Smart Home Blog

Yamaha offers possibility to control its Network multi-zone A/V Receivers for iPhone/iPod Touch owners directly from their devices. Using free Yamaha App consumers do following for specified zone: control power, volume or select desire input. Communication between iPhone and receiver is done via WiFi. So, be sure that you have access point in your house.

The following is a list of compatible Yamaha Home Theater Network A/V Receivers that will work with this App:

• RX-V2065 – 7.2 ch Home theater receiver
• RX-V3900 – High Performance Home theater receiver
• RX-Z7 – Flagship Home theater receiver.

Yamaha App can be downloaded from App Store free of charge. But by some reason it’s available for US and Canada only. Sounds very strange for me.

If you want to save a space in TV area you might be interested to see a new NAD DVD player with integrated receiver. The NAD L54 combines a high-quality integrated stereo (playback CD, AM/FM tuner and two-channel 50-watt amplifier) with superior DVD and DivX playback. The NAD L54 features Component, Composite, and S-Video outputs and includes two digital inputs (one optical, one coaxial) to connect additional sources and optical digital output. It also has SRS 3D circuitry that emulates surround sound using only a pair of loudspeakers. All L54 features are easily accessed with the supplied learning remote, which can also operate almost any other IR remote controlled device.

The NAD L54 DVD/Receiver is already on sale with the price $699.00.

[via CePro]

Recently Yamaha announced features of coming RX-V3800 (140-watt x 7) and RX-V1800 (130-watt x 7). Both upport lossless Dolby Digital TrueHD / DTS-HD and feature Yamaha’s Cinema DSP processing engine, video upscaling to 1080p, HDMI 1.3a, and an Ethernet(!) connection. Ethernet is going to be used to access internet radio stations, music files stored on a PC, and the company’s MusicCAST audio system server. I suppose that it’ll be possible to control the receiver via Ethernet as well. So, TCP/IP-based smarthome system will have a good opportunity to support them.

RX-V1800 and RX-V3800 will be available soon with price $1,299.95 and $1,699.95 respectively.

[via Engadget]

Recently Integra has introduced the its new DTR-7.8 THX Ultra2 Certified A/V receiver. The 7.1-channel home theater receiver features HDMI v.1.3a compatible switching, onboard decoding for the latest lossless and HD audio formats, and an extensive suite of multizone/multisource and system integration control features. For integration with home control systems the DTR-7.8 includes an Ethernet port, bi-directional RS-232, RIHD (Remote Interactive over HDMI) system control integration over HDMI, three programmable 12-volt triggers, dual IR inputs, and three unique assignable IR code sets. Thanks to Ethernet port the receiver can be easily controlled from Network-based control systems such as E-Control and AMX Device Discovery. And this is a really good feature!

The DTR-7.8 features three HDMI inputs and one output. So, it seems suit for a complete high-end home theater installation. It is fully compatible with HDMI v. 1.3a, including 1080p and Deep Color™ 36-bit video signals. It also features onboard decoding for the Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD and DTS Master Audio lossless audio formats specified for HD-DVD and Blu-Ray disc formats. It includes superior quality Burr Brown audio DAC’s for all channels, and a trio of 32-bit DSPs for all processing.

The Integra DTR-7.8 is now available from Integra dealers with a suggested retail price of $1300.00.

[via CePro]

Here is a brief how to which can help you to add the Marantz SR5600 Digital Surround Receiver into your Plutohome installation. The receiver has RS232 conector and offers two way communication. This means if you press a button on the SR5600 or its remote you’ll able to see its changed status on Pluto Orbuter.

The interface is built using GSD functionality (GSD – Generic Serial Device, uses embedded Ruby to implement commands and handle responses). Thanks to Tinia who discovered and described all receiver commands and posted a clear algorithm to add and use SR5600.