The latest hype in High Definition world seems to be about the new 1080p HDTV's. Lets a step back and see what 1080i and 1080p really means. On the surface there is no difference. They are identical in their resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. The difference comes under the hood, even though they both display the same resolution, 1080i refreshes screen in an interlaced manner, odd horizontal lines first and then even horizontal lines. This is all done at the refresh rate of a particular TV, normally 1/30 of a second. 1080p on the other hand refreshes the screen all at once. Hence the "i" stands for interlaced and "p" stands for progressive.

1080p in theory is considered better then 1080i because of its ability to refresh in a progressive manner, thus having a name of "Ultra-HD" or "Full HD". The ability to refresh screens at once makes for a crisp clean image, which is preferred for images in motion, like sports and fast action movies.

Having said this, the next question that comes to mind is what content is available in true 1080p format. And the answer to that question is: None. All the programming provided by cable or satellite companies is either in 1080i or 720p format. HD-DVD, Blu-Ray and Sony Playstation 3 are capable of outputting 1080p.

So why get 1080p?

Given the size increases in LCD and Plasmas, ranging from 13" to 101" from quality manufacturer's like Samsung, LG, Sony, Runco and Marantz, the extra level of refresh rate will make a difference between a pixilated image and a clean smooth image once the 50" threshold is crossed. 1080p is currently the digital standard for filming digital motion pictures. Directors such as George Lucas shoot their digital films in this high definition mode to be shown in home theaters equipped with 1080p equipment.

Why not let the home automation experts at Illuminations Lighting Design assist you with your home theater, surround sound, or HDTV plasma needs. They can be reached toll free at 800-863-1184 or online at www.illuminationslighting.com.

Females traditionally dominate the decorating of a home and males tend to get the garage and outdoors. On everyman's wish list is to have a few areas that is for males only. In his dreams of dreams he would love to have a custom home theater, a four-car garage and a workshop to tinker in. Often one room has to be used for several functions, an office combined with a billiard room and a male only retreat. It is time for the man to come out of his shed!

Here at Illuminations Lighting Design we specialize in creating environments that men can appreciate and enjoy. You know, a sound system in the cabana, a big screen television in the master bedroom, a dimming control system for the home or just a hand held remote of his own. Our Cedia certified designers know how to make the man of the house feel like a king!

Men typically want electronic toys and gadgets that are fun to operate. Sometimes dad only uses these toys with the other family members sneaking in to play around. But make no mistake, these are dad's toys and you better not mess them up. Simple to use remotes or touch screen panels can make even the most complicated audio/video system a snap to operate.

Looking for your very own personalized Sony whole-house entertainment systems professionally installed throughout your home during construction? Something you can roll into the mortgage and start enjoying the day you move in? Let the CEDIA Certified audio video professionals at Illuminations Lighting Design and Sony show you the way!

Whether you are looking for a small whole home audio system like the Sony NHS-301, Sony NHS-710, Sony NHS-1000 or a larger more sophisticated whole house audio system such as the Sony NHS-2010, Illuminations Lighting Design is ready to help you configure just the right system for you! See how this integrated, multi-room solution gives you all-new ways to enjoy music, TV, and video throughout your home with advanced features and capabilities you won't find in typical home entertainment systems. An expandable solution for home entertainment. With the Sony NHS-2010 solution, you can fill your new home with a full array of music, TV and video entertainment - all customized for the way you live. You'll have a complete, full-featured home theater in your great room (or any room you choose), plus up to six additional rooms of music and video.

High-performance home theater experience
Your whole-home entertainment solution begins with an elegant home theater system that is designed to blend in with the rest of your living space, not distract from it. It will entertain you with DVD video, VHS, CD, AM/FM music and optional cable/satellite programming - all delivered through built-in speakers and an advanced Sony TV. But that's only the beginning!

Entertainment at your fingertips
In your home theater, you'll have an intelligent color touch-screen RF remote that controls all elements of your home entertainment system automatically. Want to watch a movie on DVD? A typical home theater system often requires multiple remote controls and knowledge of how your system is connected. Sony's cutting-edge remote eliminates all the clutter and complexity. Just touch the DVD button, and all the necessary components, including your TV, will power up and set themselves automatically. No more confusing procedures to follow. All your entertainment needs are preprogrammed and pre integrated for you into a single button push.

Up to six additional zones of entertainment
With the Sony NHS-2010, you can extend your home theater experience to up to six additional zones: bedroom, living room, den, patio, home office, or any other rooms you choose. Not only can you share the same music and video throughout your home, but you can also watch or listen to different sources in different rooms. Just imagine the whole-house convenience this system will offer to you and your family.

Digital in-wall keypads

Sony's advanced digital in-wall keypads will act as the gateway to home entertainment in each room. Stylishly designed, the keypad will blend into any decor. Using the keypad's 4-line LCD display, you can view all the movies available in the 400-disc DVD player, browse the preset radio stations, and control any source in your system. The keypad even comes with an external remote control so you can control the keypad from your easy chair.

