We’ve discussed the merits of Crestron home automation systems at length in the past. Crestron is the company that is practically synonymous with automation in both the residential and commercial spaces. For some smaller residential applications, Crestron solutions had the reputation of being complex to integrate, as the system had many options.

Several months ago, Crestron introduced OS 3, a redesigned automation system aimed at making a home automation system easier for a homeowner to use and for integrators like GHT Group to install. In truth, OS 3 was not radically new; it was an evolution and improvement over the Pyng system that they had introduced a few years earlier that added many modern features to Crestron automation.

It’s important to understand Crestron’s approach to home automation. They are a company that designs and tests all their own equipment and software, not merely designing equipment that is manufactured offshore. When it comes to the software, the ability to control a home remotely through the internet also means being able to do it with the utmost security and privacy.  

If you have multiple homes, like your primary residence in Brookhaven and a cabin in Blue Ridge in the Georgia mountains, Crestron OS 3 is an ideal solution for managing your homes securely. Read on to learn more. 

SEE ALSO: 5 Reasons to Automate Your Home Media with Crestron

Note: We originally wrote this popular blog post last year, before COVID-19 became part of every discussion and the stay-at-home lifestyle became mainstream. No one knows how long this pandemic or these stringent social distancing mandates will last, so it doesn’t surprise us that searches for smart home automation, lighting, integrated security systems and more have skyrocketed lately.

One of our favorite smart home systems, Control4, will elevate your at-home experience with its unparalleled convenience, seamless integration, and abundant security and entertainment features -- capabilities that you’ll appreciate both now and after this passes. Why should you work with a Control4 provider to make your time at home more pleasant? And how can you get started with a step-by-step approach, instead of building a top-to-bottom integrated home experience? Control4 offers impressive product updates year after year to make it more competitive in a crowded market. Keep reading for some of our favorite automation perks and how to bring them to your Georgia home.

Everyone has that friend who is the "tech person." They seem comfortable with technology and might be the go-to person for questions about smartphones, computers, or any device with an internet connection. We think that's great. But we have a word of advice—please don't rely on that person to put together your smart home. 

Smart homes are not simple projects. And your friend might know about some popular consumer smart home products, but chances are they don't understand the complexity of a complete, integrated smart home. To do your Vinings, GA, home the right way, you need a local smart home contractor. Let’s explore the reasons below.

Over the years, many Georgia homeowners have invested in home automation to make their lifestyles easier and their homes safer and more efficient. If you’re buying a recently built or an extensively remodeled older home, there’s a good chance the previous owner added smart technology like lighting, security, and more. 

Perhaps the smart tech in your newly purchased house is the icing on the cake that made you love it. And you were told that the system is something called Control4. You may not know what Control4 is or how to make it work for you in your new Atlanta abode. Since you're here, you're in the right place! Keep reading to learn more about Control4 home automation and what you can do to tailor it for your needs. 

When buying, building, or remodeling a new home, you'll have many decisions to make. Everything from landscaping to interior finishes to window treatments is on the table. All the decisions and options to evaluate can be exhausting. While you can't call Saul to help, you can rely on your local Control4 installer.

Smart home features are high on the list of most homebuyers today, and you likely want at least a couple of things or many. And the decisions for smart home tech can be equally overwhelming. But with a Control4 installer like GHT Group, you can have a personal expert in smart home automation that can take the stress out of the planning and work with your builder and designer to integrate the tailored system you want. Keep reading to learn what a Control4 installer can do for your new Cumming, GA home.

This blog has now been updated; you can view this updated post here.

Home automation makes controlling your home a simple affair. A touchscreen or your phone can command lights, audio, TVs, thermostats, and more to do your bidding. Sometimes, however, our hands are occupied. Sometimes our phones are recharging, or taking it out will immerse us in the thirty notifications we missed. At those times, we might just want to bark a voice command to get something done. Saying "I'm home," for example, could turn on a combination of lights in key areas and start a music playlist on your multi-room audio system. You might think that you need something like Amazon's Alexa, Google Home, or Apple's Siri to do that – but there's another option.

There’s a new voice home automation service that is going to make it even easier to control your Alpharetta-area or North Georgia home with just your voice. It makes it so easy and seamless that you may find yourself rarely reaching for a remote or your smartphone. It's called Josh.ai, and it will understand what you want to do as well as a personal butler.

You might be thinking at this point: What does Josh.ai do that I can’t do with Amazon Alexa or Google Home? Read on to learn how Josh does voice-controlled home automation differently.

Our clients love Control4 home automation for its power, flexibility, and compatibility with so many smart home features. Control4 never stands still, and they're always adding new features and functionality to the system, as well as continuously improving the performance, usability, and scalability of the system.

GHT Group – metro Atlanta's premier Control4 installer – is pleased to offer Control4 OS 3.3, available now. If you have an existing Control4 system, it's an excellent upgrade for your Milton, GA home. And if you don't, it's another great reason to step up to the convenience and luxury of Control4 smart automation. 

Keep reading below to learn about the major improvements in Control4 OS 3.3!

Welcome to the connected era where home automation has become the cornerstone of modern living in Alabama. Control4, a leader in smart home solutions, consistently sets the standard for sophisticated living with its intuitive systems. At GHT Group, we are proud to bring the latest Control4 innovations to your Birmingham home, offering personalized environments where every interaction is tailored to your lifestyle. With exciting updates like enhanced surveillance monitoring and innovative LED lighting control, there's never been a better time to embrace the convenience and elegance of Control4 automation. Join us below as we explore the cutting-edge features that keep Control4 at the forefront of smart home technology.

