User Interface

Have Your Technology – And Use it, Too

How does Home Systems by Design create home automation and integrated electronic systems that really are easy to use? The answer is simple: Touch screens and fewer remote controls. We consolidate all of your remotes on to a universal remotes and iPad/smart phone apps, programmed with the features you need. You get plain-English buttons that do exactly what they say. For example, “Unlock front door” or "Start Movie."

Your Very Own Personal Butler

From anywhere in your home OR in the case of a Smart Home System, you can easily turn on music, lights, heating, air conditioning, alarm features, sprinklers, view security cameras and more all from an intuitive wall-mounted touch screen panel, smart phone, Mac or PC from anywhere in the world. Had a long day? When you get home wouldn't you like to be able to sit down, press one button and have your television turn on to your favorite channel, the lights dimmed, the temperature adjusted to the way you like it, and the Jacuzzi warmed up and ready for you? The possibilities are endless. All of these features, and more, can be tailored to match your lifestyle.

Simplify Your Life

A lot of behind-the-scenes planning and computer programming goes into the preparation of your custom remote controls and your smart home. Pushing the "Start Movie" button, for instance, actually initiates a string of commands that fire up your home theater components, deploy the screen, dim the lights, and start the movie, saving you valuable time and the aggravation of using eight different remote controls. HSBD can consolidate the operation of all of your systems – entertainment, lighting, climate control, etc. – into "master" touch screens.

Home Theater / Screening Rooms

Bring the movie theater experience home! HSBD can create the room of your dreams. Our innovative Home Theater systems can adapt to any space, whether you are building a new home, remodeling a spare room or completing an unfinished space. HSBD can custom taylor a room to meet any budget, from $5,000 to over $1,000,000. Whether you would like to simply upgrade your family room with surround sound and an Ultra HDTV or create your very own movie theater, Home Systems by Design makes it possible. With a HSBD Home Theater, you'll enjoy the authentic 'Cinematic' experience right at home without the sticky floor, $10 popcorn and cell phones ringing!
Our Home Theater systems feature personalized, custom control for simplified operation. The touch of one button gracefully dims the lights, opens the curtain to reveal the screen, sets the volume at a comfortable level and displays the crystal clear 4K picture and Dolby Atmos ™ Surround sound experience.

Easy to Use

Our Home Theater systems feature personalized, custom control for simplified operation. The touch of one button gracefully dims the lights, opens the curtain to reveal the screen, sets the volume at a comfortable level and displays the crystal clear HD video.
What we do for you:

• Work closely with your architect, interior designer, general and sub contractors to facilitate a smooth installation process and an outstanding finished product.
• Perform analysis of acoustics and sight lines to ensure great sound and picture quality at every seat.
• Design a consolidated control system that can dim the lights, close the shades, and start the movie with the push of a single button.

Having designed and installed hundreds of world-class home theaters, HSBD knows there is more to a great movie experience than opening up a "home theater in a box" and turning it on. We believe real home theater results from an artful integration of audio, video, control and room acoustic systems. These systems must meet performance levels for excellent reproduction of movies and music. Also, a well-designed home theater will create the best theater experience possible to fit your budget.

Great Home Theater Doesn’t Come in a Box

What's missing from "home theater in a box"? A lot of ideas and techniques typical retailers don't talk about because their business is selling boxes, not providing custom design and installation services. More than a collection of equipment, the HSBD theater has a foundation of sophisticated design concepts that don't come out of a box.
Unlike, "home theater in a box" HSBD tailors your home theater to the space and lifestyle you enjoy. We perform analysis of acoustics and sight lines to ensure great sound and picture quality at every seat. We select professional studio monitors or audiophile loudspeaker systems depending on room design and client preference. We then select the perfect amplifier match for those loudspeakers. We select the best surround processor for your needs and program it with personal sound field preferences.
To make sure your system is easy to use we design a control system that can dim the lights, close the shades and start the show with a single button push. After our professional crews deliver an impeccable installation we calibrate the entire system to reference standard and include personal preference tuning presets. Throughout the entire process, we work closely with your architect, interior designer, general and sub contractors to facilitate a smooth installation process and outstanding finished product.

Design

The design of the HSBD Home Theater begins with a site visit to the potential location or a careful review of your architectural drawings. While we can become involved in a project at any stage and deliver excellent results, the smoothest project management and best audiovisual results are achieved when we are brought in at the project concept stage.
Just as a house is not constructed without a blueprint, the HSBD Home Theater only takes shape after our designers and engineers create extensive installation documentation. Some of the documents we produce include: audio/video/control system block diagrams, electricians wiring diagrams and low voltage lighting control system load schedules.
We can also produce elevation views to study: projection screen aspect ratios and wall framing details, custom cabinet equipment installation and ventilation details, acoustical material application locations, surround speaker placement locations, projector headroom clearance studies and equipment rack layouts.

