Now that HDMI Licensing LLC has finalized the 1.4 spec, installers and consumers are still wondering how the update will affect their businesses and current and future equipment purchases.

At least one industry veteran sees potential trouble ahead for integrators. Transparent Audio’s Josh Clark believes the specification could be trouble for installers and their clients as they see how the new update affects their current systems and future system plans.

Clark says installers shouldn’t put too much emphasis on the new spec because Transparent’s existing products, for example, already meet much of the criteria that’s been created for HDMI 1.4.

"The good news is that we already have an HDMI 1.4-compliant product line, at least in terms of handling all of the new high-resolution video formats included in the HDMI 1.4 specification, " he says.

"This means a customer with a Transparent HDMI cable from five years ago already has a cable that will support upcoming video formats like 4Kx2K and 3D video. We have always insisted on ‘over building’ our HDMI products so they would have sufficient bandwidth and timing accuracy [low skew] to handle future formats.

"This no-compromise approach has already paid off for our customers who are now watching 1080p video on their original Transparent HDMI cables and it will pay off again when they can watch 4Kx2K video and 3D video on those same cables."

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“Pat warned my kids that if they didn’t turn off their Xbox when they were finished, it would burn out,” says Janet Crown, the owner of a recently renovated 12,000-square-foot home in Los Angeles, Calif.

That’s Pat as in Patrick Calderone, who is the owner of Audio Video Experience (AVX), the custom electronics design and installation firm hired by Crown to rig her place with a variety of family-friendly electronic systems.

As the audio/video expert on the two-year project, his advice was taken seriously by Crown’s three grade-schoolers.

“If they’d remember to turn off the lights even one-tenth of the time that they remember to shut off their video games, we would be the most electrically efficient house in town,” she laments.

Parental Control
It would take more than conscientious use of the Xbox for Crown to feel completely at ease with the impact of technology on her kids. Her goal was to install a user-friendly, reasonably indestructible audio/video system that was simple to operate and that would network the TVs, video games and computers.

“I wanted this house to be a place where my kids could be kids, and not live in fear of breaking something if they touched it,” she says. “I also wanted to be able to monitor what they were watching, listening to or Googling.”

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Where exactly did the month go? While we were bragging about how super-organized we were this holiday season, December seemed to fly right before our eyes. Now the pressure is on to beat Santa to the punch for the perfect Christmas gifts.

There are oodles of gift lists out there. We have our favorites, as well as our favorite bargains. This year we think money is an object, so we’ve compiled some of the biggest bangs for your buck, which will also score you some extra time under the mistletoe.

We’ve got fun, functional and WTF gifts on our list. If one isn’t the perfect selection, we’ve got 19 others that should be able to perform a quickie Christmas miracle.

We put a lot of thought into each one - so you won’t have to. So get your shopping list and check it twice against ours.

Cinemin Swivel Pico Projector
The name Cinemin may sound sugary, but it’s this pint-sized projector that we’re pretty sweet on. Using DLP projection technology, this device allows you to bust a big-screen move right out of your pocket. Connect an iPod, iPhone, video game console, digital camera and other A/V goodies to get two hours of 60-inch images, with a 480 x 320 resolution.

Powermat Wireless Charger
Our iPods, phones and other portables never seem to be juiced when we need them. Instead of scrounging for cords or suffering without, just throw them down on this mat. Think you can handle that? Just one thing: You’ll need a dedicated receiver for each device you want to charge.

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I remember being really scared seeing Gremlins in the theater. Of course, I was only 10, but man, when the evil Gremlin started wielding a chainsaw that was my cue to run out to the concession area.

There were plenty of campy movies to come out of the 80s, but Gremlins was good enough to be scary, entertaining and overall a pretty decent flick. So it should be interesting to see how well it holds up 25 years later, when we can watch it in high-definition as one of this week’s top Blu-ray releases.

If it’s starpower you’re looking for, Tom Hanks and Ben Stiller find their way onto more Blu-rays with this week’s release of The Green Mile and Night at The Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, respectively. Or you can catch Brad Pitt and try to figure out what the heck he’s saying through his thick accent in Snatch.

