Epson's new 4K laser projector line launched with Matter support, which is the first time I've seen Matter show up on something other than lights, locks, and thermostats in a home theater context. Worth asking: is this actually useful yet, or just a checkbox for the spec sheet?
From what I can tell so far, Matter in AV gear today mostly means basic device state - on/off, maybe input selection - exposed to whatever smart home hub you're running, so Alexa/Google/HomeKit can see the projector exists and toggle power. That's nice for voice control of "turn on the projector," but it's a long way from the things that actually affect picture quality day to day: picture mode switching per source, lens memory recall for different aspect ratios, HDR tone-mapping settings, or anything tied to the actual video pipeline.
The stuff that currently does that heavy lifting - RS-232, IP control strings, Control4/Crestron/Savant drivers, even plain IR - already works and already does more than Matter does right now. For Matter to actually replace any of that for serious home theater control, the AV-specific device types in the spec would need to get a lot deeper than "it's an on/off switch with an app icon."
Still early days, but curious if anyone's actually paired a Matter-enabled projector or AVR with a real automation setup and gotten more out of it than power on/off.
From what I can tell so far, Matter in AV gear today mostly means basic device state - on/off, maybe input selection - exposed to whatever smart home hub you're running, so Alexa/Google/HomeKit can see the projector exists and toggle power. That's nice for voice control of "turn on the projector," but it's a long way from the things that actually affect picture quality day to day: picture mode switching per source, lens memory recall for different aspect ratios, HDR tone-mapping settings, or anything tied to the actual video pipeline.
The stuff that currently does that heavy lifting - RS-232, IP control strings, Control4/Crestron/Savant drivers, even plain IR - already works and already does more than Matter does right now. For Matter to actually replace any of that for serious home theater control, the AV-specific device types in the spec would need to get a lot deeper than "it's an on/off switch with an app icon."
Still early days, but curious if anyone's actually paired a Matter-enabled projector or AVR with a real automation setup and gotten more out of it than power on/off.