Walk through a new construction home in Bethany or a century-old craftsman in Alameda, and you'll find the same blind spot: a network that was never sized for the technology-rich home it's running.

Builder-grade tech packages will offer a router the same way it offers a doorbell: as a checkbox item. Then the homeowner adds lighting control, a security platform, four streaming devices, and a home office, and they're left wondering why a $150,000 technology package feels unreliable.

The network isn't a to-do list detail. It's the infrastructure that everything else in a modern connected home depends on, and in a market like Portland, it's carrying more weight than most people realize. Keep reading to learn how to overcome spotty network issues with strategic network design by Encore Audio Video, your local tech integration specialist.

A massive screen alone doesn't make a home theater feel like the Cineplex across town, because without sound engineered to match it, even a stunning picture falls flat, and the room ends up feeling more like the traditional TV room you had growing up.

If you spend months choosing a screen size and picking out seating, then treating the speaker setup as a last-minute consideration does a disservice to your family's home entertainment experience. Audio and video should be planned in conjunction with one another, or the room never quite delivers as it should. Learn more about home theater design and AV planning below.

Most homeowners put real thought into the furniture and art in their living areas. If they’re big on entertainment, then they’ve likely addressed their home theater and sound system. Still, the window treatments in these spaces are usually an afterthought, added in a hurry once everything else is installed and finished. 

That's backward, because automated shades protect everything you just spent months carefully curating in your interior design, plus add convenience and style to everyday moments. Learn more about smart-controlled window treatments below.

If you've ever dragged a spare TV onto the patio for a big game or a summer movie night, you already know how that story ends: the picture looks washed-out, there’s a foggy screen the next morning, or the TV just stops turning on after one cold or wet night. 

Indoor TVs simply weren't built for life outside, and that's exactly why outdoor-rated TVs exist. Read along below to discover why your living room TV was never meant to go outside and find out what you should add to the patio instead.