So you want a 4K television. You are not alone. It’s all anyone can talk about on social media. The terms 4K, HDR and UHD are everywhere. At four times the pixels of 1080p, about 8 million pixels, the picture is incredible! Consumers love the latest technology and want 4K televisions in their homes. But before anyone runs out and makes an investment in a 4K TV, here is what you really need to know to make an educated purchase:

Is it Really 4K?

The packaging and store display may say it’s a 4K TV, but is it REALLY? Does it support 4:4:4 color where every pixel in the television gets color info? Read the specs on the television carefully. Unless you can confirm that this is a real 4K TV, you shouldn’t move forward with your purchase.

Does it Have HDR?

HDR is the biggest change to come to television in the last 10 years. HDR aka High Dynamic Range takes the brightness and contrast controls to a radically new level of performance, this provides much greater detail and shading than ever before possible. To purchase a new TV that doesn’t support HDR would be a waste of money. Read the 4K TV specs carefully and look for HDR or High Dynamic Range. If it’s not listed, move on to the next TV!

In the AV industry, you’ll see technology terms and phrases being thrown around from credible, and even non-credible sources. Sure, you’ve seen them, but do you really understand what these phrases mean and how they could impact your next installation project? Do you know what HDR stands for and why it’s different than 4K? Or why 4K is called 4K? Metra Home Theater Group believes knowledge in power, so we’ve defined five AV industry tech terms we feel every home technology professional, custom integrator and installer needs to know.

Top 5 Trending AV Technology Words You Need to Know:

HDCP 2.2

This references the Intel chipset designed to protect copyrighted digital content from being stolen. This is an upgrade from HDCP 2.0, and is not backwards compatible. You may not be able to have a firmware upgrade to HDCP 2.2. In addition, if your signal path had the HDCP 2.2 chipset anywhere in the line, all devices must have this latest technology for it to work. That includes your soundbar or receiver. They may have HDMI® 2.0 but that doesn’t mean they have HDCP 2.2.

What this means to you: Every step in the HDMI (4K) chain must support this new HDCP protocol. It also means (at least in the short run), that there will be some compatibility issues between devices. Fortunately, most of these will be resolved with firmware updates in your devices. If you or your customer are investing in a 4K TV, make sure it has HDCP 2.2 so it is as “future proof” as possible.

Video surveillance systems have become an affordable and effective way for homeowners and small business owners to securely monitor their properties. With the influx of hundreds (if not thousands) of different types of surveillance cameras into the marketplace, how do you know which camera will work best for your needs? Metra Home Theater Group has listed the most important questions to help you choose the best security camera for your home or business surveillance system.

Security surveillance cameras have grown in popularity for both small business and residential use. Owners can easily monitor their properties 24/7 with peace of mind — and without spending a fortune. They seek professional installers to help plan camera placements, install equipment, and setup a turn-key surveillance system with video feeds. As surveillance systems become more widespread, installers will see this area of home technology as a growing and viable revenue stream.

Metra Home Theater Group’s line of Spyclops surveillance systems offers a variety of styles, features and easy to use technology — making them a favorite among installers and home tech professionals. In addition to a great product, we continually win awards for our top notch technical support and customer service. Our tech team is comprised of top CIs who answer questions immediately. This means you’ll talk to a real person with real field experience in custom integration and home technology. In an effort to educate installers and help with future troubleshooting, we’re featuring the three most common questions and answers regarding Spyclops surveillance systems:

Question 1: Why is my remote viewing app not working? It goes on and off line.

Your feed will work 100% of the time if:

The internet connection to the DVR is running uninterrupted and at high speed, and you have internet of 4G or higher on the mobile device. Keep in mind that video feeds require a lot of bandwidth — if you are attempting to view your feed remotely from a mobile device, make sure you have full reception or are connected to high speed internet. If reception isn’t great, then the video feed may go on and offline. Closing other open apps on your phone that are also using internet will help dedicate your available bandwidth to the video feed (yes — that means you should close your facebook app and stop streaming music). Try this and see if the feed is back online.

The increasing demand for smart home automation, surveillance and technology requires running more wires. Whether it’s an existing home or a new home construction, running more wires is a huge undertaking. The former CIs in Metra Home Theater Group’s Research and Development department anticipate a shift to a more complicated installation process, with more wires requiring more ports. As the future of installation projects becomes more difficult, we will be ready with time saving solutions for home technology professionals, customer integrators and installers. Taking what we’ve learned on the job from real projects requiring more ports, we’ve developed a simple solution: the Decora Style Multi Port (CS-PCDEC08).

The Challenge:

The more wire you have, the more ports you need. Custom wall plates with more than 6 ports are hard to find. Organizing and hiding all the wires can become a real challenge. Applying drywall to cover large holes made for the wires requires additional costs and even more time. When a customer is in a rush to move in or finish a project, extra time for drywall may not even be an option.

The Solution:

Our CS-PCDECO8 is an 8 port decora insert panel made out of durable heavy gauge steel and powder coated. Metra Home Theater Group is one of the few (if not the only) providers of an 8 port panel plate, and we’ve designed this larger plate to cover existing holes.

This photo is from a job where the new home had wire run that needed to be organized before the customers moved in. The after photo shows the 8 port panel in place.