Installed professionally
Your solution is installed during the construction phase of your new home by Illuminations Lighting Design one of a select few Sony Authorized Installers in the Houston area. This ensures that the day you move in your entertainment solution will be ready for you to enjoy!

With your advanced home entertainment system, you can enjoy:

A fully integrated Sony Whole House Audio Video system from Illuminations Lighting Design such as the Sony NHS-2010 solution includes all the necessary components, along with an integration package, that will fill your entire home with audio and video from the very first day you move in.

Here are just some of the features on the Sony solution:

400-Disc DVD/ CD Changer
No more need to manually flip through discs in order to find the movie you want to watch. The Sony Mega DVD Changer allows you to store up to 400 of your favorite DVDs and access them from anywhere in the house. You will be able to easily browse and select movie titles through displays on the touch-screen remote and the in-wall keypads.

DVD Recorder/VCR Combo
Record and playback your favorite shows - onto VHS or DVD, from any room.

400-Disc CD Changer
Store up to 400 CDs and enjoy them with one touch throughout your home. Album titles can be easily viewed through the keypad and touch-screen remote.

5-Disc DVD/CD Player
Load your favorite DVDs and watch them with one touch throughout your home. The Advantages to having a separate DVD/CD player are three rooms can each watch a separate DVD. When you rent a movie, you can drop it into the 5-disc player without having to look for an available slot in your 400 disc DVD Changer and finally with the 400-disc DVD/CD player, 400-disc CD player, DVD Recorder/VCR Combo and this 5-disc player, you can listen to four CDs in four different rooms.

ES Receiver
This component provides all the intelligence for your home theater. From AM/FM tuning to A/V switching, the receiver is the heart of your system. You can quickly access all your favorite radio stations, which will be displayed on the touch-screen remote or the in-wall keypads.

Home Theater TV
Your Sony New Home Entertainment Solution includes a choice of television to complete your home theater viewing experience. Whether you choose a high-definition Plasma WEGA, Grand WEGA LCD Rear Projection TV, or the Trinitron Direct View WEGA model, you will enjoy incredibly rich and detailed images and the sound they provide. Your TV set will also be HDTV-compatible.

LCD Touch-Screen Remote
In your home theater, a touch-screen remote automatically controls all elements of your theater experience. Simply touch the LCD controller's color screen and it will give you simple one-touch control over your entire system. It also provides easy navigation of all your music and video. Best of all, everything's preprogrammed for you and ready to use on the day you move in.

In-wall Keypads and Remote
Easily watch DVDs, listen to CDs, and view cable/satellite programming from any room in your home. You'll be able to access all your home entertainment using the advanced wall-mounted keypads. Each keypad also comes with a remote control for added convenience.

Custom-Selected Speakers
Your Sony new home solution comes with an array of built-in speakers that are carefully selected by your Sony Authorized Installer to match the layout and decor of your home and the configuration of your customized Sony solution.

Wiring
All the specialized wiring needed for your Sony new home entertainment solution is installed during construction by Illuminations Lighting Design. This includes the connections between components as well as the wiring for each room in your system - completely separate from any structured wiring you have for telephone and data services.

The basic NHS-2010 new home Sony system comes ready to provide entertainment in three rooms, with the ability to expand out to seven. Please talk with Illuminations Lighting Design about expansion options, pricing or availability in your area.

The Sony NHS-2010 comes with three rooms of entertainment and is upgradeable to seven rooms. And since each room is a separate zone, A/V source selection and volume controls are discrete. Plus, all rooms can receive audio and video signals, which mean you can watch and listen to any source from any room.

Sony Whole House Audio Video Systems from Illuminations Lighting Design come with one of the following quality video products. Select from any of these HDTV-capable Sony TVs to match the way you prefer to watch movies, sports, and TV. All of these WEGA televisions deliver outstanding television entertainment and complete your Sony New Home Solution with style.

Direct View Hi-Scan FD Trinitron Wega TV
The best picture quality and High-Definition Television (HDTV) connectivity, with four times the picture resolution compared to conventional TVs. The FD Trinitron flat picture tube diminishes glare, while the Digital Reality Creation circuitry delivers a picture that rivals hi-def without a hi-def signal. The Memory Stick media slot allows for instant access to digital photos and video.

Grand WEGA LCD Rear Projection TV
The thrilling Grand WEGA Television features Sony's exclusive optical engine, which provides crisp and consistent resolution of 3.28 million dots, for both conventional and High-Definition TV programming. The Fixed Pixel Display and constant light eliminate any trace of flicker, and the slim, lightweight design enhances any decor. Plus, both images and audio come alive with Enhanced Memory Stick media. Allows playback of both JPEG and MPEG1 files on screen.

Plasma WEGA Integrated Plasma TV
The original ultra-slim all-in-one design with floating glass panel will have them in awe before you turn it on. The Digital Pixel Generator technology displays a natural, rich image, while the pixel-by-pixel I/P conversion creates fluid motion with remarkable detail - for the purest reproduction of film, video, and broadcast sources. The Sony WEGA Engine System and Direct Digital Circuitry provide a consistently crisp picture, and the DRC feature allows for amazing resolution. It's HDTV-ready, too.

