This year's lightning season has kept us busy the last month or so and has caused the most equipment damage of any season so far. The main victims have been audio amplifiers tied to landscape speakers.

Landscape speakers generally survive nearby strikes, but the surge travels along the speaker cable to the amplifier and causes damage to at least the amp, but often to other equipment as well. Fortunately we have found a new surge suppressor from Total Protection Solutions designed specifically for this problem and would suggest anyone with landscape speakers add these. At about $200 plus installation per pair of speakers, they are not inexpensive, but should help prevent down time during the months when you want to use your outdoor speakers.

Other common victims are cable TV receivers, automatic gates, pool controllers, and landscape lighting systems. Generally we design in protection for these if they are part of a system, so we don't have a lot of problems. Occasionally we will replace surge suppressors that fail due to a surge, but these suppressors are designed to fail when protecting your other equipment from particularly bad surges.
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Before I get into my beef with Windows Mobile 6, some history is in order. I was a Palm user for many years before going to WM6. My first combined mobile phone PDA was a Treo using the Palm OS. When the Treo went to WM6, I migrated. The Treo was a horrible device due to its small screen, poor performance, and most importantly, lousy radio.

A year ago I switched to a Samsung SCH-i760. For a short time I liked this device as a substantial improvement over the Treo, but it has plenty of problems of its own. Over time I realized that the primary problem with this device is WM6. The device itself suffers from a lack of processing power and memory (or WM6 is just a hog?), and the placement of buttons is not well thought-out. I can't tell you how many times I have actually hung up a call accidentally.

WM6 actually works about as well as any Windows product, but it has major usability problems that kill productivity.
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The long awaited Crestron touchpanel app for the iPhone and iTouch is now available on the iTunes App Store. You can find it in the Lifestyle section, called Crestron Mobile.

This new app turns your iPhone or iTouch into a touchpanel capable of controlling your Crestron automation system.

As with all Crestron touchpanel products, this new app is just the container. You will need your touchpanel programmer to develop functionality customized to your system.

Crestron has the full article.

HDMI has been with us for a few years, but as a video connection standard it is only just becoming practical for use in distributed video systems. It has been possible for a while, but the complexity and limitations in HDCP (Hollywood-imposed copy protection) have made it impractical in a home solution.

A video matrix router is a device that allows several different source devices (cable box, satellite receiver, DVD player) to be distributed to one or more displays. We have used matrix routers in the analog world for years to provide the benefits of distributed video, but a practical digital video matrix router has not been available until now.

Crestron has just begun shipping their DigitalMedia solution which is, in essence, a digital video and audio matrix router. They have gone to extreme lengths to abide by HDCP requirements while still providing a practical solution. There are also a number of other challenges involved in sending HDMI over long distances (say, more than 40 feet), but Crestron has solutions to these problems as well.

One method for addressing the distance issue is to use fiber optics. So if you are building a new home, this is a compelling reason to consider installing fiber cable (or conduit for future fiber cable). The Crestron solution will work via category 5 cable, but only up to 100 feet.

The compelling driver behind digital (HDMI) video distribution is access to true 1080p video. Due to Hollywood restrictions, content is not available beyond 1080i via analog means, and the days of 1080i may be numbered. Although they have not done so yet, the content owners have the option of restricting analog output to 480p at any time. The perceived quality improvement of digital 1080p over analog 1080i is probably incremental, but protection from likely future resolution games is something to consider.

The DigitalMedia system is capable of handling 16 displays to 1080p and 16 high-definition sources of any kind. The only major stumbling block in this solution (besides cost) is the usual lousy equipment provided by the cable TV companies. Nearly all the currently available cable boxes that support HDMI are restricted to a single display at a time. The technical explanation is complex, but the box manufacturers have been uninterested in remedying this problem. Fortunately most satellite TV receivers, Blu-ray players, and other devices have more reasonable restrictions (typically 16 displays at a time).

Because we tend to overkill the cabling in our projects, most of our installations to date should be upgradeable to the DigitalMedia solution.

For more information, see the Crestron web site.

Crestron began shipping a new handheld wireless remote control recently which we have ordered in and are evaluating. We like to order "one of everything" when it looks like a new product might fill a current or future need.

The MLX-2 is very similar to the ML-600 which has been around for a while, but it actually packs a lot more capability than the ML-600. Unlike the one-way (transmit only) ML-600, the MLX-2 is a two-way remote which is capable of receiving feedback from the automation system on its LCD screen.

This two-way capability opens up the possibility that the MLX-2 may be useful for more general automation functions which require feedback to be useful. Examples are heating and air control, security, even pool control. A one-way remote is not particularly useful for adjusting the heat and air if you can't see what the current temperature and setpoints are. With the MLX-2, you would be able to get this information on the screen.

That said, the screen on this remote is pretty small and therefore limited. Furthermore, the wireless range is short, so like the ML-600, the MLX-2 is best suited for single room control.

For now, I'm considering the MLX-2 a good candidate for a TV room controller where the user would also like to have some limited automation capabilities. I will know more after I have finished programming and living with this remote for a while.