With the best movies, series, sitcoms and gaming entertainment streaming into millions of homes around the globe, the home theatre is becoming more popular and accessible than ever before. Choosing the right home cinema is key - below are some tips which I hope you will find useful for your audience. Click here to download the images in high res.

The biggest movie stars are moving into TV series and sitcoms due to the popularity of at-home entertainment, thanks to on-demand viewing with the likes of Netflix, Showmax, Black and many others. “Binge watching” the non-stop list of TV favourites and the latest movies has become a very popular pastime. “Along with this trend, there has been a surge of interest in the home cinema products offered by Homemation,” shares Kara Gouveia, Marketing Manager, “from speakers and surround sound to high-end projectors and customised cinemas.”   Online gaming has also evolved into a serious hobby; and as millions of avid gamers know, it truly is a richer and more integrated experience on a big screen with excellent sound!

Audio visual entertainment has undergone major changes over the past few years and so has the way in which we enjoy it - within the comfort of our own homes, at the touch of a button, from a tablet or a phone, and even the remote control. This has made an at-home cinema an aspirational and desirable goal for many and a necessity for others. With a fantastic range of options in home entertainment technology to suit a variety of needs and preferences more multimedia consumers can have exactly what they want. However, the most yearned for, is the Stewart projection screen.

For more than 65 years, Stewart has been the consistent choice of discerning clientele around the world. People prefer Stewart projection screens because they want to enjoy the best possible picture-vibrant colour, sharp contrast, and rich detail. It has even won an Academy Award® Oscar and is even in the home of the Oscars®, the state-of-the-art Dolby Theater in Hollywood.

Stewart provides the most immersive experience in the industry and has a projection screen to meet your needs.  If you’re considering creating your own in-home cinema, below are some tips from Homemation to help you get the right system in place for your needs. Optimise and customise your home entertainment experience by creating your own entertainment haven. Know your budget. Is it a retrofit or part of a renovation or new build?Do you have the required wiring and power points?

High speed internet with a safe and secure internal networkTake into consideration lighting, curtains or blinds and the windows so that there isn’t a reflection on the screen or wall. The acoustics in the room are affected by high ceilings and open-plan spaces. Sound travels and could cause disturbances with neighbours or household members. Comfort is key and this extends to the furniture you choosePlacement of the screen, projector, speakers and amplifier within the spaceStrive for a balanced and quality sound system  A home cinema is an experience you can enjoy every day and an investment in your home and lifestyle. Create your dream space to enjoy with family and friends or just for “me time” whenever you want!

Consult with experts such as Homemation to help you design your ideal space according to your preferences, needs and budget. Homemation are specialists in premium audiovisual, home automation and home theatre products. Whether your goal is to capture the glitz and glamour of Hollywood or to create a stylish modern cinema within a multi-use entertainment media room or developing high-end cinema experiences, it is an intimate and personalised process that they take you through.

Homemation is the exclusive specialist South African suppliers of premium branded audiovisual and home theatre products. The brands in their stable offer some of the most advanced and sought-after AV and home automation technologies in the world.

Call Homemation on 011-781 8887 for your nearest stockist, or visit www.homemation.co.za ; Facebook ; Twitter and Instagram.

Looking for the perfect gift? How about cutting-edge, high quality headphones? We all need a bevy of good headphones at our fingertips - to listen to music, for superb sound quality while on the phone, ones which are discreet, comfortable and reliable.

There’s no better way to amp up your day than with some feel-good tunes.

Homemation has an impressive selection of premium headphones that will help you get your toes tapping wherever you go. Everywhere you go, always take the weather… and your headphones.  Sports headphones can inspire you to push harder while you workout, or they can simply make the commute more tolerable. With the combination of a design built for comfort, durability and superb sound, plus the convenience of wire-free Bluetooth connection to your phone or personal music player, the DENON AH-C160W is designed to give you the freedom to move with the music.  

