When you hear the phrase smart home, chances are the living room immediately comes to mind. That makes sense, since for most people, the living room is essentially the nucleus of the household. It's the room you're most likely to entertain in, as well as the place you'll fall asleep after eating Chinese food in front of the TV. It's also the room where you're most likely to find technology. Lots and lots of technology. From full-on home theater setups to automation and security, the living room is definitely the most fun space to outfit with a host of digital gadgets.

Home Theater
We've maintained for a while now that organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology is the next big step in HDTVs. LG is the only major brand that has consistently released OLED televisions, and it continues to do so with the curved 4K EG9600 series. The 65-inch 65EG9600 model we tested is extremely expensive, but it has the best picture you can currently buy, and comes with loads of useful features and a beautiful design. If you're looking to assemble the ultimate living room setup and money is no object, it should be on your short list.

A killer HDTV deserves the ultimate game console. Microsoft takes a huge step forward with the Xbox One with features that range from merely handy to completely game-changing. Kinect's voice controls, along with Xbox One TV integration and OneGuide transform the Xbox from a game system with some media features into a very capable all-in-one media hub. From playing Halo to watching Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp on Netflix, you won't run out of content options anytime soon.

If you don't want to spend your entire living room budget on just the TV, but want to add connectivity to the television you already own, all you need is a free HDMI port to connect the Amazon Fire TV. Amazon's first foray into the crowded media streamer arena is still our favorite. It has more features than the Apple TV and more raw power and potential than the Roku alternatives, not to mention extremely accurate and responsive voice search, right from the remote.

With all your video gear in place, you're going to want a solid sound system. Definitive Technology makes some very impressive speakers. They also tend to be relatively expensive. Both qualifiers certainly apply to the company's W Studio, a soundbar and wireless subwoofer combination that sounds excellent and offers high-end features like HDMI switching and multiroom Wi-Fi audio with Play-Fi. The W Studio also looks stylish and is built rock-solid, making it one of the best soundbars you can buy.

With all the gadgets living in the living room, you'll probably want a universal remote control so you don't have sort through ten different remotes every time you want to change the channel. True to its name, the Logitech Harmony Ultimate Home is the ultimate. In addition to controlling your HDTV, cable box, and Blu-ray player, the Harmony Ultimate Home supports a wide array of connected home devices—including popular lights, locks, and thermostats—letting you control just about every digital device you own right from your smartphone or the remote itself.

Home Automation
When you think of home automation, Nest is probably the first company that comes to mind. But two years before the Nest Learning Thermostat, Canadian-based ecobee had already introduced a smart thermostat. The company has been at it ever since, and the ecobee3 is our top pick for this category. It's an attractive Wi-Fi thermostat that you can control from your iOS or Android phone and from your PC via the Web. The thermostat is easy to install and even easier to program, and it's loaded with features including a remote sensor for heating and cooling rooms outside of the thermostat zone, numerous reminders and alerts, a capacitive touch display, and a Home IQ system monitor that tracks heating and cooling usage.

If you're just dipping your toe into the home automation waters, Belkin's WeMo line is a good place to start. The WeMo Light Switch connects to your Wi-Fi network and can be controlled using a smartphone or tablet and an accompanying app. Installation is quick and relatively easy if you've ever changed a light switch, and setting everything up is a breeze. You can program the switch to turn the lights on or off according to the sunrise, connect it with other WeMo devices, and even use IFTTT (If This Then That) recipes to trigger the switch with certain events.

Another fun connected lighting solution is the Philips Hue Go. Unlike, say, the Hue Connected Bulb, the Hue go is a wireless smart light that runs on a built-in, rechargeable battery and doesn't need to be connected to a hub to work. It offers a wide range of colors with an intuitive, simple-to-use control scheme (one button), and it's easy to carry around. And if you do connect it to a hub, you gain the ability to create customized lighting scenes and access personal alarms, as well as link it up with any of your other Hue lights.

In addition to Philips' own hub, the Hue Go also works with the Wink Connected Home Hub. In fact, the Wink Hub works with more devices than any other hub we've tested. Credit that to its support of an impressive number of connectivity protocols; it works with Bluetooth LE, Lutron Clear Connect, Wi-Fi, Z-Wave, and ZigBee, which covers most of the major players in the connected home market. So if you own a number of connected devices and want to control them all from one place, chances are they'll work with the Wink hub.

Robotic vacuums don't connect to hubs (yet), but they still count as automation devices. If you've been searching for a powerful robotic vacuum that won't cost you an arm and a leg, check out the Neato XV Signature Pro. It does an outstanding job of picking up all sorts of household debris and is particularly tough on pet hair and backyard soil. Its laser-guided mapping feature works remarkably well regardless of how your furniture is arranged or the number of walls you have, and its scheduling feature lets you set up cleaning times that fit your lifestyle.

Home Security
With all that cool gear, you'll want to make sure your home is safe. A good home security system won't prevent break-ins, but it will let you know when someone is trying to enter, or already has entered, your home. Unfortunately, the cost of a fully monitored system can be prohibitive, which means plenty of homes are left unprotected due to budgetary concerns. Enter the iSmartAlarm, an affordable home security system designed for do-it-yourselfers that lets you keep tabs on your home from anywhere using your iOS or Android smart device. It's a snap to install, performs flawlessly, and offers plenty of room for expansion.

Another important barrier to home invasions is a powerful door lock. With the LockState LS-500I RemoteLock Wi-Fi Door Lock, you'll never have to worry about whether you remembered to lock up. It's an electronic push-button deadbolt lock that connects to your Wi-Fi network and can be controlled from a remote PC as well as Android and iOS-based devices. Not only can you lock and unlock your door remotely, you can monitor the lock's activity, create individual user codes with specific entry rights, and receive alerts when the door is locked and unlocked.

If using your phone to unlock your door isn't enough for you, you should check out Ring Video Doorbell. With the Ring, you can see who is at your door from the safety and comfort of your couch. It lets you accept or deny visitor calls, and uses motion detection to alert you of activity on your doorstep even when the bell hasn't been rung. The 720p camera delivers sharp video with good color, and it automatically record events and stores video of them in the cloud, so you can see who showed up even when you weren't there.

Make Yourself At Home
It's always fun to have people over for a board game night, but it's also pretty cool to watch the latest episode of Game of Thrones on the biggest, highest-definition television in the neighborhood. Still, a fully equipped living room doesn't mean stuffing a huge TV into a small space. Instead, it's about finding the devices that work for you, and making the time you spend at home more relaxing and fulfilling. Just remember to get up off the couch and stretch every now and then.

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