ELEVATE TECH UPDATE
SUMMER 2024
New serious alternatives to Samsung's The Frame TV.
Google and SONOS releasing new products that could round out your tech nicely.
Google TV Streamer
The Google Chromecast was one of the most popular streaming devices on the market, and boy we installed a lot of those. I could probably install and set up one of those with my eyes closed. Its life has come to an end, however, and its being replaced by Google's next-gen streaming device.
The "Google TV Streamer" is yet another confusingly-named Google device, but it is a great upgrade from the previous model. The overall experience is similar, with the classic Google TV interface, remote, and setup. These were the strongest features of the previous device, so we're glad they didn't change this much.
The issues we had with the previous device was that it was too slow, especially on startup. That's where Google has made major improvements: more RAM and storage, a newer operating system, and a faster processor. They even added some features that we've been hoping for, like HDMI 2.1 support and an ethernet port. The result will be a much smoother and faster experience, no matter if you have a simple or advanced setup. This streaming device will certainly be one of our top recommendations when it releases on September 24th.
Looking to improve your TV experience? You might not need a new TV, but just a new interface! Call us to schedule a consultation and find out.
SONOS Ace
Everyone in the home audio world seems to be talking about it, but in case you hadn't heard, SONOS has released a new set of headphones: the SONOS Ace. This is the company's first headphone ever, and it seems they did a surprisingly good job.
The main feature is that you can connect your headphones to your SONOS soundbar and seamlessly switch between using the soundbar and using your headphones, so you can listen to your TV without playing sound out loud. Disappointingly, the headphones don't act like a "zone" so you can't group the headphones with other speakers, for example.
The most surpising part for us is that the headphones are great standalone devices. We won't write an in-depth review here, but the consensus is that they have all the features of a modern set of headphones from SONY or JBL, all with the fidelity that you'd expect from SONOS. With the added feature of connecting it to your soundbar, there's no device like it on the market.
Do you have a SONOS soundbar or looking for one to use with the SONOS Ace headphones? We can install and set up your system to use without the hassle of connecting everything.
Picture Frame TVs
Samsung's "The Frame" TV has been the most popular TV we have installed, with its completely flat design and a very convincing "art mode". My only complaints are that the picture quality is about a 7/10, and that Samsung barely makes any improvements year-to-year. Now, other brands have entered the "art TV" space to provide some alternatives.
The most notable is Hisense, one of our favorite TV brands, with their new CanvasTV. All their marketing points to this being a direct competitor to Samsung, and it's doing a great job. It starts around 30% cheaper, and has received much acclaim from critics. We're watching this closely as performance data emerges, but I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up on a lot of living rooms across the country.
SONY also has a solution to go toe-to-toe with Samsung. They have partnered with Leon Speakers to create a custom border for their X93L Bravia TV. The unique part about this solution is that SONY can use their existing state-of-the-art TV tech which performs MUCH better than the TVs mentioned above: brightness, contrast, image processing, and more. We are authorized dealers with both Sony and Leon Speakers, so we are perfectly suited for a SONY Bravia picture frame TV project.
These types of TVs are popular for a reason, but they require an expert touch to get all the cables managed and TV installed perfectly flat. Call us before you buy that Frame TV!
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ELEVATE TECH UPDATE
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