By Bob Gatton
More than 8,000 people attended the Electronic Home Expo (also known as EHX), in Anaheim, Calif., in November and saw exhibits from 300+ companies. While there was a great variety of home theater and media room products, I wanted to find a few products that might be of special interest to home builders:
- Worried about the safety of the children around swimming pools? SonarGuard has a system that can detect if a child enters the water. Installed during construction of the pool, this system is clever enough not to sound the alarm if leaves or pool toys fall into the water. For more information, see www.sonarguard.com.
- Da-Lite has a wall-mounted screen for front projectors that has the JBL center, front left and front right speakers built into the frame. Da-Lite includes the subwoofer and rear surround speakers with the screen. And all of the different Da-Lite screen materials are available with the speaker option. Check out www.DaLite.com.
- Outdoor living is becoming more popular, and consumers are demanding more amenities on the deck or patio. They are asking for outdoor kitchens, fireplaces and speakers. But what if you want to watch a show or a game outside? That usually involved lugging a set and the cable outside for the show and then carrying it back afterwards. And if it is bright outside, often the picture was unwatchable. But now SunBrite has introduced two fully weatherproof outdoor televisions. These LCD televisions are roughly twice as bright as a conventional set and can be left outdoors 365 days a year. They even have a heater and a thermostat built into the set for when the temperature falls below freezing. For more information, see www.sunbritetv.com
and be sure to watch the HGTV video clip.
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