The sleek design uses unique Earhook technology, developed with a leading hearing aid specialist, to keep the earpieces in place - even during heavy workouts or when running. Three sizes of ring give the best fit for the ears, ensuring pure music playback and no external noise interruption. 

Features:

High-quality 11.5 mm drivers with digital signal processing

Bluetooth Class 1 connectivity for tangle-free use and reliable connection

Clear Voice Capture noise reduction for phone calls, plus voice prompts

Earhook technology and a choice of eartips for comfort and a secure fit Tough construction for life on the move

Sweat and moisture protection for long-term durability

Retail price: R 2 290.00 

Taking the next step are the legendary, award-winning Klipsch R6i in-ear headphones, the Klipsch Reference X6i in-ear headphones are packed with a single high-clarity, full range balanced armature, offering flat frequency response with an incredible fit.  

Features:

KG-723 Full-Range Balanced Armature Die-Cast Zinc and Co-Molded Elastomer Housing Patented Oval Ear Tips (4 Different Sizes)

Three-Button Remote + Mic Carrying Case + Clothing Clip

1 Year Warranty

Retail price: R2 350.00 

Homemation is the exclusive specialist South African suppliers of premium branded audiovisual and home theatre products. The brands in their stable offer some of the most advanced and sought-after AV and home automation technologies in the world.   Call Homemation on 011-781 8887 for your nearest stockist, or visit www.homemation.co.za ; Facebook ; Twitter and Instagram.

Eindhoven, 2017, Denon®, a leading manufacturer of premium home and personal audio products, announces that select Denon A/V receivers are now able to receive a free-of-charge DTS Virtual:X firmware update to provide consumers with rich, immersive sound in their homes without the need for height or rear speakers.

DTS Virtual:X technology supports any input source from stereo to a 7.1.4 layout (11.1 channels) and plays back an immersive experience over speaker layouts from 2.0 stereo up to 5.1 and even 7.1.  

The DTS Virtual:X firmware update is now available in exclusive Denon A/V receivers, including the Denon AVR-X1400H, Denon AVR-X2400H and Denon AVR-X3400H.

The update will expand to AVR-X4400H and AVR-X6400H in spring 2018. The firmware update offer proves the company’s constant mission to offer brand new technologies to existing products, adding value for their trusted customers.

Homemation, the exclusive distributors of Denon, believe in their products because they can deliver total quality enjoyment.

What’s more, their constant quest to create the perfect entertainment components is key to their leading innovation, and anticipating consumer needs. Bringing purity of sound and joy to customers’ lives is what Denon is all about. For Denon: Passion, Artistry, and Technology are part of the quintessential philosophy behind everything they do. These three elements and decades of innovation and engineering excellence have shaped their entire culture. Every detail of a Denon product is crafted around these elements with a single goal in mind: to maximise the entertainment experience. Featured Products include the Denon HEOS BAR Soundbar and Denon HEOS Subwoofer in Black.

The HEOS Soundbar delivers exceptional performance to enhance the sound from your TV or Blu-ray player, while retaining the elegance of a slimline soundbar – and the ability to act as an audio streaming solution. Whether you place it on a sideboard or mount it on your wall, the HEOS Bar lets you experience thrilling HD home cinema and sensational music streaming. Break the sound barriers and get the room-filling sound your TV deserves.

The HEOS Bar delivers exceptional performance with state of the art signal processing, amplification and 9 high-performance drivers. It's a neat upgrade for even the largest screens. Four 4K-compatible HDMIs let you use the HEOS Bar even with multi-source AV set-ups, while HEOS integration allows you to enjoy all your music wirelessly. Setup and operation are a breeze. Just connect the HEOS Bar to your TV’s HDMI Audio Return Channel (ARC) input. Within minutes the soundbar is ready to perform. Control all your sound via the HEOS App, or command the HEOS Bar with the remote of your TV.