Here are our picks for Top 10 Blu-ray Releases of the Week.

Gremlins
A wholesome, picture-postcard town is turned upside-down at Christmas, when “gremlins” - some impish little creatures - are accidentally unleashed. Please do not add water. The moral is don’t wait for the last minute to buy your Christmas gifts.

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
This is a sequel to the hit film Night at the Museum. Night guard Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) returns to the Museum of Natural History to visit his friends — exhibits that come to life at night. The exhibits, however, are being shipped off to be put in storage at the Smithsonian Institution.

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When you think of custom home theaters, special illusions usually don’t come to mind, says Rob Roessler of Illinois-based Audio Video Concepts. He was happy his team could add a little slight-of-hand for the homeowners and guests.

On top of the usual theater “magic”—like everything working properly, easily and blowing away the viewers with outstanding performance—this room features a slickly designed screenwall in which the 110-inch Stewart screen appears to be floating.

“The homeowners wanted a room that was easy for their family to operate and had a ‘wow’ factor while entertaining,” says Roessler. “Ease of operation was taken care of by a Crestron 8.4-inch touchpanel that controls all aspects of the room including equipment and lighting. With the panel anyone in the family can press one button and bring the room to life.

“The ‘wow’ factor was addressed with a little AVC magic,” he continues. “Acoustic panels were separated from the screen instead of installing them tight to the screen frame. In addition, the panels were moved out away from the screenwall, which created a shadow box effect. The screen was then mounted with lighting added behind the acoustic panels to create the illusion of a floating screen.”

Even with the additional accent lighting there, Roessler says there are no worries about any compromise from the Runco projector’s images, because the lights are on the same plane as the screen, as opposed to the lights being placed behind or in front of it.

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Sony, Crestron, SpeakerCraft, Mitsubishi, Toshiba, JVC, Lutron … those and other top brands have been covered fairly extensively since CEDIA Expo 2009, where they all announced important new products.

But there were some gems on the show floor that integrators might have overlooked as they ogled the haptic remote from URC or the 3D images on multiple TVs.

We like to think we put Just Add Power on the map. They have a product that enables HDMI distribution over an IP network.

Here are some hidden gems from the show.

Philips Pronto In-Wall Touchscreen
Philips Pronto is one step closer to becoming a home control system. Already, their touchscreen remotes and hubs can operate a full range of automation subsystems – the company now has 140+ two-way drivers—but Philips was always missing an in-wall display.

$100 IP Speakers
Atlantic Technology was so busy promoting its new H-PAS technology, that the company’s new $100 IP-enabled in-ceiling speakers were barely noticed.

The 6 ½-inch speaker is “the real deal,” says Atlantic’s Steve Feinstein. “Everyone else’s sound so lousy.”

Unfortunately, the IP part of the speakers is only compatible with multiroom audio systems from NetStreams.

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Considering this installation was dubbed the “Rose Valley Project” for the beautiful area in Washington state where custom electronics pro Charisma Productions worked on it, we’d say everything’s coming up roses.

For one thing, it features state-of-the-art CinemaScope widescreen video from a combination of JVC Professional DLA-RS2U projector, Stewart Filmscreen CineCurve Firehawk screen (110 inches) and Panamorph anamorphic motorized lens sled system.

That gets the full no-black-bars viewing for superwide 2.35:1 content shown on the Sony Blu-ray player, and one touch of the RTI T3-V touchscreen remote can accommodate the more traditional 16:9 and 4:3 aspect ratio content for optimum viewing of DISH Network programming. It accommodates these multiple aspect ratios by using an external RSVP1 THX-Certified Scaler by JVC Pro, according to Charisma’s Johann Peters.

The room is amplified by a Marantz 8002 AV Receiver, and the speaker system is a 7.1 Klipsch Reference system using RB-81 for the fronts LR’s and a Klipsch RC-64 Center for dialog with a dual 12-Inch Klipsch RW-12D Subs for the bottom-end, says Peters. The rear in-ceiling surrounds are the Klipsch R-5650-S in-wall surround sound speaker.

