PETES BLOG AND ELECTRIC TECHNOLOGY ARTICLES

I Want My Custom Home Theater To Do Everything!

A Series on Home A/V

By Nick Brigulio

Custom Home Theater can be tricky.  What kind of TV do I want?  Do I even want a TV or would a High Definition projector be better for my theater?  What kind of DVD player or receiver.  Do I need an amp?  What is the difference between an amp and a receiver?  This is just the beginning of what starts to swirl through my head as I think of all the different ways to accomplish my goal.  The most ultimate home theater on the block!  A place to watch Monday night football with the boys.  Or watch a race and hear the roar of NASCAR on my surround sound.  I want a place where my wife can curl up in a blanket with just me and a bag of popcorn to watch her favorite documentary.  Or have all her friends over for one of her Desperate Housewives get-togethers.  I dream of a theater that will shock and awe while it entertains my friends and family in the comfort of my home.  Slap a PS3 or XBOX 360 in the mix and it’s the ultimate gaming experience.  Not to mention the internet, Facebook, YouTube and Hulu all at my fingertips.  There are just so many possibilities.  A great home theater room can be an experience on many levels, if it’s done right.  So, how do you do it right?  As I mentioned at the beginning of this article there is a plethora of equipment that can be bought.  Not to mention the décor.  Lighting and furniture can also be a big influence on the experience. More »

Posted on October 26th, 2010 in: Audio / Video, Residential, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

The Hazards of Aluminum Wiring

The Hazards of Aluminum Wiring

During the mid 60’s to early 70’s (65-73) approximately 1.5 million houses in the United States were wired with aluminum rather than copper.  This was done because of a price spike in copper during the mid 60’s.  This wiring has been linked to many fires because of faulty aluminum wires since that time.  According to studies conducted by the National Fire Protection Association, houses wired with aluminum are 55 times more likely to have a connection that reach a fire hazard.  We see quite a bit of aluminum wiring in Montana and in a recent visit to an aluminum wired house saw multiple burned  outlets caused by bad aluminum connections. This prompted us to write this article to educate our customers on the risks involved with aluminum wiring. More »

Posted on July 1st, 2010 in: Commercial, Residential | 2 Comments »

Why upgrade to HDMI 1.4?

Why upgrade to HDMI 1.4?

HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) has been touted as the best development to happen to Audio/Video products.  HDMI cables ability to carry high definition video and audio through one cable results in ease of connections and more simplicity to your audio/video system.  Since HDMI has been released in December 2002, there has been 6 different versions of HDMI released.  These different versions often times confuse clients that are looking for a new television or a Blu-ray player.  Here is the important thing to note about HDMI.  All of the different versions essentially mean an upgrade of the last generations feature set and allow the new HDMI version to be compliant with a new feature or increasing functionality.  As an example when HDMI 1.3 was released in 2006, one of the upgrades was that it supported new HD lossless audio formats.  Dolby and DTS had came out with digital audio formats (Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio) which provided better audio quality and there certainly was a benefit to these new formats.  More »

Posted on June 21st, 2010 in: Audio / Video | No Comments »