VSYS Blog

It is 7 am, the lights in your bedroom slowly turn on, the Lutron QED shades open letting in natural light and your favorite music begins to play over your Totem Tribe Series speakers.
You get up and walk into the bathroom, the lights turn on, the shower begins and the towel warmer turns on. After your shower you go to a Crestron touchpanel and check your stocks, traffic alerts or consult the weather channel to decide what to wear. In the nook as you are having breakfast you go to your Crestron touchpanel and catch the morning news, you hear your dog Woofy outside barking, from any of your Crestron touchpanel you can select security and now you can scan through your surveillance cameras.
You take off to work and as you are driving out the driveway you reach up to your HomeWorks car visor control and press Away , your house goes into Away mode: All lights turn off, selected power outlets turn off, your Climate control goes into a setback mode and your Alarm is activated!
While you are away the afternoon sun is beating on your windows, hardwood floor, leather furniture, and most important your art work. Your Intelligent home closes your shades therefore avoiding damage to your belongings.
When the home senses rain, the windows and sky lights close to avoid any damage, the irrigation controls gets interrupted to save water.
While at work you receive an email, it’s from your home, the garbage man attempted to use his gate code on the front door, a picture of the garbage man with a time stamp is attached to the email. Open an internet browser and log into your home, view the cameras, check your lights, and climate control for peace of Mind.
When you arrive in the evening you reach up to your car visor and press Home, a path of lighting welcomes you to the home, your garage opens, your favorite music begins to play and your climate control is back to comfort. All this was accomplished with a push of a button.
As you walk around your premises motion sensors activate lighting but if you would like to choose a special scenes or would like to listen to music you reach into your pocket and take out your I phone, push an Icon and presto you have full access to your control system. Multiple remotes are a thing of the past; any Smart phone can be used to talk to your home
Goodnight – As you enter your bedroom you simply press the “Goodnight” button and while your bedroom lights remain on as you prepare for bed, the house has automatically begun to shut down ready for your peaceful sleep or for you to read in bed.
You no longer have to check the lights around the house to make sure everything has been turned off. Your intelligent home has taken care of things for you.
Panic Button – When you hear a “Bump in the night” you immediately press the Panic Button located on either side of your bed and your Intelligent Home automatically turns on external lights and selected lighting in your home, turn on your TV and select security now you can view your entire exterior without leaving the safety of your bedroom.
We are VinoSystems and We Connect physical to Digital

Last September VinoSystems Ventured into Denver Colorado for CEDIA, Where we got a look into the future of intelligent homes. There were a countless number of companies showing of there new cutting edge technology that was currently out for use. When VinoSystems arrived upon the Crestron booth we got a chance to talk to the innovators behind their products. Crestron always has the best of the best and always the most cutting edge of technology, so seeing their new stuff is always very exciting. After about an hour of talking tech with the creators we came upon a new product that we were told may never even be released, just an idea in the works. The Crestron TPMC-3X was shown to us as a concept remote back in September, but here in July Crestron has released their mythical unicorn of controllers. The Crestron TPMC-3X is a Handheld WiFi Touchpanel which is the best remote control available for home theater and AV presentation, it is very ergonomic and customizable. It is very sleek, eye catching, easy to hold, containing large tactile push buttons that are backlit. The CRESTRON TPMC-3X provides true feedback of all your settings, and displaying metadata information for all your digital media. Whether watching TV, choosing a movie or music title, adjusting room temperature and lighting, checking the security system, or even monitoring live video right on the built-in touchscreen, the TPMC-3X affords a user experience like no other handheld remote. The TPMC-3X has 50’ wireless coverage, providing exceptional freedom of movement without line-of-sight— or even having to be in the same room! And, the TPMC-3X even supports roaming amongst multiple access points for extended coverage. The TPMC-3X has been designed to wake instantly at the press of a button, touch of the touchscreen, or by simply tilting the remote upright. Button presses are sent immediately, just like an IR remote but with none of IR’s limitations. The instant waking feature provides the TPMC-3X with the ability to be put to sleep within seconds of putting it down, helping to extend its battery life for several days of typical usage on a single charge. Did I mention this super sleek remote has wireless streaming video? Its built-in streaming video player makes it possible to monitor a security camera, or preview a DVD or television channel, right on the touchscreen display. Also customized WAV files can be loaded on the TPMC-3X to add dimension to its touchscreen graphics using personalized sounds, button feedback, and voice prompts. The TPMC-3X makes an elegant statement in any room, especially when placed on its stylish docking station (model TPMC-3X-DS, included). When docked, the TPMC-3X which was sent from the future back through time to destroy John Connor and mankind….Just kidding, but seriously, the touchpanel sits at-the-ready, able to be used as a stationary tabletop controller while charging. An optional wall mount docking station is also available (model TPMC-3X-DSW, sold separately). If there is one remote to controll them all, then the TPMC-3X is it. Look for it at your nearest Crestron dealer.