Acoustics

Probably the most overlooked component in a home theater is the room itself. The actual listening room will shape the sound heard in it far more than the sources, processors, amplifiers or speakers installed in that room. This is not to say that those components are not important to achieving great sound, they are, but the room can reflect, amplify, muffle or confuse potentially great sound and turn it into a muddled mess. In fact, the room can introduce amplitude variations as great as +/- 15dB from the "flat" response of high quality audio equipment.
Home theaters require an expanded sweet spot as there are typically two or more rows of seats and every audience member should hear intelligible dialog and well balanced music. We deliver an expanded sweet spot by using controlled directivity speakers and acoustical reflection control techniques.
An HSBD Home Theater uses a combination of absorptive, reflective and diffusive surfaces built in, or applied to precise wall locations. Extensive computer simulations are conducted to determine optimum acoustical product specifications and placement.
We design our rooms to provide first reflection control so that listeners are essentially in the direct field of the loudspeakers. We have found that this provides the best balance of direct, "high intelligibility" sound and diffuse "enveloping" sound. First reflections are typically 15dB – 20dB down from direct arrival sounds and arrive within a 20ms time window. Additional reflections are similarly attenuated and delayed. We calculate room dimensions to allow sound to pass behind listeners, hit the rear wall and be diffused back to the listener within a 20ms window. The result is unparalleled dialog intelligibility, a wide front soundstage and impressive surround sound field.
In addition to great dialog and music delivery, the room must be designed to provide solid but not booming bass response. Good bass response requires a room with dimension that is a half wavelength of the lowest frequency to be reproduced. For 25Hz that is about 28ft. HSBD will suggest construction techniques for sound isolation or consult on other construction questions that will have an impact on sound quality.

Lighting Automation

At Work or Play: Lighting For Any Occasion

Light interacts with everything in your home – your furnishings, your décor, your lifestyle, and you. And yet, in most homes lighting is accepted as nothing more than a solution for darkness!

Take Control

An integrated lighting system, along with motorized shades and draperies allows you to personalize your surrounding by controlling the light. Instead of merely turning on or off, lights can work together in any combination, in preset sequences, and on prearranged schedules. For example, you can arrive home from work to find your entire path – from driveway to bedroom – all lit up, you can even have a remote control located in your car to turn on and off selected lights. When you host a party, you can press one button to light the interior and the exterior in the most attractive manner. When you leave for vacation, you can press one button so lights turn on and off and shades close and open, in a pattern that suggests you are still home.

Energy Conservation

Preset scenes that contain dimmed lights will conserve power and save you money. Your bulbs will last longer which means you won't have to change them frequently.

Integrated Design

The same integration that commands the lights can also command lawn sprinklers, pool heaters, hot tubs, garage door openers, and – yes – your whole-house entertainment system. Imagine, then, that the same button that sets your lighting to “Party" mode also cues up the music. This illustrates the beauty of an integrated design approach. Once the basic low-voltage wiring is in place, we can configure your system any way you want, and make changes easily, often without even visiting your home and interrupting your schedule. Many changes can be done remotely and requested by a simple text or email.

Whole House Audio / Video

Convenient Access, Simple Operation, More Fun

Today's typically hectic lifestyles rarely allow for the simple pleasures of listening to music. Yet as a background to daily activities and entertaining or as an event unto itself, listening to music - on demand and with simple, convenient access - can be both liberating and inspirational.

HSBD believes in a “control from anywhere” approach to the design of whole-house entertainment systems. In other words, you don’t have to retreat to a special room to be entertained. We make the system an integral part of your home environment, as easy and convenient to use as a light switch. Traditional music sources - such as CD and radio or the ever expanding possibilities of streaming music - can be easily accessed and operated throughout the house.

Accessing video throughout the house is also important – whether from cable TV, satellite, Apple TV, DVD, or on-demand services. HSBD ensures that the proper infrastructure is in place for you to reap the full benefits of today's options while preparing you for future technological advances. Let Home Systems by Design customize a system just for you!

Networking

The installation of a Local Area Network (LAN) makes it possible to share resources such as printers, files and even high-speed Internet connections among all of the computers in your home. HSBD is experienced in the installation of Local Area Networks across both hardwired "Category 5-6“ cabling and wifi technologies. In this age of technology, the home computer network is becoming less of a convenience and more of a necessity.

Easy Upgrades

The speed at which we move today greatly depends on the ability to access tomorrow’s technology in your home or business. Our network designs include a future-proof infrastructure that allows for change in your environment as well as technology upgrades. Each system is designed to interface with a centralized patch panel, which allows for quick and easy changes. With pre-installed outlets in every room, it's possible to quickly move a computer or printer to another location or add one to a room that doesn't have one.