Empower Your Clients with New Crestron Products

Crestron is excited to announce several new products and updates ideal for HTA Certified members. From a new operating system for Crestron OS 4 to elevated shading options to audio equipment, one thing is at the core of it all—empowering clients with intuitive operation, beautiful aesthetics, and more options for shading and audio at home.  

Crestron Home OS 4

Software updates generally arrive in one of two ways: they’re either incremental — or they’re expansive. As you’ve likely surmised, the introduction of the Crestron Home® 4 OS is the latter.

Simply put, this is big.

The team behind this latest iteration of the platform is excited to learn the reaction of the clients (and dealers) who’ll interact with the software on Day One. “I’m certain the ‘wow factor’ when people see this version will be off the charts,” says Jason Oster, Crestron’s director of product management solutions.

Maintaining Intuitive Operations 
The trick, though — and Oster has experienced this firsthand — is building a comprehensive update to an operating system and its interface without confusing existing users. “The testing we undertook was really comprehensive — and we didn’t limit it to product managers and engineers,” he says. “Non-tech” folks of all ages and backgrounds were asked to live with the platform, use it as often as they could, and the team observed those interactions and implemented feedback — all while Crestron’s internal testing labs probed the software for any weaknesses.

This version of the platform was, of course, informed by feedback from previous iterations as well. Since its introduction in 2019, the Crestron Home platform has gone through nearly two dozen updates driven by a combination of dealer and end-user feedback and beta testing in the field. It also builds on a rich history: Since its inception, the Crestron Home platform has been embraced by dealers and clients looking for an elegant smart-home interface with a wide variety of functions, controllable from a remote, a touch screen, or the user’s mobile device. Version 4 improves on that award-winning product, allowing one-touch control and automation of a smart home’s entertainment, climate, lighting, shading, security, and more.

Empowering the Client

One of the key focuses of Version 4 is giving the user many more options when it comes to their personal experience. By adding more back­-end control to the homeowner — using an interface that’s incredibly easy for any user to understand — Crestron Home OS 4 both empowers the client and reduces calls to the dealer for routine adjustments such as schedule or scene changes. This version further allows for more third-party integration with more opportunities for the driver community to add support for additional devices and features.

On the front end, the graphics, icons, and layout of the Crestron Home OS 4 have all been updated and refined to make the user experience much more fluid. One example: With the addition of more filters on a given screen, the new UI allows the user to find functionality in any room or zone with fewer taps. This is the most granular system customization ever made available to the end user. Coupled with the recently introduced “password session” feature, the Crestron Home platform now allows the homeowner to rapidly customize any of their smart home’s functions, room by room or throughout the residence, by entering their personal password once.

Elevated Shading Options

Crestron’s shading solutions are constantly being updated — after all, shading is a critical part of any whole-home lighting and climate solution.

The QMT® 3 Series Shade Motor Décor Hardware Collection (Available October 2023)

Crestron’s offering what amounts to an aesthetic overhaul of its QMT 3 Series shade motor Décor shading with a redesign of the hardware system. Part of that update includes a range of modern end caps that mirror the modern aesthetic that Crestron’s customers demand. They’re available in six color options, including white, almond, light grey, dark grey, brown, and black. These elegant additions to our shading hardware line transform a project’s windows with a sturdy, safe, and sleek end cap design that elevates any room's aesthetic.

The updated hardware includes black brackets and a black motor head to help conceal the inner workings of the shade, reinforcing that upscale look. The brackets themselves provide the second half of this solution — namely, an incredibly durable and sturdy design that ensures long-lasting quality and safety.

Crestron’s New Lithium-Ion Battery-Powered Roller Shades (Available December 2023)

Beyond those instances where a retrofit demands cable-free installation, wireless shades provide many benefits. They’re perfect for hard-to-reach windows, replacing manual corded products to enhance child and pet safety, or simply a solution for customers seeking motorized shading without wires. What’s more, Crestron’s Lithium-Ion Battery-Powered Roller Shades are attractive to your eco-friendly customers because they run on rechargeable batteries.

