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Home Automation

Video Preview: Introducing Myro:Air, The AirPlay Streamer for Home Integration & Audiophiles

Electronics, Home Automation, Home Theater, Videos
July 14, 2012 No Comments

If you have been wondering why the lack of posts here at Mavromatic, it’s because I have been heads down working on a new product for Myro Control.  It’s now to the point that I can give you all a sneak peak of Myro:Air!

This will be the first certified Apple AirPlay hardware device that features audiophile sound quality using the highly respected WM8741 DAC by Wolfson Microelectronics.     Myro:Air will also be a home integrators dream come true — yup — it will feature RS232 and “Myro:Link” which will provide full metadata and transport control (Play/Pause/Next/Previous) of the AirPlay stream.   This means Crestron, Control4, Russound and any other system that can interface via RS232 or Russound RNET will be able to control and receive metadata from the AirPlay stream.

Myro:Air will also provide a USB port that will allow iOS device charging and control/playback as well.  So you can either plug in your iPad/iPhone/iPod touch or any iPod and it will not only charge the device but will also stream digital audio processed through the quality DAC and provide metadata and transport control via the connected control system.

I’m very proud and excited about this new product and can’t wait to get it to market.   Email preorderAIR@myrocontrol.com if you’d like to get on the early pre-order list.  The first run will be VERY limited so get on the waiting list now!

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Obihai OBi100 – Google Voice To POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service)

DIY, Electronics, Home Appliances, Home Automation, Home Improvement
September 2, 2011 3 Comments

I’ve been on the look out for a device that can leverage Google Voice *and* offer up a POTS port that can be tied into my whole house Panasonic telephone system (Hybrid-PBX) as a CO line.  The search is finally over — Obihai’s OBi100 does exactly what I need for less than $50 and NO monthly fees!    I ordered the OBi100 from Amazon for only $43.99 when it arrived the setup was easy and was up and running within 30 mins. If you were to base the sound quality on looks alone, you’d suspect it’s terrible, however, it’s not! I couldn’t perceive any notable sound quality differences from my landline service and there were no issues sending or receiving faxes over the line either. This little device is a must have for any Google Voice user! If you have any questions feel free to post in the comments.


– Obihai:
What is it?
– Obihai: How to use it with Google Voice
– Buy now via AMAZON: OBi100 VoIP Telephone Adapter and Voice Service Bridge

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Vidabox iPad/iPad2 On-Wall Mounting Frames

Home Automation
August 22, 2011 2 Comments


Front view of frame shown with a white iPad2

Vidabox has been in the digital entertainment and control business for a while now and offers media extenders to complete home automation control systems. They have a product and/or solution for almost every A/V need — even turning your iPad into a wall mountable picture frame.

The Vidabox iPad On-Wall Mount Frame is actually a pretty good idea allowing you to add an on-wall control interface pretty much anywhere at a very economical price.


USB to Cat5 power extension kit

When I first opened the box the first thing that popped into my head was, “why didn’t I think of this!”. A genius concept, put an iPad into a high-quality contemporary picture frame and hang it on the wall. The kits come complete with everything needed to power the iPad using only a single Cat5 cable. The installation takes literally minutes after you get the cat5 cable fished through your wall. The frame design is clean and simple and great for anyone that wants a semi-permanent wall installation of an iPad (I call it semi-permanent because you don’t need to cut a hole into the wall) — that’s great because it makes swapping out iPad versions in the future very easy!  The kit is available for both the original iPad and the iPad2. The frame kit retails for $99 and comes in a variety of finishes.


iPad On-Wall Frame Kit


Back view of iPad frame

For more information and to order the frame kit visit VidaBox.

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Myro:Bridge – Kaleidescape to Russound RNET

Electronics, Home Automation, Home Theater, Videos
May 27, 2011 2 Comments

I have been busy releasing a bunch of new firmware updates for Myro:Bridge and one that I’m especially proud of is the newest Kaleidescape to Russound RNET. The Kaleidescape is a very slick piece of hardware, not only for exact CD quality audio playback but for video (including Bluray). We have had a unit in for testing while we write the firmware and it will be a sad day when I have to ship the unit back. Until then, I’m enjoying every minute with it. Check out the video showing how Myro:Bridge tightly integrates a Kaleidescape with Russounds whole house audio controllers using RNET and the Myro:Bridge.

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Arduino Shield: Video Experimenter

DIY, Electronics, Home Automation, Home Theater
March 24, 2011 No Comments

Just found out about the Video Experimenter shield (via hackaday) created by Nootropic Design.   I’ve been looking for something like this for my screen masking controller project.  One has been ordered and will report back once I make some progress getting it tied into the masking controller (which has now been converted to an Arduino project as well).

Here are a few details on the shield, peep the video below for the full effect:

  • Overlay text and graphics onto a video signal from a camera, DVR, DVD player, VCR or any other source of composite video.
  • Capture low-res video image frames for display or video processing. Give your Arduino the gift of sight!
  • Perform object detection for computer vision projects.
  • Decode closed captioning or XDS (extended data services) data embedded in television broadcasts.
  • Works with NTSC (North America) or PAL (rest of the world) television standards.

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Myro:Bridge – Russound RNET HDMI Switcher Controller (firmware)

Home Automation
February 5, 2011 1 Comment

UPDATE: Now with Octava HDMI Switcher Support!

If you have been waiting for Russound to release a RNET based HDMI switcher to replace the VM1 series look no further! I’ve created a firmware to control Wyrestorm HDMI Matrix Switchers (4×2, 4×4 and 8×8) via Myro:Bridge. The onboard webpage allows you to configure/map the input and outputs of the matrix switcher to the sources and zones of your Russound controller. It’s an elegant system which is future proof and expandable. The Myro:Bridge plugs into the RNET ports and a RS232 cable is connected to the Wyrestorm switcher — it’s that easy! Watch the video for a quick demo on how it works.

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