Former Cincinnati Bengal Dennis Roland Finds Peace Of Mind With ELAN g! System From Core Brands

After playing six seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals National Football League team, free-agent offensive lineman Dennis Roland knows firsthand that playing in the National Football League is tough on the body and tough on the mind. All year he endures intense daily workouts and physically punishing hits during practice and games. On top of that, he adheres to specific dietary requirements and accepts the stress that comes from living a highly public life in a career spent largely away from home.

So when it comes to his down time, Roland wants to simplify every part of his life. Luckily, when he recently bought a new house in Bishop, Georgia, Roland installed the ELAN g! system to simplify living and create a home where he can truly relax.

When he bought the house, Roland thought one of the rooms would make a perfect home theater for his family. Knowing that installations like this are better left to professionals, he contacted Digital Logic Systems, a local electronic integrator, to design and install everything necessary for a great home theater experience. He soon met with Daniel Solly, President of Digital Logic Systems (www.prodls), who showed him that he could go above and beyond a great home theater with distributed audio and video, plus remote monitoring of the security system, through the ELAN g! system.

“I brought in Daniel to discuss the home theater,” Roland said, “and when he came to the house he showed me that not only could I have a great theater with a huge screen and premium sound, but I could extend the audio and video through the whole house and control it all with my iPhone and iPads. Now we have three TVs and a cool outdoor audio system that make it easy to enjoy our favorite shows and music and entertain guests. One of the best things about the g! system is that we can expand it in the future and add more systems like lighting and HVAC, and then control them from the iPhone just like the TVs.”

Using Niles outdoor speakers connected to the ELAN g! system, Digital Logic Systems built a robust backyard audio system that sounds loud and professional and can play music from a variety of sources including Pandora, iTunes, radio and more. And because he travels frequently, Roland added his security system into ELAN g! so he can monitor the home’s security from anywhere in the world.

According to Solly, “Dennis immediately saw the value of having multiple home systems come together in a single app that’s super easy to use and lets you quickly make changes to music, videos, security and more. He’s already talking about incorporating the lighting in the theater and tying in the HVAC so they can change settings before they get home.”

With the added value of future expansion, Roland felt the installation was a no-brainer and would benefit his family’s home life. The home’s pool controls can even be added in to the system, as well as the outdoor lights and extras like electronic door locks and motorized window shades.

“My wife and I love how easy the system is to use, so we can turn on music whether we are in the kitchen or the backyard, and pull up our movies no matter what room we’re in,” Roland said. “Soon enough I’ll probably teach my kids how to use the system too, but right now they are just 3 and 5 years old so I have a password on the g! app so when they grab my phone they can’t make any changes. I’m glad ELAN has the password feature because it gives me extra peace of mind.”

While the couple uses their iPhones and iPads to control the security and music, when it comes to watching TV the ELAN HR2 remote is their preferred control device. Even in a world where a smartphone can do almost anything, a dedicated remote for each TV saves a lot of time when doing common things like flipping channels or changing volume. With the remote each task is one button, just like a normal remote, whereas a user would need to turn on a smartphone or tablet, unlock it, open the app, then go to the video controls and enter their command.

“For listening to music outside or checking in the home while I’m away, the iPhone app is great. But I wouldn’t use the app to watch TV because I don’t want to leave my phone on with the app open the whole time. The ELAN remote is the perfect companion for each TV, and its color touchscreen lets me choose movies and music, too. It seems like ELAN has thought of just about everything, and it’s made our home more comfortable and made our entertainment easier to use.”