Smart Home Technology: A Comprehensive Overview

The concept of smart homes has become increasingly popular in recent years, with many homeowners looking to integrate various technologies to create a seamless and convenient living experience. In this article, we will delve into the world of smart home technology, exploring the different components that make up a comprehensive smart home system.

One of the key considerations when designing a smart home is lighting. Smart lighting was another key consideration for the integrators at pro tect wit with a Lutron system which integrates nicely with the savant system. This allows for control over all of the lights in just about any way we want. Lutron also happens to do smart shades, so they have several shades throughout the house that can be addressed through the Lutron system, opened and closed as needed.

Another key consideration is security. The lack of key would be a major concern for this smart home, with smart locks from quick-set allowing the owners to allow entry into the home without necessarily being home. This also affords them keyless entry, adding to convenience. Garage door control is also super popular, but you don't have to buy a smart garage door opener - this little add-on from My Cue turns any garage door opener into a smart one.

There are also several security cameras placed about the home tied in with a larger security system provided by Alarm.com and then there are video tour bells provided by Doorbird. Now, if you're keeping track that's six distinct platforms not counting all of the AV gear in the A/V cabinet. So how do you tie all this together so you don't have to pop into 6 or 7 different apps every time you want to do something with your smart home? Well, that's where savant comes in.

Savant is a comprehensive smart home system that presents this as one unified system. You'd never know that you got all these disparate elements and that user interface is extremely familiar if you know how to use a smart phone or a tablet. The integrators at pro tect wit did an excellent job of laying out the equipment, with clean cable management on the back of the rack.

Looking up at the top, we're looking at mostly network gear this is what provides that robust wireless and wired network that this entire system absolutely needs to run on. Then if we go a little bit further down, we've got some of our AV gear. This is a TiVo bolt 4k DVR with TiVo minis that are serving some of the other televisions in the home. We also have an Apple TV which they're able to distribute to all the different televisions in the home.

We've also got a Sony 4k Ultra HD Blu-ray player that's going to deliver the top video content that goes out, and they can distribute that to all the TVs at once or just one if you want to but you don't have to have that right next to the TV so that's handy. We also have a high capacity video switcher here this is what allows that 4k Ultra HD video to be distributed throughout the home.

They had to do some clever work in order to deliver the more bandwidth intensive 4k Ultra HD 60 frame per second content, so they integrated that a little bit further down. We've got the Savant Pro Media Servers this is what allows the system to deliver any one of three sources to ten zones within the house there's that many different spots in the house that of speakers in them so you can be playing the same thing outside as you are in the living room while something else is going on in the garage.

They have a lot of flexibility here and then down at the very bottom we've got a super high current amplifier to drive all of those speakers. As complicated as that rack may look, the Savant system is anything but complicated to use just like a good stage show you never know what's going on behind the scenes because everything in front of you is so well laid out and well executed here this system is user familiar.

We talk about user friendly but when something's user familiar you just know how to use it if you want to play a song just pull up your favorite music service and tell the system where you want that sound to go. You can even pull the sound from the television and distribute it anywhere around the house that you want controlling lights is equally simple everything's labeled well you've got simple on/off switches and sliders and of course Alexa can control all of this as well.

Now that our modern home is filled with equally modern technology one thing has become very clear and that's that even though smart home devices are less expensive and more available than ever before it's not the DIY project that we want it to be. All these disparate platforms need to be housed under one roof you need one system to stitch it all together and that's where savant came in for this smart home Savant presents this as one unified system.