These shades offer battery-driven motor technology that ensures enduring performance for years to come with a long-lasting, rechargeable lithium-ion battery that can provide uninterrupted performance for up to 12 months. Available in sizes up to 120" in width, these shades include three adjustable motor speed options, allowing you to manage their functions as a client dictates. Charging is a snap — it’s as simple as charging a cell phone. Just take the USB-C® charging device, attach it to the motor, and then plug it into the power source.

It’s an elegant way to control light and temperature without wiring that works perfectly with Crestron’s new QMT 3 Series shade motor Décor hardware collection and our Architectural 3 Series collection. In fact, this is the same hardware used in all of Crestron’s low-voltage motors. That means customers can combine battery (lithium-ion) and low-voltage systems to cover all the windows in the home and enjoy a consistent look throughout.

The Audio Angle — A Look Ahead

Crestron’s also putting the finishing touches on three new audio products — additions to our successful DM NAX™ Audio-over-IP technology line that will be available early next year.

The DM-NAX-4ZSA-50 4+1 Zone Streaming Amplifier (Coming Soon)

The DM-NAX-4ZSA-50 is the spiritual successor to the C2N-AMP-6X100/4X100 — it’s an amplifier that truly delivers DM NAX technology at a lower price point. This 4+1 zone streaming amp (that’s four amplified zones with a bonus line output for an audio-visual receiver) offers incredible performance, with streaming, cutting-edge GaN amp technology, and local inputs, all wrapped up in an elegant, passively cooled, surface-mountable half-rack box that’s a mere 1 RU tall. With eight channels rated at 50W (RMS) each, this silent, fanless amp features five dedicated media players, four audio inputs (two for analog sources and one each for coax and digital), and two network ports.

The DM-NAX-4ZSA-50 is perfect for adding a few extra zones to a large DM NAX deployment — or bringing multi-room audio to MDU spaces. Offering native Crestron Home platform integration, this latest addition to the DM NAX line of amplifiers will fit nicely in structured wire enclosures and allow developers and dealers to offer a compelling smart home system with AV integration by coupling this with a Crestron Home processor.

The DM-NAX-XSP Audio Return Processor (Coming Soon)

This surround-sound eARC solution — our first decoding DM NAX digital signal processor — can bridge streaming TVs to a multi-room audio distribution system. By leveraging ARC/eARC, the device can grab the high-quality audio content from smart TVs and tie that to your DM NAX solution. By linking two of these units together, the first can extend the ARC/eARC signal over IP to a rack where a second unit can feed a traditional AVR from there. The device really shines when it’s coupled with a DM-NAX-8ZSA (or the new 4ZSA-50): Now you can enjoy your streaming content with your in-ceiling speakers that are connected to your DM NAX amp — and it all just works seamlessly when coupled with the Crestron Home OS.

Simply put, the DM-NAX-XSP pairs seamlessly with any Crestron DM NAX amp or preamp to bring HDMI® connectivity, eARC, and ARC audio video support and immersive audio from Dolby Atmos® or DTS:X® formats. The device offers multi-channel audio inputs with a two-channel DM NAX downmix out with 8K HDMI inputs and outputs, along with two network ports, one with PoE.

The DM-NAX-BTIO-1G Bluetooth Wall Plate (Coming Soon)

The first of a number of audio accessories coming to the DM NAX platform, the DM-NAX-BTIO-1G is a wall plate with Bluetooth® communications and analog input/outputs that allows you to easily add Bluetooth audio to any DM NAX® Audio-over-IP, DM NVX® AV-over-IP, Dante® audio network, or AES67 AoIP system. The DM-NAX-BTIO-1G acts as something of a “wildcard,” as it supports any audio source to bridge to DM NAX technology. As you’re likely aware, Android™ OS users don’t have the benefit of something like AirPlay® software, so Bluetooth connectivity is a fantastic option to source audio to this wall plate. What’s more, we’re hearing from younger Crestron customers who really prefer Bluetooth communications as their audio interface — which we can now deliver in a high-quality manner that leverages DM NAX technology. 

The DM-NAX-BTIO-1G’s flexible form factor can be either put in a wall plate or surface mounted and hidden away — just a single network connection allows you to control and manage the device through the Crestron Home OS. Other features include an onboard DSP for tone shaping and signal optimization, all delivered via a single network cable that powers the plate as well.

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