For convenient control in the room, the RTI T3-V touchscreen remote with a RF RTI’s RP-6 and RP-1 Remote Control Processor are put to use. “The light control is by Lutron, using the spacer system which performs 6-zone lighting and provides four separate scenes. Drape control system is performed by Makita for closing the drapes in the three windows,” Peters notes.

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Since the first issue of Electronic House back in the early 1980s, we’ve harped on the importance of prewiring. With the right low-voltage wiring in all the right places, your home will be ready for any cool electronics or home systems you want installed—now or in the future. It’s always good to be prepared, right?

How Much Does It Cost? Prewiring a home for a 6-zone music system costs between $700 and $1,000. Prices go up from there, depending on the number of systems you want: lighting, security, home theater, motorized shades, data, phones and home automation.

How Long Does It Take to Install? A basic distributed music system takes just a day or two to prewire; prepare for up to several weeks if you want other systems.

Here are seven areas not to overlook prewiring.

The Garage
Mentioned by several CE pros, the garage is well poised to become the central nerve center of your home. As a primary entry point into the home, activities that occur within it can trigger a chain of events that will get your house ready for your arrival.

Hallways & Closets
Hallways and closets may seem like the last place you need technology, but prewiring those spaces for occupancy sensors can be extremely helpful to households that want to save energy, says Scott Fuelling of Phoenix Unequaled Home Entertainment in Memphis, Tenn.

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Sometimes it’s hard to watch golf on TV. It’s long, there are tons of commercials, and way too many people shouting, “Get in the hole!” When it comes to watching golf inside David Larkins’ home theater, well … we are pretty mesmerized.

He might not be the best installer or the best golfer (although a 14 handicap doesn’t exactly make him a slouch either), but when he combined the two, David produced quite a unique room. “Golf, movies and music have been hobbies of mine for many years, so I wanted to build a media room that embodied my passion for these things,” he says.

David came up with the concept for his golf-themed theater, but he didn’t ace the work all by himself. A contractor friend came in to do the framing, drywall and a bit of plumbing. However, David took over for the electrical, painting ("multiple times") and the rest of the job. “I guess you could say that I’m not a DIY purist, but I have enjoyed doing the things that were within my skill set, as well as learning a few new skills,” he says.

Some of those new skills were put to the test when it came to designing and building the equipment racks, as well as the risers, the ticket booth, subwoofer and stands for the speakers. “I’ve also saved a little money along the way by doing that.”

Another way David saved some money: He took his sweet time. In 2001, he jumped at the chance of a free CRT projector. That freebie was the tipping point for the project. “I immediately began to work on plans to build a theater/media room around it in the unfinished basement,” he says. Work began shortly after, in early 2002.

Halfway through the year, the project was 95 percent complete. However, there were plenty of pieces that David just didn’t like. “The next three years saw a very gradual evolution to what the room is today, with the little nuances like the lighted poster frame, the subwoofer, the equipment rack, and the ticket booth.”

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It seems that every TV or settop box manufacturer is now supporting Netflix for their CE products. Enter the Netflix menu and you can review and select titles in your Watch Instantly queue – from the convenience of your couch.

But the Netflix experience is different across all of the different products. Which is the best?

I’ve been lucky enough to incorporate into my home theater several different devices with Netflix Watch Instantly support: TivoHD, Roku Player, Samsung BD-P2550 Blu-ray Player and Windows Vista Media Center plug-in.

How do they stack up?

TivoHD
The TivoHD has always been the most used source device in my theater.

When Netflix support originally appeared on my TivoHD, I was excited by the promise of a new content avenue. But I was instantly let down by the lack of interesting content. Luckily, over the last several months, partnerships with Stars, CBS, Disney, and other studios have expanded the available content.

The TivoHD implementation of Netflix feels very much at home on the device.

Menus retain the standard Tivo format, fonts, and overall feel, with Netflix branding only going as far as the logo and color scheme. Netflix on the Tivo feels like an extension of the Tivo service, not a separate application that happens to be added on to the Tivo hardware.

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