ORLANDO, FLA. — Start-up home-automation and multi-room-audio brand TiO plans to ship its first products in August following their debut last week at the InfoComm 2013 show.
The brand’s parent, Automated Control Technology Partners (ACTP), is headed by industry veteran Mike Anderson.
The introductory suite of Android-based products features Wi-Fi-based music streaming, multi-zone audio, lighting, and climate control. The products are controlled by Android tablets and by a pair of wall-mounted TiO full-color touchscreens.
A few months after initial product shipments, TiO plans to offer products to integrate TiO systems with third-party security, camera and entertainment subsystems.
The brand’s products make it possible for installers to completely configure a home automation system in less than 20 minutes, the company contended. It’s also designed to let users easily create their single-room scenes, or presets, on their own without requiring a visit from an integrator.
The first round of products includes a $499 master coordinator (MC1) smart wireless access point, which is a dedicated Wi-Fi 802.11n WPS wireless router with featuring up to 450 feet of range. The $599 TiO StealthStream 1 (AZSS1) digital audio zone player features 100-watt amplifier, Wi- Fi 802.11n, built-in Internet music streamer, and stereo Bluetooth receiver.
The zone player streams content direct from such content sources as Rhapsody, SiriusXM, TuneIn Radio, and Vtuner.
The zone player comes with hardware for in-wall, surface-mount and table- top installation, and it is small enough to fit in a single-gang enclosure in the wall. On a tabletop, it can be connected via optical digital input to a local source such as a TV.
The zone player features back-side speaker- level outputs to connect to in-wall/in-ceiling or tabletop speakers.
The two TiO touchscreens are the $799 TouchStream 4, which features 4-inch portrait display, and the $899 TouchStream 7, which features 7-inch landscape display. Both fit in single-gang enclosures, and both feature the same user interface as the TiOHome Android App.
TiO also launched lighting control via the $249 TouchLite 4 universal switch-dimmer with capacitive touch buttons. The $299 TiO ThermaTouch 1 is a Wi-Fi based thermostat with full-color, 4.7-inch touchscreen.
