Kiwi Test Lab

One of the most important phases of a large, custom audio-visual installation is the in-house testing.  When Kiwi Audio Visual moved into its new building in Carlsbad, one of the first tasks was to get a test lab designed and wired so that future projects can be connected and tested fully.  This included testing the audio zones, video zones, touch panels, and other subsystems. 

In-house testing is instrumental in finding small bugs and other issues that might otherwise be found onsite halfway through an installation.  The efficiency with testing components and programming early also saves costly man hours later on during the project.

If you are interested in coming to the Kiwi facility and seeing our test lab, either give us a call (760-931-9922) or stop on by 1950 Kellogg Ave, Carlsbad CA 92008.

Crestron's Analog to Digital Upgrade Promotion

	Crestron's new analog to digital upgrade program is already a huge success. Simply swap out your current analog switchers and replace them with Crestron DigitalMedia™ – no new wires or terminations – and you're instantly in the digital world. Crestron is offering you up to 100% trade-in value for your analog equipment, so the cost to upgrade is practically free. It's an amazing program. Here's what your peers are saying:
	They're also expanding the trade-in program to include all analog distribution systems - even other manufacturers' products. You could receive up to 100% trade in value for your analog equipment - whether it's our PVID, QM or IM products, or any other manufacturers' products. We'll show you normal pricing and your trade-in price so you can see how much you saved. It's really a no brainer.

With Fiber, It's Not Always the Optics That Matter

Builders have the often thankless job of dealing with multiple contractors in order to ensure smooth project completion for a homeowner. For a builder, knowing everything about each trade that comes into a home is an impossibility, and one of the more complicated areas of subcontracting lies within the scope of an electronics system contractor – whose job it is to provide and install the latest technology desired by a homeowner.

New advancements in digital television and high-end sound systems have necessitated a number of changes to the way in which electronics system contractors do business, and one of the most recent and notable is the increased use of what is known as “digital media fiber.” To a technician, this cable represents a high transmission rate for information including sound and images, far greater than typically seen when using copper wiring, and often with far less latency.

For a builder, its most notable feature is that it is made of glass.

This alone can be cause for concern, but also that is due to its nature: it will break or tear easily or that it could be damaged accidentally and no longer work. Couple that with the fear that the DM fiber may not be compatible with all other systems in a household, and it’s no wonder that builders have questions about the use of this new technology.

Fortunately, digital media fiber not only stands up better to the test of time than copper and is less vulnerable to failure. But it is now being supported by some of the biggest names in the business – names like Crestron, for example.



Digital media fiber may look less robust than its copper counterpart, but provides not only better durability, but also greater functionality across the board.

Welcome to the Third Dimension

Sure, you live and work there every day, but it's not quite the same when it's not up on the big screen, jumping out, larger than life. For years, the future of the high-quality home electronics industry has focused on a 3D home experience that can rival those in theaters, and thanks to Runco and their line of 3Dimension projectors, that future is arriving.

Ask anyone what's great about 3D and they'll likely speak about realism and immersion. Ask what's not so hot and they'll mention headaches from LED glasses or the fact that the 3D images seem to stutter as they move. When it comes to 3D, options in the home haven't delivered.

This is partially due to the way current 3D technology works. Typical projectors display an image and rely almost entirely on what are known as “active” glasses to do the work of making the image 3D. These glasses require a power source, and must be in range of the projector’s transmitter to sync the frame rate of the video to the glasses. Other objects in the room, low batteries or another television can cause stuttering problems, and many users experience eye strain or headache.

Runco, a leader in projection technology, went back to the drawing board and created the 3Dimension Series. The 3Dimesnion systems use what is known as Constant Stereoscopic Video (CSV), a proprietary architecture that is based on actual eye depth perception and visualization in the real world. This allows for a streaming, seamless image that is delivered to a pair of passive glasses – allowing the projector to do most of the work.

The Runco line of 3D projectors, including the D-73d 3D Projector, also feature the largest color palette available, one that exceeds the standards of the Digital Cinema Initiative, and the Personal Color Equalizer, that allows users to precisely calibrate their color options. With awards from CEDIA, CE PRO and TechHome to name a few, the Runco 3Dimesnion line is the first to bring streaming, seamless 3D home.

Uncrossing The Wires

Being a homebuilder is no easy task. Aside from managing the concerns of a new homeowner, you have to deal with each and every one of the contractors that comes into the home. For better or worse, you're the face of the home, and that means that if something goes wrong, it is likely you that ends up with the black eye.

As a builder, you tend to be a jack of all trades. Bringing together so many different pieces of the home puzzle means that it is nearly impossible for you to be an expert in all fields, and high-quality A/V has changed significantly in the last few years. From custom speaker installations to full-home automation systems and televisions on motorized brackets that can slide away behind a picture or under a bed, the world of in-home electronics has become extremely complicated, especially when it comes to programming new pieces in a home.

Two of the best things that any Electronic Systems Contractor can do for you are to ensure that not only every piece of equipment they bring to the home is ready to go, but that they also take the time to program and test the same equipment before it ever arrives. Simply put, testing and programming before equipment leaves the shop leads to faster and more efficient installation times. Further, everything from television color and stereo sound can be tweaked, all before a homeowner ever sees it.

