Hidden High Tech

By Stuart Tickle, Managing Director, AWE Europe

TVs used to be a big deep bowl of glass surrounded in plastic that sat in the corner of the room, or if you spent lots of money, an even larger and deeper bowl of glass surrounded in posh plastic, possibly with a motorised stand and sheet of glass on the front!

Not anymore.

Flat TVs that you can hang on your wall are nothing new, but what is new is how well they perform, and how they can look. The latest LCD/LED and OLED TVs are stunning.

If you do not mind having a large piece of black glass on your wall or sideboard, then they will do just fine, and the best from Sony andPanasonic will give you the best image.

Alternatively, you could integrate or hide the screen within a large piece of furniture for a more discreet look. For those with larger budgets, hire a professional home technology integrator to conceal the screen behind an automated panel that will move to reveal the TV only when you command. This type of solution typically uses a Future Automation motorised mounting system, but you can expect to pay at least as much for the system and installation as the TV.

For those seeking a simpler solution, many of Samsung’s latest TVs feature a “near invisible cable” that connects the screen to a “one connect box”, meaning all your gubbins can be hidden away in a cupboard with just one, thin semi-translucent cable connecting to the screen itself – including the power. A neat solution, but obviously you still have the TV itself looking like a TV. That is, until you turn on Ambient mode. Here, you can help the screen blend into the background by having it show an image of your wallpaper or colour matched when you turn it “off”. It works surprisingly well and certainly helps the screen blend in to its surroundings.

A step on from that is Samsung’s Frame TV, which actually looks like a picture on a wall when turned off. There is a choice of frame to match most décor and you can set the screen to display either artwork of your choice or your own images. The effect is incredibly lifelike and fools most people into thinking it is a real picture. To save energy, there is a motion sensor which detects when no one is in the room, too and automatically switches off. TV-wise, the current FRAME 2 .0 does a decent enough job, but FRAME 3.0 is launched mid-2019 and incorporates Samsung’s latest QLED screen technology, with a greater choice of sizes. We think it is worth the wait if you’re looking for such a TV in a main room.

If you’d like a bigger image, more akin to a cinema experience, but without having a projector at the back of the room, then installing an ultra-short throw projector is well worth considering. These give many of the benefits of a traditional home cinema projector, but can be located in a piece of furniture directly in front of the wall you are projecting onto. Getting an 85” to 120” image is easily possible, although lighting conditions in the room need to be low to get the best image. Epson’s EHLS100 is around £2,600 and does a decent job, but for those wanting the best we recommend the 4k Sony at £15,000. Both can be sat on your choice of low-level cabinet, or there is custom furniture available from Salamander Designs.

So, what is coming in the future?

Two technologies of note were shown at CES 2019. The most relevant for a country home is the Rollable OLED TV from LG – the Signature OLED TV R. Yes, this is actually a TV which literally rolls out of a sleek cabinet like an upside-down roller blind. Its initial size is only 65” and it’s due for launch Q4 2019. Indications are that this screen will come with a hefty price tag at launch.

The other technology is Micro LED. Whilst this is the next generation of TV tech, offering the best of both LCD/LED and OLED, the exciting advantage that this type of screen brings is that it can be created in frameless panels, meaning you can theoretically create a TV of any size you like. Samsung has shown a 146” and 219” version called The Wall, and Sony demonstrated a 269” version using their CLED technology. Whilst you may think you do not want a TV that large, this starts to redefine the entire purpose of a screen, making it more a digital wallcovering. Imagine a wall of your living room acting like a blank canvas. It could be a set of windows, to a stunning view of your choosing, or, perhaps, give the appearance of bifold doors out to your own perfect garden. What about an oasis integrated with relevant sounds to go with it? It could also just look like your other walls including period beams and furniture too. It is whatever you want it to be that day. Then you “turn on” the TV or a movie, at which point the relevant part of the screen comes to life and, hey presto, you have whatever size TV you like!

Don’t forget the sound system though – the picture is just half the story. Those willing and able should opt for a discrete, professionally installed immersive cinema system. The reality is that many people will not want the cost of disruption. So, what are your options? The latest Sony OLED TVs use the screen itself as a rather good speaker, meaning it has one of the best quality sounds for a built-in TV. They have a different tech with a similar effect for their LCD/LED TVs too. You can also use both as the centre speaker as part of a surround sound system, saving you having to look at one sat below the TV. Panasonic’s forthcoming GZ2000 OLED TV is deeper than some but comes with a full Dolby Atmos system built-in. Performance is much better than many we have heard, and you have the option of adding a subwoofer for those wanting deep bass.

Music in every room, including the bathroom, is now easy to achieve with the latest wireless, multi-room systems. HEOS is one of the best, most versatile, high performing systems you can buy and can be easily controlled via the HEOS app or from an integrated home control system.

When you create a HEOS zone in your living room, bedroom or bathroom you can stream music from your favourite cloud sources, like Spotify, Deezer, TIDAL, Napster, TuneIn, and Amazon Music, or listen to tracks directly from your phone, tablet or USB drive and play them through a choice of active speaker options, including a subwoofer and soundbar. Multiple zones combine in one system to allow you to play different content across one or more zones at the same time. Everything connects wirelessly over your wi-fi network and there are no speaker cables to trip over either.

For even greater convenience, the smallest speaker in the range, the HEOS 1, can be supplied with a rechargeable battery GO Pack, making it easily portable, if you move from room to room, into the bathroom or outside during a barbecue, for example.

Meanwhile, HEOS also provides a high-quality soundbar that delivers an enhanced TV sound experience. Perfect for mounting or placing under your TV, and supplied with a wireless subwoofer, allowing you to enjoy your favourite movie or music in stunning clarity.

If you’re looking for a more advanced, larger scale solution, then you can extend the HEOS music system with HEOS SUPERLINK and HEOS DRIVE amplification. HEOS SuperLink is a four-zone, audio pre-amplifier that can handle all the required amplification and zone switching you need. HEOS Drive is a four-zone, eight-channel multi-room amplifier and integrates easily with HEOS enabled receivers, soundbars and speakers to create a fully scaled, integrated audio system for the largest property. These units are designed to be hidden out of sight in a rack located within an understairs cupboard or similar concealed space. They can be connected to provide a seamless experience within a third-party control system’s own Digital Music System (DMS), such as, Crestron, Control 4 or URC.

Beyond HEOS, concealed speaker options are many and varied for the homeowner today. If you want to hear music, but without noticing the speaker, then a great range of in-ceiling speakers fare available from established audio brands such as Definitive Technologies, KEF and Kinetik. There are a variety of options available to suit different performance requirements, aesthetic taste and budgets.

As featured in The English Home