Cal Spas’ Sports Bar & Grill barbecue island features two 15-inch LCD TVs with an option for a third. That delivers enough screens for a yard full of weekend baseball junkies. The package’s Sirius Satellite Radio/CD system plays through marine-grade speakers protected against sun, rain, and humidity. The Sirius music channels offer guests a fully loaded menu of audio choices from close to 200 channels of programming. Options for the barbecue include a five-burner grill, food warmers, beverage tap, refrigerator, and waterfall.
Tucking a flat-panel TV into a covered cabana is one approach to outdoor TV. Now Stewart Filmscreen has taken the concept to the big screen. Stewart’s novel StarGlas is a projection TV screen that fits between two pieces of protective glass. StarGlas is impervious to rain or UV rays and can be cleaned with standard glass-cleaning products, making it an able substitute for a window on the back side of a home. Installers then build a rear-projection room behind the glass wall to house the projector. The StarGlas screen can also be used in a stand-alone installation to create the sense of a floating design.
Stewart is marketing StarGlas as the first architectural screen because of its versatility. “It’s not only a screen,” says a company spokesperson, “but a building material just like glass. You can cut it in interesting shapes, curve it … Anything that can be done to glass can be done with StarGlas.
“We had been noticing a surge in the popularity of watching movies outdoors,” she says. “The problem is, the quality isn’t there,” referring to traditional screens not engineered for outdoor use or white sheets which are a poor substitute for a high-quality screen. “Stewart’s solution was to come up with a screen that can be installed permanently in an outdoor environment, rain or shine.”
For links to the manufacturers mentioned in this story, visit our Web site at www.customhomeonline.com.
Soak It In It seems no space in the home is safe from home entertainment these days—even the household spa. Cal Spas has broken new ground with the Cal Heat CU800 Entertainment Sauna, which entertains up to four people with a built-in anti-fog, anti-glare 17-inch LCD flat-panel TV, DVD/CD player, and Sirius Satellite Radio-ready AM/FM stereo.
“We’ve definitely pioneered this idea, but I’m certain others will follow suit,” says Shiva Noble, executive vice president of Cal Spas.
The TV sits 5 feet high on the interior wall, a height chosen following a series of seating configuration tests conducted to avoid neck strain and other discomforts.
Noble says the electronics are built to withstand the extreme conditions. “All the electronics are 100 percent weatherproof, anti-fog, anti-glare, and marine-grade.” Although the heat is dry heat rather than steam-based, the equipment can withstand humid conditions as well.
Overall dimensions of the hexagonal sauna are 7 feet wide, 7 feet deep and 7 feet high. Inside the spa boasts two-level seating, aspen wood paneling, two full-length windows, and a door with an acrylic window.
