Welcome to our gallery focusing on the new world of smart home entertainment possibilities.
With wireless technology, smartphones, and Internet of Things becoming part of everyday life, our very homes are turning into computer controllable spaces.
There’s a veritable universe of options out there, and we wanted to sort through them all to simplify things for you.
If you’re interested in seeing what’s available in terms of smart home entertainment devices, look no further. We’ve curated a list of some of the best, most easy to use options out there, so you don’t have to.
When it comes to smart automation in the home, your entertainment devices are perhaps the first obvious step to take. Your existing electronics are likely ready for connectivity if they were purchased recently.
The central aspect of smart home entertainment will be the screen you control it all with. All of these solutions involve the use of your smartphone or tablet, which will become the central “brain” in your new entertainment setup.
So what are the real benefits of adding smart technology to your entertainment devices? Let’s count them.
Smart entertainment devices allow you to simplify your control scheme, putting away the pile of remotes for a more elegant solution. They also can help streamline your setup, letting you get right to the music and movies you want without a lengthy process.
Even more than this, smart entertainment devices allow you to interact with your electronics in a more seamless, natural manner, whether by touch, gesture, or voice. You’ll no longer have to juggle an array of cables and buttons.
The prime reason for jumping into this technology is that it’s designed to get the hardware out of your way, allowing you to more intuitively and directly control the entertainment environment in your home.
We begin our selection of smart home entertainment options with a look at the array of hubs designed to connect and control your various devices. After that, we move on to remotes, apps, and smart connected devices.
1. Logitech Harmony Home Hub
Using a free companion app, this sleek device is a smart hub that allows you to take smartphone-based control of up to 8 home entertainment and other automation devices. It’s the physical centerpiece of any smart entertainment setup, the key component to tying the whole thing together. In addition to controlling what’s on the screen or playing from the speakers, it can interface with smart lights, thermostats, and other home essentials to give you control of your entire house.
2. Amazon Echo
The Amazon Echo is a smart home hub that’s designed around your voice. Once it’s plugged in, you operate it entirely hands-free. Not only can it play your music via built-in apps or Bluetooth streaming; the Echo can control other smart devices around the home, from lighting and switches to heaters or anything else you can plug in.
3. Blumoo Smart Remote Control
The Blumoo is a small but powerful device that turns your mobile devices into high-end remote controls, forming a centralized link to let you directly control your electronic equipment, sorting and playing entertainment via a number of streams or sources. It’s accompanied by the Blumoo mobile app for ultimate simplicity; you can place Blumoo in a room, start up the app, and get going immediately.
4. Samsung SmartThings Hub
This smart hub, from Samsung, is designed to become the heart of your smart home ecosystem, connecting wirelessly with a huge variety of devices, including heating, security, lighting, and entertainment devices. It’s controlled, like similar hubs, via a free app installed on your tablet or smart phone. The simplicity of installation means that you’ll have your smart home working in unison in no time.
Here’s a glimpse of the SmartThings app running, to show you how easy it is to command the entire house.
5. CBSKY Broadlink RM2 Pro Smart Home Automation Controller
The Broadlink RM2 Pro is designed as a central home hub, a convenient centralized device for wireless control of any and all IR controlled devices, such as TV, stereos, and more. It connects via wi-fi to your smartphone or tablet for simplified, central control with an included free app.
5. NEEO The Thinking Remote
With a built-in database of over 30,000 devices that it can connect to and control, the NEEO is designed for simplified, centralized control of your entire smart home. Beyond this, the remote offers hand recognition and a high resolution touch screen, to make personalized, automated control as direct and easy as possible. It’s even got a “find a remote” SOS feature!
7. Roomie Remote
Roomie is an app-based home control system that uses Wi-Fi to control your home theater and other devices, including lights and thermostats. The app provides a virtual remote control for a number of supported devices, automatically optimizing each remote for your iOS device. If you’ve got an iPhone or iPad, this app is the key to using one device to supplant several remotes in your home.
8. iRule App – Free
Instead of a physical piece of hardware, iRule is actually an app designed to turn your iOS device (iPhone or iPad) into a new kind of universal remote. It can directly control your electronics or apps like Netflix. The coolest feature is that you can build your own virtual remotes online, then save them for use in the app, setting up the look, feel, and button layout for dozens of your devices around the home.
9. eyeSight Technologies Singlecue Gesture Control
If you’ve ever seen someone controlling a video game using a wave of their arms, you’ve got an idea about how this device works. It’s a universal controller for your media devices that uses a sophisticated camera to track movement and gestures. You can change the channel, volume, or video streaming app with a wave of your hand, or use the thermostat and turn on lights doing the same.
