Ring vs Nest - San Diego Ring and Nest Installers are here!

Which camera is better, the Nest Cam or the Ring Camera? To us, there really is no right or wrong answer.  Each security camera has its pros and cons compared to the other.  Figuring out what features are important to you is going to be the key factor in choosing one of these over another.  So I thought it would be nice to go over a few of the key features of each of these cameras for you. We have personal experience with both of these. I have a couple of the Nest Indoor Cams in my house and we have an installer here that has a couple of the Ring Cams at his home. I am simply going to compare these side-by-side and give you some important notes as needed.

 Ring doorbell - San Diego smart home

Heard about Ring doorbell and Ring camera products lately? This can be a great way for you to feel secure and to slowly transform your house into a "San Diego smart home". This product line allows you to protect your home and loved ones while you are away AND provides some cool features while you are home.

With Ring you can:

See who rings your doorbell while you are home: This is a nice safety feature that ensures that you aren't answering the door for someone that you shouldn't. You can then...see below.

Use the Ring doorbell as an intercom: You can now talk to whomever is at the front door, even when you are away! This could prevent some of the latest robbery schemes where criminals knock to see if anyone is home before breaking in.

Motion detector: This feature allows you to see anyone in proximity of your front door or other areas that you want to monitor. You can check on packages that are due to arrive, scare off (with the Intercom) someone at your front door or remotely watch areas such as garages, parked cars or a children's nursery (use as baby monitor).

Interested in how to protect your smart home (or not smart) with the Ring camera and doorbell products? Call San Diego's smart home and Ring installation company for a talk! We are San Diego's Ring Doorbell, Ring Camera and Smart Home experts.

San Diego's home theater experts proudly serve all of San Diego County especially the communities and cities of Central San Diego County which includes Del Cerro, Allied Gardens, Talmadge, Kensington, Hillcrest, Mission Valley, Fashion Valley, La Mesa, Lake Murray, Friars, North Park, Balboa Park, Clairemont, Kearny Mesa, Mission Bay, Mission Beach, Pacific Beach, Ocean Beach, Imperial Beach, Pt Loma and Downtown San Diego. We also gladly serve those in North San Diego County which includes Carlsbad, San Marcos, Vista, Elfin Forest, Oceanside, Olivenhain, Escondido, Encinitas, Cardiff by the Sea, Solana Beach, Del Mar, Rancho Santa Fe, 4S Ranch, Santaluz, La Jolla, Poway and Rancho Bernardo. We aren't forgetting about our East County friends in El Cajon, Blossom Valley, Lakeside and Alpine. Need help in Murrieta, Temecula or Wildomar? We're there too.

 Alexa Home Automation - San Diego Universal Remote Control

What is this, the year 2419? Is this Buck Rogers technology? Voice control for our home theater systems? Ladies and gentlemen...it is here! Meet URC Total Control + Amazon Alexa.

A driver has just been completed by URC that allows you to speak to your surround sound system to control it (Universal Remote Control...they are the largest manufacturer of universal remotes in the world). A driver is the conduit that allows the Amazon Alexa pieces to "talk" to the URC universal remote pieces. For example, with and Amazon Alexa piece, the URC Total Control TRC-1080 universal remote and the URC MRX-8 processor, you can control your complicated audio/video system entirely just by saying:

"Alexa...turn on cable TV."

"Alexa...turn on Blu-Ray player."

"Alexa...turn off system."

"Alexa...turn on music throughout house."

We will be integrating this into our home theater showroom today and then taking appointments to display this technology afterward. Interested in how to make your audio/video system work reliably AND how to engage surround sound voice control? Call San Diego's Alexa home automation experts for a showing! We are San Diego's smart home, audio, video and home automation experts.

San Diego's home theater experts proudly serve all of San Diego County especially the communities and cities of Central San Diego County which includes Del Cerro, Allied Gardens, Talmadge, Kensington, Hillcrest, Mission Valley, Fashion Valley, La Mesa, Lake Murray, Friars, North Park, Balboa Park, Clairemont, Kearny Mesa, Mission Bay, Mission Beach, Pacific Beach, Ocean Beach, Imperial Beach, Pt Loma and Downtown San Diego. We also gladly serve those in North San Diego County which includes Carlsbad, San Marcos, Vista, Elfin Forest, Oceanside, Olivenhain, Escondido, Encinitas, Cardiff by the Sea, Solana Beach, Del Mar, Rancho Santa Fe, 4S Ranch, Santaluz, La Jolla, Poway and Rancho Bernardo. We aren't forgetting about our East County friends in El Cajon, Blossom Valley, Lakeside and Alpine. Need help in Murrieta, Temecula or Wildomar? We're there too.

We have BIG weather coming in this weekend. Wacky weather often creates problems with your cable services, computer and Internet and we want to save you frustration and time if problems arise. Below are some tips to try if you have issues with your computer or TV while this weather is in town.

Cable Box

If you experience: 

1) Picture and no sound
2) Sound and no picture
3) Frozen or jagged picture
4) Your channel up/down and GUIDE don't work OR they stop functioning mid-program

All you need to do is to:

* Unplug the cable box from the AC outlet or from the back of the cable box, whichever is easier.
* Wait 20 seconds and then plug it back in.
* Wait a 5-10 minutes for the box to reboot. Make sure that the box is turned on and then try using the TV again.

Your problems should be solved!

Computer or AppleTV/Roku

If you experience:

1) No Internet service on your computer or wired/wireless devices that are connected to the network.
2) S...l...o...w... performance from Netflix, Sonos or other connected devices.
3) The AppleTV or Roku device seems frozen and won't respond to your remote.

All you need to do is:

* Unplug your modem and router from the AC outlets. If it is an AppleTV/Roku problem, unplug the offending unit.
* Plug your modem back into the AC outlet and wait until it comes back on (you will typically see solid lights across the front of it...give it 2-3 minutes).
* Plug your router back into the AC outlet and wait until it comes back on (you will typically see solid lights across the front of it...give it 2-3 minutes).
* Attempt using the Internet again. If you still can't connect, repeat steps 1-3.
* If you still can't connect, call your Internet provider (typically ATT, Cox or Time Warner) and ask if there are any outages in your area.

You are now storm savvy! These problems typically arise with any changes in weather. If your systems still aren't working, give us a call and we'd be glad to help.

Did you know that 99.99999999999999% of the population in San Diego has bad WiFi? OK, maybe there aren't that many 9s. However, many people curse daily at their household WiFi when Netflix gets slow, you venture into a WiFi "dead zone" or on-line videos keep buffering. Fortunately, your WiFi saviors have arrived in the shape of Aire Theater Designs! We are San Diego's WiFi experts and help our clients on a daily basis to navigate WiFi smoothly.

Before we bring on any new product, we make sure that we test it extensively in many different environments to ensure that it lives up to the reliability and performance that we expect from all of our product lines. For a few years, Apple's EXTREME router has occupied a GOOD slot in our GOOD>BETTER>BEST WiFi and networking hierarchy. However, we've been intrigued by Araknis Network products and their WiFi solutions and have finally put in the time to test them in both commercial and residential environments. It's time for the Araknis vs. Apple face-off! (HINT: Araknis wins! See below).