The HEOS Bar is absolutely future-proof with the latest HDMI standards. Four HDMI 2.0a/HDCP 2.2 inputs make sure that you can enjoy your movies in 4K Ultra HD. In case your TV has limited 4K switching capabilities, don't worry, just connect your 4K sources directly to the bar. For the best multi-channel sound, the HEOS Bar offers class-leading audio format support with Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. The HEOS Bar will match your style, your room and above all your TV.

It is designed to improve the sound of the largest TV sets with 50 and more inches - and still look and sound nothing but sophisticated. Retail: R 18 990.00 The HEOS wireless subwoofer adds deep, powerful bass to any HEOS device with best-in-class sound quality. It suits any room and any setup. Shake your world with movies and music – wirelessly. The HEOS Subwoofer adds seismic bass to all your sound.

With its powerful amplification and optimised drivers, it works with the entire HEOS range. Setup and operation of the HEOS Subwoofer are a matter of minutes. Just connect it to your home network and any other HEOS device – and then shake your world with dramatic bass. Control all your sound via the app. It's really as simple as that. Being a HEOS, the HEOS Subwoofer definitely puts in an appearance with its unique design and stylish matt black finish.

You can place it anywhere in your room, thanks to its wireless connectivity – vertically or horizontally. However, if you don't want to show its good looks, just slip it under the sofa and enjoy its bounce. Two custom-made 5-1/4inch drive units in combination with sophisticated class D amplification deliver clean and clear, yet punchy bass.

The proprietary DSP algorithms provide optimised low frequency response across the entire dynamic range. Within the HEOS App, you find advanced settings for different configurations, like the dialog enhancer and the night mode, which are integrated in the HEOS Bar. If used together, HEOS Subwoofer adapts the settings. Retail: R 12 990.00 Homemation is the exclusive specialist South African suppliers of premium branded audiovisual and home theatre products. The brands in their stable offer some of the most advanced and sought-after AV and home automation technologies in the world.

Call Homemation on 011-781 8887 for your nearest stockist, or visit www.homemation.co.za ; Facebook ; Twitter and Instagram.

Home Automation can be a daunting concept as there are many misconceptions around the process. We often aren't sure where to begin - below is some guidance on the common myths around automating your home - brought to you by Homemation - the home automation specialists.

Today, it can be retrofitted into an older home and easily included in a new build or renovation. The secret - a secure and stable local network !

It’s far too expensive

• Home automation can be very affordable by starting with one or a few rooms or concentrating on specific features only, such as lighting or music or security. The price is largely dependent on your budget and needs.
• Today, technology has improved and pricing has reduced. Home automation should also be viewed together with your home as an investment which adds a lot of value to your lifestyle.
• Providing a cost estimate isn’t straightforward though - it’s kind of like asking how much does a car cost?
• The Control4 4Sight annual subscription required is around R2 590.00.
• Over and above this, the starting point would require a Control4 controller. The controllers start from R9 590.00 and depending on the scope of the project and the devices you intend on integrating with, the bigger the controller and additional controllers would be required. Control4 is software that connects your home’s automated products together, through a LAN environment – so you’d need to include high speed internet into the budget.
• Lighting within the home can be done from around R2000 per lighting circuit.
• You will also need to take into consideration the installation costs and this should only be done by a certified Control4 integrator.

Installation is too much work 

• As with all electrical installations, there will be work done inside your house. But it doesn’t have to be sledgehammers at walls and cable chasing. Control4’s wireless technologies make it much easier to retrofit homes. 

It’s intimidating and too complicated to use 

• In the past this may have been true but nowadays the technology has been refined and is specifically designed to be user friendly. Home automation makes use of an intuitive user interface that puts everything at a homeowner’s fingertips, If you can operate a smart phone you will able to enjoy using Contol4.

It’s only an unnecessary gimmick 

• Intelligent zoned heating control and ‘all out’ lighting functions are sensible, practical and energy saving ideas. The security aspects of the system give great peace of mind and are a very important feature for South African users. Home Automation systems don’t only allow you complete control of all the devices in your home but also make clever decisions on your behalf such as lowering the blinds in a room because it has become too warm, sending you an SMS and turning off your water because your geyser has sprung a leak, or notifying you that your garage door has been open for over 10 minutes. Because of the wide range of uses, automating your home can either be as bling and frivolous or as clever and useful as you like.