10. FAVI WiFi Smart Projector with Android OS
11. JmGO G1 LED Projector Media Player and Smart Home Theater
Here’s another smart projector, equipped with robust components that allow it to play back video from laptops, flash drives, cameras, phones, and more, all wrapped in a sleek aluminum body. The built-in TV tuner and speakers are only the start, as this device can interface with external speakers, computers, gamepads, computer mice, and more, as well as function as a Bluetooth speaker when not in projector mode.
12. Sony BDPS3500 Blu-ray Player with Wi-Fi
This is a Blu-ray player with a brain: it can run 300+ apps including Netflix, YouTube, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video & more. Beyond that, it’s able to mirror your Android device screen right on your TV with Miracast technology. With wi-fi enabled, this player can stream video playback and even games via Playstation systems!
13. Sonos Playbar Soundbar
The Sonos is a smart soundbar that uses wifi to become a modular speaker system, allowing you to add a subwoofer and pair of satellites for true surround sound. But more than this, it can be completely controlled via a free app on your smartphone or tablet. It’s this connectivity that defines smart entertainment devices more than anything.
14. DKnight Magicbox II Bluetooth 4.0 Ultra Portable Wireless Speaker
This wireless speaker is designed with Bluetooth functionality to deliver music and voice calls from your smartphone in a completely seamless fashion. You can start up and play your music from anywhere in the house, and even make and receive voice calls through the speaker, with its built-in microphone.
15. Portable Wireless Stereo Smart Sound Loudspeaker with NFC
This smart speaker connects with other Bluetooth devices, from computers to smart phones, for hands free music and voice functionality courtesy of top quality stereo speakers. NFC functionality allows for direct, wireless connection up to 10 meters with any compatible devices.
16. Denon HEOS 5 Wireless Speaker
When Denon enters the smart device world, they mean business. This sleek and elegant speaker features a high impact sound design courtesy of four built-in amplifiers, making it the ideal wireless music solution for medium to large rooms. You can stream music via Spotify, Pandora, SiriusXM and more via the free HEOS app for your Apple, Android, or even Kindle device.
17. AudioGeek R400 Distortion-Free Aluminum Wireless Speaker
The AudioGeek R400 is a purpose built device focused on producing professional quality sound instead of colored lighting or other gimmicks. Wireless Bluetooth connectivity means that you can play music from any nearby laptop, tablet, or smartphone. Not only that, but like some of our other Bluetooth speakers, it allows you to make clear phone calls via built-in microphone.
18. Roku 3500R Streaming Stick
Roku devices come in several sizes, and this is the smallest and most convenient: a thumb-sized stick that plugs directly in to your TV, controllable by included remote. Roku offers over 2,000 entertainment channels and is the most popular streaming device around. The device can also be controlled via free app on your Android or Apple smartphone or tablet. The best part is how small it is; you can leave it plugged into your TV and forget about it, with zero clutter.
19. LG Electronics 65-Inch 4K Ultra HD Curved Smart OLED TV
Not only are TVs getting sharper, larger, and more curved than just a few years ago; they’re adding smart technology that allows them to connect with apps and other devices for a fully cohesive entertainment experience. You can browse the web, run Netflix, and more all without any extra boxes or components.
20. TCL 50-Inch 1080p Roku Smart LED TV
TCL has partnered with Roku to make a TV that features the best of both worlds, with a great screen paired with all that the Roku streaming box has to offer, built right in. The Roku functionality allows you to choose from over 2,000 streaming channels to find the movies, shows, sports, music, and more that you want, without the hassle of multiple devices.
21. Sony 48-Inch 1080p 60Hz Smart LED TV
Smart TVs have been around for a few years now, but we’re finally reaching the point where they can integrate with other smart technology. This TV uses built-in wi-fi to run apps like Netflix and Youtube directly, so you don’t need a set-top box to watch your favorite shows and movies. Many new TVs feature this technology, so look around for one that’s the right size and look for your home.
22. Samsung HT-H5500W Home Theater System
What appears like a traditional home theater system is actually a smart content streaming platform, using wi-fi, bluetooth, and your smart devices to remotely control and display content from a variety of sources. In addition to playing disc-based movies, it’s able to stream Netflix, Hulu, and other video apps courtesy of your phone or tablet.
23. LG – 1000W Smart Blu-ray Home Theater System
What appears like a standard surround sound system is actually hiding a powerful smart device at its core. The receiver houses a Blu-ray player and offers access to a host of apps, including Netflix, Hulu Plus, Spotify, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, more. It’s truly an all-in-one entertainment package, requiring only a TV to complete the home theater setup.
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