Touchscreens and keypads to manage an AMX automation system are everywhere, along with 50 motorized shades, 30 listening zones and 13 flat-panel TVs.
May 29, 2009 | by Lisa Montgomery, Origanl post @ Electronic House Magazine.
When you live in a high-rise, space can be tight. To give themselves more elbow room, the owners of this 17th-story residence bought three apartments and had the walls removed to create a 10,000-square-foot living space.

During the renovation, the homeowners decided it would be worthwhile to put in some electronic systems—not just a basic security system and entertainment setup—but a sophisticated design that would automate everything from the window blinds and lights to the door locks and even the toe heaters in the bathroom.
Read Full Article

33 Cups of coffee ago. I started working on a new GUI for our touch panels. Code name “New GUI.”
Armed with a white board and a arsenal of erasable markers I started to design the new interface that would later be named “Carbonite.” I started making sketches of how I wanted my D-pad to look. Post-it’s(can you even pluralize Post-its?) lined my desk and walls, full of notes and dimensions. At one point I realized one of my designs looked like Iron man’s arc reactor so I scrapped that idea. I came up with about 10 designs and shortly after finishing each I realized that I didn’t like any of them. So I grabbed another cup of coffee and continued sketching ideas. Everything started to fall in to place. i finally reached a point where i need to make an iPod interface. David started to make each piece come to life in photoshop, with me looking over his shoulder and complaining how that’s not the exact shade of blue I wanted. Well he put up with me and we started piecing together every page. We finished it and decided that it needed a name, Apparently “New GUI” wasn’t as creative as I thought it was. I picked the name Carbonite and we “voted” on what it should be called. It should be stated that by voted I mean that everyone Else’s opinions where not even considered. We have implemented our new gui at Energy plus‘ napa store. Please go check it out.
-Edit- 35 Cups of coffee now.

Back in January when VinoSystems went to CES in Las Vegas we just happened upon this random room in the Venetian hotel. We took a chance after a long day of talking to companies about their products and why theirs were better than the other guys, so at this point we were pretty much done. But luckily when we stumbled into this room we found ourselves in front of a very amazing speaker company known in the world as TOTEM ACOUSTIC. As soon as we walked in there was the usual demonstration, different types of music playing so we could here the range of sound that was produced by their products. Overall we were very impressed, but what really caught my attention was their TRIBE series In-Wall/In Ceiling Speakers. The all-enclosed, meticulously crafted and astonishing sounding Tribe In-Wall/In-Ceiling brings Totem’s legendary imaging, off-axis performance and full-range sound to a brilliant compact, vibrant and dynamic series of speakers. Delivering the highest caliber compact speaker performance for over 20 years, TOTEM presents the ultimate series of In-Wall/In-Ceiling products. Designed to engulf and immerse the listener in a totally realistic and believable 3D sonic experience, the Tribe In-Wall/In-Ceiling redefine exactness, speed and musicality. For easy use under any conditions, they perform with astonishing presence, no matter the size of your space.
I can’t wait to bring these speakers into the North Bay. As a Automation Specialist/Systems Integrator I know that I will be spreading the word about this product line. So watch out Bay Area here comes TOTEM ACOUSTIC!!!