The technology doesn’t work well together 

• Control4 partners with the world's leading brands to ensure their products integrate seamlessly into the Control4 platform to deliver an exceptional automation experience for our customers. With support for over 10,000 devices from hundreds of world-class brands, Control4 solutions are designed to work with the consumer electronics and appliances you already trust and love.

All the technology will be outdated soon 

• Control4 hardware is built to be ‘future-proof’ created in such a way as to be receptive to potential changes and improvements in the future, and the software is continuously improving and updates are simple to install.

It’s just a fad 

• This Business Insider headline says it all: “The ‘Internet Of Things’ Will Be Bigger Than The Smartphone, Tablet, And PC Markets Combined.” Home Automation, which is the residential part of the “Internet of Things” is not just a fad. Some of the world’s largest companies including Apple, Google and Samsung have invested in home automation to bring more and improved technology to your home.

Homemation is the exclusive specialist South African suppliers of premium branded audiovisual and home theatre products. The brands in their stable offer some of the most advanced and sought-after AV and home automation technologies in the world. Call Homemation on 011-781 8887 for your nearest stockist, or visit www.homemation.co.za ; Facebook ; Twitter and Instagram.

Complete your movie viewing with the latest projector, available exclusively from Homemation, the JVC DLA-Z1.

Cutting-edge technology built into every feature. Larger than life, simple to set up and the crispest colour display, puts it in a league of its own and takes home cinema to the next level. You can now fully enjoy beautiful picture quality with a powerful lifelike sense of realism for all types of video content, from movies to sports, music, documentaries, or 3D.

The projector also supports next-generation technologies and video. This new JVC Z1 projector will be the leader in the video entertainment of the future.Price R716 000.Homemation is the exclusive specialist South African suppliers of premium branded audiovisual and home theatre products.

The brands in their stable offer some of the most advanced and sought-after AV and home automation technologies in the world.

Call Homemation on 011-781 8887 for your nearest stockist, or visit www.homemation.co.za ; Facebook ; Twitter and Instagram.

Have you ever walked into your home at night, arms full, in the dark and wished for your home to magically help? Now it can, with a simple voice command such as "Alexa, turn on Welcome" – and the instantly the entrance lights come on, relaxing music begins to play, all while the door locks itself behind you…

Welcome to Homemation’s world of home automation, leading distributors of Control4 with Amazon Alexa. The possibilities are endless… with a few simple voice commands you can:

• Arm and disarm the alarm
• Unlock the front door
• Open and close the blinds
• Adjust the room temperature, in any room
• Turn on, off or dim the lights
• Play or stream music
• Turn on the TV
• Set the scene for watching a movie
• Pre-programme personalised and uniquely crafted home scenes, where your voice command ‘Dining’ automatically dims select lights and begins to play a specific playlist and ‘Bedtime’ sets into motion shutting off lights, closing blinds, locking the door, and putting on the alarm

A particularly unique aspect of Control4 and Amazon Alexa is the coordination of all connected devices in your home for a truly customised homeowner experience to maximise your comfort, convenience, entertainment, and peace of mind. There are many smart products available today, however, only when these devices work together do you experience the magic of a smart home. Control4 delivers power and performance in one platform that coordinates the technology in your home into complete, brilliant experiences—interactions that fit your lifestyle and are easy for you to enjoy. With support for nearly 10,000 consumer devices, Control4 can create immersive, whole-home experiences, tailor-made to exactly how you live. Control your home easily from anywhere!

Homemation is the exclusive specialist South African suppliers of premium branded home automation, audiovisual and home theatre products. The brands in their stable offer some of the most advanced and sought-after AV and home automation technologies in the world. Call Homemation on 011-781 8887 for your nearest stockist, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit www.homemation.co.za ; Facebook ; Twitter and Instagram.