HouseDigital aims to make homes more tech-friendly

The Democrat and Chronicle
By David Tyler

(May 21, 2006) — The folks at House Digital want to get inside your house.

Don't worry, they're not planning to steal anything. They just want to hang out in your living room or family room, your patio, your home, office and maybe your kitchen too.

House Digital is in the home networking business, designing and building systems that connect your TV, computer, security cameras and other systems. Using a combination of wired and wireless technology, the company gives homeowners the ability to view digital photos on their TV, or watch a movie on a computer screen in the kitchen, or control the lights in a room with a remote.

The company's 1,100-square-foot office at North Goodman Street and Anderson Avenue is a showplace for the technology. Set up like a loft apartment, visitors can see and hear the systems at work, catching a movie on a plasma screen while listening to digitally streaming music coming from speakers in the kitchen.

The idea is a sort of Holy Grail in home entertainment — a seamless network that links every room in the house and gives access to pictures, sound and video.

And it can be darn confusing to do it yourself. That's where Adam Goldfeder, 34, and partner Kurt Martel, 29, come in. They want to focus on simplicity, such as buttons that get you quickly to specific features.

Clients can get overwhelmed. "We get a lot of 'Oh my God — can someone help me make sense of all this?' " said Goldfeder.

While other competitors are offering similar services, Martel and Goldfeder say two key components set House Digital apart.

The first is a sharp focus on providing the best products, and knowing the products they offer in extreme detail. They sell only a few products and try to steer clients to those products because of quality and ease of use. For example, the company likes to stick to just two types of remotes. "What we sell, we know inside and out," said Martel.

The prices can go from a few thousand dollars for a modest system to more than $20,000, if the client wants, says Goldfeder.

The other distinguishing trait is a commitment to education. House Digital has an employee dedicated to teaching people how to use their new systems.

"We could put $80,000 of equipment in somebody's house, but if they don't understand how to use it, what good is it?" Goldfeder said.

The company opened in October 2003 and has been expanding since. It now employs 10 people and expects to hire more.

They'd like to take the concept to other markets eventually.

But the key, they say, is to keep both the business and the technology as simple as possible.

"Any time something becomes convoluted, that's when problems start," Martel said.

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