The final word on Smart Home Technology

As we continue to see technology advance at a rapid pace, the world of smart home technology is becoming increasingly sophisticated. With companies like Savant leading the way, it's clear that the future of smart homes is bright. Whether you're looking to upgrade your current home or build a new one from the ground up, incorporating smart home technology can make all the difference in creating a comfortable and convenient living experience.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: ennow that smart-home devices are so prevalent and inexpensive it'd be easy to think that you're just one Amazon shopping cart away from building your own smart home just do it yourself right well unfortunately we're finding out that it's not really that simple in this installment of connect my crib we're gonna take a look at a modern home that was surprisingly absent much tech save some speakers in the ceiling run through the homeowners wish list of home entertainment smart devices and security devices and learn how home automation company savant got brought in to tie it all together for home entertainment the homeowners needs were pretty simple great picture and great sound the great picture part was easy premium TVs from Sony and Samsung were installed elegantly so that it was a nice clean look but for great sound the TV speakers were not going to do that's where origin acoustics came in they provided their top-of-the-line in ceiling speaker to be distributed throughout the home so not only are they handling the music in the various rooms of this home they're also handling all of the TV sound as well that takes care of the inside audio what about outside well the homeowner wanted to be able to enjoy music out by the pool and on his patio so speakers were installed in those locations and those little mushroom looking things those are actually subwoofers we've got two of them out here and believe me it is a party when those things crank up not everybody wants to use their smartphone or tablet to control their entertainment system most of us are pretty comfortable with a wand style remote like this but savants is extra special it's got a really nice feel to it this is that grippy black silicone stuff that feels really good in your hand it's got a nice weight to it it's got all of your basic control keys here for channel and volume this will control the audio system through the entire home if you want but what's really special about it is this touch screen it makes navigating to the various channels that you subscribe to extremely easy it's a bright vibrant touchscreen with logos that you're very familiar with for all your TV stations all you need to do is dial in say HD TV press the button and the TV will change channel for smart home control one of the original smart home devices is still the most popular the smart thermostat now there's a lot of these available different brands will work with the savant system but savant makes its own that integrates especially well with the savant system smart lighting was another key consideration and for this the integrators at pro tect wit with a Lutron system which integrates nicely with the savant system here we can control all of the lights in just about any way we want Lutron also happens to do smart shades so we have several shades through the house that can be addressed through the Lutron system opened and closed as needed another key consideration of this smart home see what it their key well actually lack of key would be these smart locks from quick-set these locks allow the owners to allow entry into the home without necessarily being home it also affords them keyless entry which adds to convenience garage door control is also super popular but you don't have to buy a smart garage door opener this little add-on from my cue turns any garage door opener into a smart one there's also a suite of security cameras placed about the home tied in with a larger security system provided by alarm.com and then there are video tour bells provided by door bird now if you're keeping track that's six distinct platforms not counting all of the AV gear in the a/v cabinet so how do you tie all this together so you don't have to pop into 6 or 7 different apps every time you want to do something with your smart home well that's where savant comes in and to make it all work it takes a fair bit of equipment like I said there is a lot of gear happening here and I got to hand it to the integrators that laid this out it's done very cleanly especially on the back the cable management as you can see was done expertly so when we look at all of this equipment what is it all doing well up at the top we're looking at mostly Network gear this is what provides that robust wireless and wired network that this entire system absolutely needs to run on then if we go a little bit further down we've got some of our AV gear this is a TiVo bolt 4k DVR with TiVo minis that are serving some of the other televisions in the home we also have an Apple TV which they're able to distribute to all the different televisions in the home we've got a sony 4k Ultra HD blu-ray player that's going to deliver the top video content that goes out they can distribute that to all the TVs at once or just one if you want to but you don't have to have that right next to the TV so that's handy we also have a high capacity video switcher here this is what allows that 4k Ultra HD video to be distributed throughout the home and they had to do some clever work in order to deliver the more bandwidth intensive 4k Ultra HD 60 frame per second content so they integrated that a little bit further down we've got the savant pro media servers this is what allows the system to deliver any one of three sources to ten zones within the house there's that many different spots in the house that of speakers in them so you can be playing the same thing outside as you are in the living room while something else is going on in the garage they have a lot of flexibility here and then down at the very bottom we've got a super high current amplifier to drive all of those speakers as complicated as that rack may look the savant system is anything but complicated to use just like a good stage show you never know what's going on behind the scenes because everything in front of you is so well laid out and well executed here this system is user familiar we talk about user friendly but when something's user familiar you just know how to use it if you want to play a song just pull up your favorite music service and tell the system where you want that sound to go you can even pull the sound from the television and distribute it anywhere around the house that you want controlling lights is equally simple everything's labeled well you've got simple on/off switches and sliders and of course Alexa can control all of this as well now that our modern home is filled with equally modern technology one thing has become very clear and that's that even though smart home devices are less expensive and more available than ever before it's not the DIY project that we want it to be all these disparate platforms need to be housed under one roof you need one system to stitch it all together and that's where savant came in for this smart home savant presents this as one unified system you'd never know that you got all these disparate elements and that user interface is extremely familiar if you know how to use a smart phone or a tablet