Give your home even more vibrancy with a fresh smart home entertainment setup. If you’ve been following our series to help implement smart home tech into your home, by now you would have learned how to set up a central hub, camera’s, alarms and smart locks. In part 3 of our smart home building series we are covering entertainment. Some entertainment will be accessible through your hub (like Spotify); but ultimately, there are plenty of products available that can take your smart home entertainment to new heights.
Smart TVs carry a number of identifying features, most of them enable web browsing and come with popular apps built in such as YouTube and Netflix. Some smart TVs have the capability to respond to voice command like Sony’s Android TV™.
If you don’t have a smart TV, there are a few devices that can transform your TV into a smart one. Vodafone TV™ gives you the capability to download apps to your TV from the Google Play Store and has Chomecast built in, so you can display your computer screen to your TV. Chromecast turns your television into an extension of your computer or phone screen. That means you can search the web, watch YouTube or Netflix, or even send emails all on your TV. Another device that can make your TV smarter is Apple TV which gives you access to the App Store and has the potential to be controlled with voice commands if it is set up with Siri enabled.
Smart TVs ultimately widen your pool of content by giving you access to thousands of videos, movies, and TV shows. If your smart TV is compatible with your central hub, then you will be able to control it with voice commands – or (if voice commands aren’t available on your hub) then you can control it through an app on your smartphone or tablet. In either case, you’re likely to have fewer remotes scattered around your house. If your TV isn’t compatible with your central hub, and you’re one of those people who hate remotes, then you might benefit from a product like Simple Control which eliminates the need for different remotes and gives you control through one smart app (provided your TV is among the thousands of devices that Simple Control support).
Music playing capability is one of the original features of smart home entertainment – purely because smart home hubs have always connected with your smart phone which can access your Spotify or iTunes. A simple and primary feature of smart home hubs is the ability to play music in response to a voice command. The Amazon Echo, which also functions as a smart home hub, is an entirely voice operated speaker that can connect to other smart devices or operate built-in apps. Other smart speakers that can improve your music listening experience include the Bose Home Speaker, and Apple HomePod – both have similar functionality to the Amazon Echo and give you the power to listen to music and operate other smart devices with voice commands. Smart speakers can also help you connect with your family and friends, some speakers have the capability to read texts and emails to you and send reply through voice annotation.
To finish up our discussion on smart home entertainment, here are a few unusual (but very entertaining) smart home products that will make your smart home entertainment setup really stand out.
If you feel like your seating setup doesn’t match the rest of your smart home tech, you could replace it with some smart furniture. Products like Lift-Bit combine comfortable furniture with smart home tech to let you edit and control modular furniture through your smart phone – creating different shapes and seating arrangements through the app.
If you’re a pet owner, pet cams are a new way you can stay connected with your pet from anywhere that has internet access. Pet cams can do so much more than just give you the ability to watch your pets. They can enable you to talk to your pets and toss treats through an app; some pet cam apps will even notify if your dog is barking.
Finally, some smart lighting systems give you the option to entertain your creative curiosity. Products like the Nanoleaf Arora Smart Lighting Kit lets you choose unique layouts with modular LED panels; but the fun customisation options go even further. You can use the app to choose a colour display from over 16 million colour combinations. With real time music sync you can also use some smart lighting systems to add a bit of flair to your music listening experience.