.
• Windows Media Centre typicall supports 4 tuners of any type or combination. So it is possible for you to have ‘PVR’ that is capable of receiving and recording both terrestrial and Satellite TV. Normally a PVR is restricted to only receiving signals from either source.
• With satellite tunes, Windows Media Centre supports DISEqC switching. This allows you to connect either a motorised satellite dish or an array of fixed position satellite dishes to one tuner.  Again this does may not sound like a big deal, but it is possible for you to have up to 4 ‘positions’ configured per satellite tuner, each position relating to a dish that is aimed at a different broadcast satellite. This greatly increases the number of TV channels you can view. Windows makes the selection of this various satellite dishes transparent, these positions are selected simply by you changing channel. Usually TV content is limited to ‘unscrambled’ channels only, but it is possible to get some PayTV or scubscription based TV services working on this system, if the encryption system used by the broadcaster is more ‘open’. Sadly SKY is not one of them – we suspect that even if people wanted to pay a premium to watch their services on a system on this, they will never allow it to happen. Using a simple 2 dish configuration with a TV antenna, comprising of FreeSAT (ASTRA2) and a dish aimed at European TV Services (Astra1), you will have in excess of 1000 free-to-air TV channels at your disposal. A surprising number of them are broadcast in HD, with more and more broadcasters launched HD services on a regular basis.
• Although Media Centre can’t natively decode scrambled services like SKY and Virgin, it is still possible for you to connect our set-top box to a Media Centre PC. The Media Centre PC will provide you with full TV listings in its programme guide, and can change channels on the set-top box automatically. The only real weakness in this ability is that it deliver video in full HD quality. You certainly can view and record HD channels, but the viewing experience will always be in standard definition. The ability to connect HD devices for the purposes of recording still remains a sensitive issue for the likes of Hollywood, so this is more political/business restriction, rather than a technological one.
• The killer feature of Media Centre is its fully interactive TV programme schedule guide. It will provide you with one, fully consolidated programme guide of all of your TV channels – regardless of whether it is a foreign satellite service or FreeView/FreeSAT services. It provides you with a 2 week guide that you can look browse not only in chronological order by category, genre, actor, director and using text searching. You can for example, browse for all films that will be broadcast across all of your available TV channels for the next two weeks. By selecting to record any of the films that suit your tastes, you can rapidly build up a movie library at no cost and perfectly legally. Remember the rest of the home can share and access these recordings too. The guide fundamentally works the same as any other interactive guide, however its two week time line and its flexibility in how you can browse the guide makes it by far the best interactive programme guide we have ever used.
• I don’t think I need to remind people how easy it is to rip music CD’s and built-up a music library. You can also rip DVD’s and Blu-Ray content, but this is a more complicated area which also has copyright implications.
• As Windows Media Centre is a PC. This means it can playback all mainstream media file and disc formats. It is a truly universal media player, wiping out the need for you to adopt one video or audio standard or install additional equipment for the purposes of playing specific media (it makes installing a separate Blu-Ray player, DVD Player, CD Player, AppleTV, or media streamer redundant). It can play proprietary content such as Windows Media or Apple iTunes content as well as all other open video and audio file formats. Of course it can also access web based services, giving you access to a vast array of online, on-demand video and audio sources.

Internet TV and other on-demand service clearly will become more popular with consumers than traditional off-air TV viewing (broadcast TV).  All mid-ranged or better flatscreen TV’s have networking capabilities. They have buildin-in ‘apps’ that will give you access to online services like YouTube, BBC iPlayer and Skype, even access to LoveFilm’s online content. This to some extend negates the need for a media PC to be attached directly to the TV. You could access media stored on the PC using DLNA. Flatscreen TV’s are becoming ‘smarter’, and they are progressively becoming purpose built ‘appliance computers’. Soon plugging your laptop into the TV will become a thing of the past.

The manner in which TV and PC’s are merging it would make sense to only install one or the other in any room – why have both?

Tablet PC’s  will ultimately become your remote control that can handle almost all control of your home automation system. From TV remote control to the light switch. You can view your CCTV cameras, or answer your door phone from the same device. Perhaps you might want it to open the window for you and automatically turn off your air con at the same time.

The automated stuff we used to watch in Sci-Fi movies is becoming reality. Things that seem far fetched today will more than likely be accomplished sooner than you think.

A bit of coax

For those of you who aren’t familiar with coax cable, this is normally the black, white or brown cables that are run from your TV aerial and/or satellite dish into your home, and can be find behind most TV sets and all set-top boxes. It essentially delivers broadcast TV signals to your TV, receiver or set-top box.