If you find yourself with equipment that hasn't been properly tested, you'll need to have it removed, serviced and properly re-installed. By finding a company that can set up racks, fit stereos and program components in-house before they are ever installed, both you, the builder, and the owner can save time and money, the two most valuable commodities in any home design.

At Kiwi Audio Visual, we know how important in-house testing and programming is to every new home project. For that reason, we never leave you in the lurch. Come see what we can do to make a project flow more smoothly.

Keeping The Peace

Every neighborhood has one, the guy no one talks to. Whether it starts with an unkempt yard, a house needing paint for three years or constant dog barking, this family puts bees in everyone’s bonnet without even trying.

No one intends to become that family, but circumstances intervene. Last week, having just finished a new home theatre, our homeowner tries it out with an action feature with tons of explosions and loud effects. This would be fine, except the new outside speakers remained on all evening, broadcasting every impact and detonation for the entire neighborhood, which, due to the sound proofing of the home theatre, our homeowner couldn’t hear. Next up: that visit from the local PD that no one wants.

Our homeowner shouldn’t feel too bad; it could happen to anyone. Anyone, that is, except the family that engages a reputable and capable electronic systems consultant to start the home theatre project. Our family got it mostly right. They got a great audio system (including the now infamous outside speakers), a nice, big HD flat screen, and a control system that gives them fingertip command of the entire system.

However, omissions often matter more than inclusions. In this case, a component as simple as visual indicators, showing which elements of the system remain active, would have helped our homeowner avert becoming a local pariah. An electronic systems consultant would have suggested this, among other solutions, thus enabling peace to reign uninterrupted.

Everything Works At The Touch Of A Button? Which Button?!

They had been so friendly, so knowledgeable. They had delivered everything as promised, from the big-screen TV to the stereo and integrated lighting system.

Not a cord was in sight, not a piece out of place. Technological magnificence, just waiting for someone to sit down and turn it on.

“It all works”, they said, “at the touch of a button.”

Yeah, right, but… Which button?

You’d like your technology to work as expected. But it doesn’t, always. In fact, sometimes you might just wish for simpler days when a power button was a power button, and changing the channel was as easy as…

Getting up and walking across the room and twisting a knob on the TV?? NOT!!

Especially when Kiwi AV is there to assure you can easily use and enjoy the latest home systems – automated lighting and home energy management, entertainment, home networks, security. Sophisticated systems whose technological power is revealed, not by the difficulty of using them, but through the simple joy of experiencing them.

Experience the thrill of whole house audio and video distribution. Effortlessly control which sections of your house stream your favorite albums or have the movie you are watching follow you from your living room to your bedroom, without having to miss a single frame.

Kiwi can make just about anything you want to happen, happen. Even something that really does work…

At the touch of a clearly labeled button.

Experience Kiwi. For you, we’ll fly.

To find out more about home A/V distribution, check out this article.

Crestron's DM (Digital Media) System

Crestron has long been known in the electronics industry for supplying the best in both technology and innovation; the company has never been satisfied with simply following trends. Instead, it focuses on creating them, on thinking outside the box before anyone else has ever figured out just what the box looks like. Now, Crestron has once again created a solution intended to help audio and videophiles get the most from their systems - their line of Crestron Digital Media (DM) products. Intended to work with a wide variety of input types over a large range, the DM line of switchers and input cards helps homeowners to find a unified system that streamlines all applications through one simple-to-use console. The DM concept has proven popular - Microsoft, Time Warner, and ESPN all have Crestron systems working for them, as do Rice, Midwestern, and Ohio State Universities to name a few.


The DM Advantage - Getting Specific

New technology leads to innovation, but also to a reduction in support for signals of a previous generation. Not only that, but multiple media sources will often use different inputs and outputs, leaving a homeowner struggling to find an overall solution that minimizes cabling issues. Fortunately, the Crestron DM system is designed to deliver in a big way. Take the entry-level DM-MD6X1 as an example. The MD6X1 supports RGB, HDMI, multi-format BNC video and SPDIF audio. In addition, the HDMI input comes with support for HDCP and DVI. This gives the MD6X1 the ability to take input from virtually any source in a home - computer, laptop, cable, or satellite box - and effortlessly route it where it needs to be. Speaking of routing, the system also allows for extra inputs up to 450 feet away from the source box with extra DM transmitters, giving MD6X1 systems the power to perform both in residential homes and in large business complexes with equal facility. Now you can stream multiple video and/or audio sources across several rooms in your house; all in the highest quality with no lag time or distortion.


Tying It In - Using DM with Other High-Quality Products


Crestron's technology is such that it can broadly accept inputs from a variety of audio and video sources, giving a consumer and an electronics systems contractor the ability to create a full-home theater system from the ground up. No longer will you be limited from putting in a custom-built Triad or Prodigy sound system or a wide variety of both Plasma and LCD TV inputs. Ease of use is key for Crestron technology, as evidenced in their use of QuickSwitch technology when changing between HDMI signals. In order to minimize latency and lag time between signals, QuickSwitch ensures that an HDCP connection is maintained with each device in the system, meaning that no re-authentication of a new signal is necessary, greatly reducing lag experienced by users.


Crestron continues to push the home theater edge with innovations such as their DM system, helping to drive the entire industry forward. Visit our Website for more information on Crestron products.