Controlling This Award-Winning Home Theater is A Breeze with the ELAN HR2 Remote

The custom integrators at Fergus, Ontario-based Station Earth know how to design a great home theater. That’s why they were recently awarded the 2011 CEDIA Lifestyles Silver Award for Home Theater in the $189,000-$241,500 category. Another thing they know is that when a homeowner is accustomed to the simple, intuitive control offered by the ELAN® g! Entertainment and Control System , nothing is more important than having a quick, simple and reliable way to control every aspect of the home theater.

Station Earth Sales Manager John Stumpf tackles this issue of simple control the same way for every installation. “For controlling home theaters, or even living room entertainment centers, we insist that our customers use the ELAN HR2 remote,” said Stumpf. “This is something we tell them right off the bat, and we are adamant that i-devices aren’t sufficient or convenient for controlling TVs and home theaters. An iPad or iPhone requires too many steps when you want to change the channel or pause a show, and using third-party devices for these applications is a recipe for service call after service call.

“The HR2 solves all of these issues by including hard buttons for common media functions and utilizing both IR and IP technologies to relay the signal instantly and reliably. Controlling a home theater or any television with a non-specialized device is like buying an Aston Martin but using keys that only let you drive 40 miles per hour. You don’t get the best experience.”

So when Station Earth designs an ELAN g! integrated home theater that includes a Digital Projection 260HC CINE projector, a Stewart Filmscreen Cinecurve120-inch 2.40:1 screen, a 5.1 surround sound system with a Sunfire TGA-7401 amplifier, an 8TB Kaleidescape Blu-ray capable movie server, a Kaleidescape 100-disc Blu-ray vault, and stadium seating for nine viewers, they make sure the users operate it solely with the ELAN HR2 remote. And thanks to the HR2’s vibrant color LCD touch screen, they can choose their favorite movie, turn down the lights, and bump up the heat, all right on the same remote they’ll use to start the movie.

According to ELAN Product Manager & New Business Development Joe Lautner, “We designed the HR2 to be the ultimate handheld device for accessing and controlling the user’s media library, whether in a home theater, a living room entertainment center, or out in the yard to change the music. Station Earth’s insistence on utilizing the best option for media control highlights their dedication to providing clients with the most positive, worry-free home entertainment experience available.”

The homeowners didn’t stop with just a home theater, either. The entire home is outfitted with the ELAN g! Entertainment and Control System, which integrates the home’s Lutron lighting, HVAC, 12 zones of indoor and outdoor audio, security system, five exterior surveillance cameras, and soon will include control for the Jandy pool equipment. The family can control the system with several ELAN TS7 7” and TS2 2” touch screens and ELAN HR2 remotes throughout the home.

Available starting at under $2,000 for a single-room, four sub-system control solution, the ELAN g! Series Control System can be expanded quickly and cost-effectively to enable whole-home control of every room appliance. ELAN g! provides users with the most uniform and intuitive icon-based control from their favorite devices, including TVs, touch screens, touchpads, PCs, iPhones, and iPads. The standardized interface works across platforms, so that the trendy g!Mobile app users love on the iPhone appears and works similarly on ELAN touch screens, valets and handheld remotes as well as users' televisions and mobile devices. And the system's IP backbone makes it just as easy to control the system from across the room - or across the globe.

The ELAN g! System has been awarded a 2011 Residential Systems Magazine RESI Award, a 2011 Custom Retailer Magazine EXCITE! Award, a 2011 CE Pro Magazine BEST Award, a Platinum Level 2011 CEA Mark of Excellence Award by the Consumer Electronics Association and a 2011 Gold Level Electronic House Magazine Product of the Year Award.

Station Earth Inc. is a family owned company established by Beatty and Rowan McLean in the early 1980s. Station Earth has been in its current location in Fergus, Ontario since 1993, and has been excelling in the satellite television industry for almost 20 years. Now Station Earth has expanded its expertise to the sales and service of everything that is "home entertainment". For more information, please visit www.stationearth.com.

Cake Boss Buddy Valastro Brings Down The House At CEDIA 2011 Birthday Celebration for the ELAN g! Entertainment and Control System

America’s favorite baker and television’s unchallenged Cake Boss, Buddy Valastro, brought down the house last week at CEDIA 2011 when he personally delivered a custom designed birthday cake to The AVC Group exhibit to help ELAN® Home Systems celebrate the first birthday of its revolutionary g! entertainment and control system.

Nearly a thousand show attendees followed Buddy as he accompanied his confectionary replica of the ELAN HR2 handheld remote controller from the exhibit hall loading dock to The AVC Group booth. Once there, fans mobbed Buddy, and the cake, to take pictures with their cameras and smartphones. “I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything like this at a CEDIA Show before,” said Paul Starkey, President of ELAN Home Systems, “at least not in my history of attending this show. I don’t think anyone will ever forget it!”

Indeed, Buddy Valastro was also taken back by the emotional reaction of the show attendees, many of whom surged around the stage and, for a time, overwhelmed it! “I’ve always wanted to attend this show,” he told the assembled audience. “I love all of this technology and I appreciate all of the benefits it brings to people of all ages, particularly the ELAN g! System. The g! system has transformed the way my family lives at home and it has revolutionized the way I run the business at our new Carlos Bakery commercial production center in Jersey City, New Jersey. I always tell people that if I can operate g! anyone can operate g! It’s so intuitive and easy to master.”

Amplifying Buddy’s message, Starkey noted that, “In one short year, the ELAN g! System has established itself as the benchmark for entertainment and control quality, reliability, user-friendliness, ease of installation and profitability that our competitors can only dream of matching. It provides dealers with precisely the kind of entertainment and control system they need to succeed in today’s economy — a profitable and easy-to-install system that scales the waterfront from single-room entry level to whole home mega-mansion installations.”

ELAN also chose the occasion of its first birthday celebration at CEDIA 2011 to strengthen the g! product line with the market introduction of an expanded series of home controllers, the latest Version 5.2 software, and a 10” touch screen.