Have we gone off the deep end? We are now claiming that home automation can improve wellness? Bear with us; it's not as wild as it seems. First, home automation is a great convenience – and luxury – and if that alone reduces stress, that's an improvement in your wellness.

Think about it. If your home automation system can inform you that you left the garage door open because it knows you're not at home, you can close it with a tap on a screen or have it do so automatically after a few minutes. If you're on vacation and you have a video doorbell and smart security cameras, you can check in on your house at any time and be notified of any unusual activity. Peace of mind and reduced anxiety is a boon for wellness too.

But even beyond the convenience and security aspects, comprehensive smart home systems like Control4 can create a better atmosphere for wellness too. As a Control4 installer in Cumming and Metro Atlanta, we have seen (and helped create) many ways clients have used their smart home features to improve fitness, mood, and relaxation for a healthier atmosphere. Keep reading for some of the best ideas!

Aside from the continuing popularity of vinyl records, the world of audio went digital years ago. It started with the CD, moved into computers, audio players epitomized by the iconic iPod, and ultimately into internet streaming. Sound, however, is an analog wave, and in many systems, that final step of delivering sound to the speaker is still analog.

In whole-home audio systems, depending on the cabling setup, the system might have speaker wire emanating from a central point to speakers in many rooms and even outside. In those configurations, distances must be considered as the signal can degrade over very long runs. Different connections and cabling might be made to move amplifiers closer to the speakers in some of those cases.

Digital audio, when routed over wiring like standard ethernet cable, does not degrade over distance. Bits are bits, and if all the bits don't make it over to where they're going, network protocols check for that and ensure that missing bits get sent. Digital audio can be sent over any distance without affecting sound quality. That makes distributing audio digitally ideal for whole-home audio, especially in very large homes and properties.

As a longtime Crestron dealer, GHT Group has significant experience with the company’s digital audio and video distribution solutions in both the residential and commercial spaces. We’re excited that Crestron is bringing flexible IP audio distribution to your Duluth, GA home with unprecedented scalability and usability. Keep reading to learn more about the new DM NAX matrix amplifier for whole-house audio.

We’ve discussed the merits of Crestron home automation systems at length in the past. Crestron is the company that is practically synonymous with automation in both the residential and commercial spaces. For some smaller residential applications, Crestron solutions had the reputation of being complex to integrate, as the system had many options.

Several months ago, Crestron introduced OS 3, a redesigned automation system aimed at making a home automation system easier for a homeowner to use and for integrators like GHT Group to install. In truth, OS 3 was not radically new; it was an evolution and improvement over the Pyng system that they had introduced a few years earlier that added many modern features to Crestron automation.

It’s important to understand Crestron’s approach to home automation. They are a company that designs and tests all their own equipment and software, not merely designing equipment that is manufactured offshore. When it comes to the software, the ability to control a home remotely through the internet also means being able to do it with the utmost security and privacy. 

If you have multiple homes, like your primary residence in Brookhaven and a cabin in Blue Ridge in the Georgia mountains, Crestron OS 3 is an ideal solution for managing your homes securely. Read on to learn more.

Sometimes, technology adds needless complexity to life. Shouldn’t technology make our life easier? When it comes to home automation, it’s surprising how some products and solutions seem to forget that critical aspect. Sometimes you get new innovative ways of doing things, but often you have to adjust to the vagaries of the technology.

As a company that has been at the forefront of smart home automation for decades, Crestron believes technology should simplify, not complicate. With the latest iteration of Crestron Home, they continue to deliver on that premise with an intelligent platform designed to make managing a smart home as simple, intuitive, and natural as possible. As a longtime Crestron dealer in Metro Atlanta, GHT Group is excited by the evolution of Crestron Home and the ease it presents in leveraging the full power of home automation, from lighting to climate to entertainment to security and more.

With the challenges of the pandemic still with us, working and schooling from home will be a continuing reality for the better part of 2020 in many areas. Major tech companies like Google have already announced they will continue work-from-home policies into 2021. Educational institutions at all levels are also grappling with how to resume classes, and many will adopt remote approaches in the short term. 

In this environment, communicating effectively from home has become critical. Communication is not just for work and school; maintaining social contacts with family and friends is also needed to not feel isolated.

Crestron has thought about this, too. A worldwide leader in enterprise video conferencing, audio-visual, and commercial automation, the company is bringing that expertise to improve communication and collaboration from home. Of course, Crestron is also a leader in smart home automation, so it couldn’t be a more perfect fit.

Keep reading to learn more about Crestron's new HomeTime, which brings together sophisticated video conferencing, communication, and home control to your Atlanta residence.

By all accounts, the market for home automation and smart technology is growing at a rapid clip. The research firm IDC projects growth at 16.9% annually over the next few years, which means that prospective homeowners will be prioritizing smart automation features.

As trade professionals, you already know that you need to plan early for home infrastructure. But smart home technology is more than just including a basic pre-wire low-voltage cabling package. Keep reading to see how it pays to bring in a home automation company early in your process to make your Duluth, GA projects smart from the start.

You might be familiar with some of the most popular ways to make your home smart. Smart thermostats like Nest and Ecobee have been extremely popular with homeowners, and professionally installed options from Lutron and Control4 offer integration with other smart home features, remote temperature sensors, and more. Intelligent lighting is also a top feature in smart homes, offering streamlined and simplified control of a wide array of lights. 

But those aren't the only things you can manage in a smart home. In your Alys Beach home, you likely have a pool. Since it's Florida, ceiling fans are a must. And your home probably has a garage for your car. Did you know that you can include all those in a smart home system? As a professional home automation company, we use systems like Control4 that can integrate and manage a wide array of smart features in your home. Learn more below!