Here at TEA London we are often called upon to look at other installer’s cabling systems, post installation, to either upgrade, enhance or troubleshoot AV and IT systems. More often than not our client’s original supplier fell out of favour some time back, which although unfortunate for the client, we are at least given the opportunity to survey their past supplier’s structured cabling, and offer our impartial advice to address their new requirements or ailments. In a lot of the cases the original cabling system is adequate in addressing the then needs of the client, with little thought to how the client’s needs may change in the future, anything from a few months time to several years later.

We have found an alarming number of cases where custom audio visual installations have been installed without any coaxial cable at all to TV points, or too little cable has been run throughout a site, or worse, the rooms likely to accommodate a TV (if not immediately, but perhaps in the future) has no coaxial cable at all. This short blog will hopefully emphasise the importance of using coax cable in any modern and forward thinking AV installation.

Bad cable perceptions

Very recently a new client of ours informed me that he was advised 7 years ago, by his then Architect and specialist AV installer, that no coax cable was required to any of the 5 TV positions in his home. He was advised on using exclusively CAT5 cabling for the delivery of video throughout his home. The rationale of the AV installer was, ‘It is all digital now, you don’t need coax, because network cabling is digital’, the ‘specialists’ used buzzwords like digital, modern, future to convince the client that CAT5 cabling can exclusively address all of his AV requirements in his home.

The worst statement they made during their pitch is that coaxial cable would be obsolete in a matter of years. The client being a sensible, forward thinking man, followed their advice; why install something that will end up only being obsolete? Unfortunately this was incredibly bad advice, and has severely limited his AV options in his home.

If anyone tells you that coax cable is obsolete, or will be obsolete, or is not required, or is ‘an old cabling system’, ignore them, they clearly do not know what they are talking about – it will be a case of a little knowledge doing a lot of damage; whilst it is possible to get away with not running coaxial cable throughout a home, the alternatives of using CAT5/6/7 cable exclusively is:

• It is considerably more expensive to apply Video distribution systems from a central hub utilising CAT5/6/7 cabling exclusively
• it will actually reduce the features, functions and options each of your TV sets will have, by not allowing each set to tune into the airwaves independently
• prevents you from taking advantage of a great number of electronic appliances that need TV signals delivered through coax
• eliminates the opportunity for you to distribute infra-red and video signals through a coaxial cable network

The virtues of coax cable

So what are the benefits of coax cable? Well for one, it is inexpensive. When you look at the overall costs of installing a custom AV system in a modern home, coax cabling would be one of the least expensive materials used, costing less then 50 pence per metre. We always advise that at least two coaxial cables are run to each (potential) TV position, and we further advise that it should be CT100 equivalent or better coaxial cable.

CT100 cable is capable of handle many different signal types, and all TV signal types, i.e. satellite, terrestrial TV and cable TV. The two cables at each point will give you many options at at each set, such as the support of satellite and terrestrial TV, support for PVR devices or the ability to send a return signal back to your distribution point.

CT100 cable is rated to handling bandwidths in excess of 2GHz, where Category 5 cable can barely delivery 200MHz worth of headroom; even Category 7 cable rarely exceeds 1Ghz, which is half the headroom of a coax cable. Because of this high headroom, dense signals, or even multiple signals can be distributed through a single piece of cable.

By installing coax cable through your home, you will have the ability to not only take advantage of the video and audio distributed by your centralised AV distribution system, but you will be able to independently view and change channels using your TV’s own satellite, or terrestrial TV tuner. If you make use of media devices, like media centre PC’s or certain games consoles, these devices too can support a TV tuner – which almost always a pieces of coax cable to be plugged into the back of it in order for it to reliably receive a TV signal.

HD TV services are currently only available on satellite services, in the near future FreeView will begin HD TV broadcasts, and both broadcast systems require the delivery of their signals to a tuner utilising coax cable. This is the future, not the past; and shows that coax cable is here to stay for the foreseeable future, with no real end to its usefulness or purpose in a modern home in sight.

If you ever been advised or told that coax is obsolete or will become obsolete, then my advice would be for you to look for a different consultant immediately; they clearly do not understand the virtues of different cable types, and whilst they may seem to be forward thinking, one can argue if they really understand the virtues of other cable types as well, such as Category 5/6/7 cable, speaker cable, video cable or audio cable. It is always good to be forward thinking in terms of installing a modern cabling system, but never discount the value of so called ‘traditional’ or ‘old fashioned’ cabling. When obsolescence is used often in a sales pitch, let the buyer beware.

Timothy Francis

TEA London