BRAVIA XBR LCD Flat Panel HDTV
Packed with the latest technology, Sony's BRAVIA XBR LCD Flat Panel HDTV features the WEGA Engine system, which delivers superb picture quality from any video source minimizing signal deterioration. Other features such as WEGA GATE guide allow the user to easily navigate television functions: favorite channels, television channel lists and external input list of settings. Watch your living room come to life with Sony's BRAVIA XBR LCD Flat Panel HDTV.

Illuminations Lighting Design a full service design build firm specializing in residential and commercial indoor lighting and outdoor lighting installation, service and maintenance as well as home automation, home theaters and lighting control systems. Please visit http://www.illuminationslighting.com/ for more information regarding Sony new house systems, HOME AUTOMATION or LIGHTING DESIGN for your new home. We can be reached toll free at 800-863-1184 Monday through Friday from 8 to 5 CST.

*Sony, Trinitron, Wega, Bravia, XBR, memory stick, DRC and Grand Wega are registered trademarks of Sony Corporation of America.

This is your home. Yours - nobody else's. And it's perfect. You planned it. You brought it to life. Now let it do the same for you. Hear it sing. Watch it play. Let it wrap itself around you. Tell you stories. Show you worlds. Open doors you didn't know were closed.

Make yourself at home... with all the power of Sony. Now there's a built-in entertainment system that's perfectly suited for your home and lifestyle.

Sony Electronics and Illuminations Lighting Design have joined forces to promote a new line of Sony audio video solutions for new homes. These custom Sony products are only available through authorized dealers, such as Illuminations Lighting Design, and are not being sold directly to the public. You've grown up with Sony, the leading name in home electronics, so who would you rather live with in your new home?

These unique high end Sony components are installed by the Sony Authorized experts of Illuminations Lighting Design. Our technicians and designers are trained and experienced professionals who must pass Sony's rigorous requirements in order to insure they can meet yours. Naturally, all Sony components are backed by world-class Sony support. Service that is second to none - service you can count on today and tomorrow.

So what are these special Sony components available through Illuminations Lighting Design and what makes them so special? Sony's new home entertainment solutions incorporate the whole house - totally integrated. Big-screen home theater. Small screens for news and sports. HD in the movie room. Late-night talk shows in the bedroom. CDs, DVDs, VCRs, Cable and satellite. Symphonies with dinner, rock where you roll out your Pilates mat. Multi-room, muti-source, muti-user - with Sony and Illuminations Lighting Design you can have it all! No boxes. No wires. No hassles. Everybody's happy!

Just think. Your new home, and your new Sony home entertainment system - one and the same. Magnifying pleasure. Multiplying features. Minimizing costs. With a built-in convenience you can't achieve any other way. And you know what? It can increase the value and salability of your new home investment because the next buyer will be smiling too. You'll love this part. The system can be absorbed in your home investment or rolled into the mortgage. You're buying a new home. With Sony entertainment solutions built in.

Sony new home entertainment solutions are designed to fit the way you live. Work the way you think. And be installed during construction by Illuminations Lighting Design, not later - when built-in wires, screens, and speakers can be costly and impractical. So think about it. Not just where you'll sleep or eat. What you'll do for excitement. Inspiration. Information. Fun. Then let Sony do the entertaining.

A side from all the Audio/Video equipment, speaker and subwoofer placement is the foundation for a true home theater experience. The shape of the room, paint, furniture, texture of the walls and color of the walls and furniture can enhance or distort sound in a room; therefore, the ability to evaluate a room for proper placement of speakers and subwoofers becomes even more crucial.

Some of the basic factors used to determine the placement are:

Room size
Room shape
Speakers installation (in-wall, in-ceiling, floor standing, etc)
Speaker and subwoofer specifications
Primary viewing distance
Secondary viewing

To truly understand the importance of speaker placement, let us for a moment wear our physicists' hat. Sound behaves just like light. There is reflection, refraction and diffusion of sound in a room. If the speakers are not placed in most optimized locations, there will be dead zones as well as really loud zones in the room. This will cause some viewers to turn up the volume while others will want to lower the volume depending on the seating location.

For a complete evaluation of your home theater or assistance designing a new media room in your office or home please contact Illuminations at 713-863-1133. ILD is a CEDIA (Consumer Electronic Design and Installation Association) Certified Designer as well as being certified in both Vantage and Lutron Lighting Controls.

Illuminations Lighting Design is full service design build firm specializing in residential and commercial indoor lighting and outdoor lighting installation, service and maintenance. Our experienced staff of professional lighting designers, system engineers and licensed electricians is well trained in all aspects of new home construction, remodeling, electrical wiring, home automation, architectural lighting and landscape lighting design. Illuminations works with architects, interior designers, custom home builders, contractors and homeowners by providing professional services, from consulting, CAD drawings, documentation and project management, to furnishing, installing and fine tuning all types of lighting fixtures and control systems.