you can operate this smart home that seems to be the savant difference in this case that's it for our fifth installment of connect my crib we'll be back with the sixth installment soon and until then keep it right here at digital trends and we'll see you on the next onenow that smart-home devices are so prevalent and inexpensive it'd be easy to think that you're just one Amazon shopping cart away from building your own smart home just do it yourself right well unfortunately we're finding out that it's not really that simple in this installment of connect my crib we're gonna take a look at a modern home that was surprisingly absent much tech save some speakers in the ceiling run through the homeowners wish list of home entertainment smart devices and security devices and learn how home automation company savant got brought in to tie it all together for home entertainment the homeowners needs were pretty simple great picture and great sound the great picture part was easy premium TVs from Sony and Samsung were installed elegantly so that it was a nice clean look but for great sound the TV speakers were not going to do that's where origin acoustics came in they provided their top-of-the-line in ceiling speaker to be distributed throughout the home so not only are they handling the music in the various rooms of this home they're also handling all of the TV sound as well that takes care of the inside audio what about outside well the homeowner wanted to be able to enjoy music out by the pool and on his patio so speakers were installed in those locations and those little mushroom looking things those are actually subwoofers we've got two of them out here and believe me it is a party when those things crank up not everybody wants to use their smartphone or tablet to control their entertainment system most of us are pretty comfortable with a wand style remote like this but savants is extra special it's got a really nice feel to it this is that grippy black silicone stuff that feels really good in your hand it's got a nice weight to it it's got all of your basic control keys here for channel and volume this will control the audio system through the entire home if you want but what's really special about it is this touch screen it makes navigating to the various channels that you subscribe to extremely easy it's a bright vibrant touchscreen with logos that you're very familiar with for all your TV stations all you need to do is dial in say HD TV press the button and the TV will change channel for smart home control one of the original smart home devices is still the most popular the smart thermostat now there's a lot of these available different brands will work with the savant system but savant makes its own that integrates especially well with the savant system smart lighting was another key consideration and for this the integrators at pro tect wit with a Lutron system which integrates nicely with the savant system here we can control all of the lights in just about any way we want Lutron also happens to do smart shades so we have several shades through the house that can be addressed through the Lutron system opened and closed as needed another key consideration of this smart home see what it their key well actually lack of key would be these smart locks from quick-set these locks allow the owners to allow entry into the home without necessarily being home it also affords them keyless entry which adds to convenience garage door control is also super popular but you don't have to buy a smart garage door opener this little add-on from my cue turns any garage door opener into a smart one there's also a suite of security cameras placed about the home tied in with a larger security system provided by alarm.com and then there are video tour bells provided by door bird now if you're keeping track that's six distinct platforms not counting all of the AV gear in the a/v cabinet so how do you tie all this together so you don't have to pop into 6 or 7 different apps every time you want to do something with your smart home well that's where savant comes in and to make it all work it takes a fair bit of equipment like I said there is a lot of gear happening here and I got to hand it to the integrators that laid this out it's done very cleanly especially on the back the cable management as you can see was done expertly so when we look at all of this equipment what is it all doing well up at the top we're looking at mostly Network gear this is what provides that robust wireless and wired network that this entire system absolutely needs to run on then if we go a little bit further down we've got some of our AV gear this is a TiVo bolt 4k DVR with TiVo minis that are serving some of the other televisions in the home we also have an Apple TV which they're able to distribute to all the different televisions in the home we've got a sony 4k Ultra HD blu-ray player that's going to deliver the top video content that goes out they can distribute that to all the TVs at once or just one if you want to but you don't have to have that right next to the TV so that's handy we also have a high capacity video switcher here this is what allows that 4k Ultra HD video to be distributed throughout the home and they had to do some clever work in order to deliver the more bandwidth intensive 4k Ultra HD 60 frame per second content so they integrated that a little bit further down we've got the savant pro media servers this is what allows the system to deliver any one of three sources to ten zones within the house there's that many different spots in the house that of speakers in them so you can be playing the same thing outside as you are in the living room while something else is going on in the garage they have a lot of flexibility here and then down at the very bottom we've got a super high current amplifier to drive all of those speakers as complicated as that rack may look the savant system is anything but complicated to use just like a good stage show you never know what's going on behind the scenes because everything in front of you is so well laid out and well executed here this system is user familiar we talk about user friendly but when something's user familiar you just know how to use it if you want to play a song just pull up your favorite music service and tell the system where you want that sound to go you can even pull the sound from the television and distribute it anywhere around the house that you want controlling lights is equally simple everything's labeled well you've got simple on/off switches and sliders and of course Alexa can control all of this as well now that our modern home is filled with equally modern technology one thing has become very clear and that's that even though smart home devices are less expensive and more available than ever before it's not the DIY project that we want it to be all these disparate platforms need to be housed under one roof you need one system to stitch it all together and that's where savant came in for this smart home savant presents this as one unified system you'd never know that you got all these disparate elements and that user interface is extremely familiar if you know how to use a smart phone or a tablet you can operate this smart home that seems to be the savant difference in this case that's it for our fifth installment of connect my crib we'll be back with the sixth installment soon and until then keep it right here at digital trends and we'll see you on the next one\n"