The Staying Power of Home Entertainment
by Linda Sechrist

   Man has been entertaining himself, family and friends at home in one form or another — board games, cards, crossword puzzles, dominoes, chess, dice, jigsaw puzzles, pianos, jukeboxes, stereos and computer games — forever. Though hundreds of trends have come and gone over the centuries, home entertainment has managed to sustain itself since ancient times. In fact, historians are aware that a game similar to the board game of checkers, considered child’s play today, was played in the homes of the people of Ur (modern Iraq) as early as 3000 BC. With the appearance of the earliest commercialized games in 1590, home entertainment began to gain a stronghold.
   Not until the arrival of leisure time and home technology did man’s appetite for home entertainment open the door of opportunity for the creation of an entire industry. Since 2000, home entertainment has been mushrooming into the hottest and biggest trend in the home building industry with as many as 80 percent of the new custom homes in Collier and Lee Counties now including media rooms, home theatres and whole-house entertainment systems.
   In the late 1980s Jim Dixon, general manager of Premier Electric was president of Smart House, a limited partnership with the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). “The NAHB had a major commitment to help Smart House with the forward movement of electronic technology in homes in order to enhance livability and pave the way for innovations in home entertainment,” says Dixon. “The thrust of our partnership was to put more highly advanced electronic services in all rooms of the home. Being ahead of our time was frustrating because it was much more complicated to route wiring throughout the home then.”
   “While it is now common to have cable and computer outlets, telephone jacks and touch-pads for music, thermostats, security systems and lighting systems in any room, it wasn’t that simple in the 80s,” continues Dixon. “It couldn’t be accomplished then without wiring overkill and the cost was more than the average person buying a home in the mid-price range was willing to pay.”
   Dixon is pleased by the leaps in electronic wizardry, wiring and technology in the new millennium. “Through my personal experiences with Premier Electric clients having their homes wired for audio, visual and security, I’ve come to realize that today’s homeowners don’t limit entertainment possibilities to just one room such as a media room or a den; they see possibilities in nearly every room, including the bathroom where a flat-screen TV can be mounted on the outside of the shower or beside the vanity mirror,” said Dixon.
   Home ownership in the new millennium is about easy living, comfort, luxury and enhancing the enjoyment of every experience in all indoor and outdoor spaces says Dixon indicating that the whole house, including the outdoors, has the capabilities of a media room. “The pool and lanai offer access to quality audio and visual entertainment,” comments Dixon who points out that recessed speakers installed in the ceiling of the covered lanai provide outstanding sound quality.
   The epitome of user-friendliness in home entertainment technology is the control pad programmed by a media specialist. “Homeowners don’t have to be technology savvy,” says John Malarkey, Home Entertainment and Technology Division Manager for Premier Electric. “They just need to know how to turn the TV, DVD player or sound system off and on so we teach them the simple functions.”
   Malarkey’s experience has taught him that new homebuyers enjoy a better experience of designing and equipping their whole home or a media room if they plan for a team effort. “Those who have contracted Premier Electric to work with the architect, builder, interior designer and cabinet company to plan for room design, sound-proofing with acoustic panels, custom build-ins and heavier draperies generally are more pleased with the outcome,” Malarkey said.
   Damon (who prefers to be addressed by his first name) of Damon Custom Structures recently built a new home, hiring Premier Electric to set up his whole house entertainment system and to program the control pad. “I wanted to enjoy surround sound from my favorite DVDs, a 52-inch Plasma flat-screen TV in the living room and a TV in the game room, as well as music indoors and outdoors,” said Damon who also wanted a security camera mounted at the front door.
   “I can hit a button anywhere in the house and the control pad is fairly foolproof and easy to use. My wife and I only needed a few lessons to master it,” concludes Damon.
   To create a finished look for the new Plasma televisions, Marcia Boyle, owner of Parker Robinson in Sarasota, recommends the beautiful wooden frame that is now available in several hand-painted finishes as well as in leather tooling. “The frame allows the TV to blend well with the furnishings,” comments Boyle.
   David Asher, owner of EuroTech Cabinetry in Sarasota, has been flawlessly blending design and function in cabinetry for 28 years. “People want the cabinetry housing their equipment to be built for a home they have been living in or one they are building,” says Asher. Typically, custom cabinetry is designed around six or seven components that require ventilation. “The ventilation is the most important aspect of any design because the equipment generates a tremendous amount of heat,” adds Asher whose designs include a small but quiet fan and flue to remove the direct heat away from the components.
   Another benefit added to the experience of media anywhere and anytime is the peace of mind that it offers seasonal residents. Strategically placed security cameras throughout the seasonal home and at the front door can be linked to Cable TV giving part-time residents the ability to monitor their Florida homes via the security cameras. “Easy living is watching a service person performing work in your Florida home from your Northern home computer while sipping a cup of coffee,” Dixon adds.
   The marriage of media and security creates an illuminating feature in home security. Lighting controls programmed to turn on and off according to when homeowners normally move from one room to another during the day or night can be mirrored by the system even when the homeowner is away from home. In other words, it appears that someone is home when they are not, clarifies Dixon.
   Uncertain are the changes in home technology yet to come. For certain, based on its long-running track record, home entertainment will be a driving force in any future innovations, and it appears that the only limits to the technology we may see increasing the comforts, functionality and enjoyment of the home will come from a lack of imagination.