CEDIA 2016

It may be unglamorous, but many of us have a need to darken our home theater spaces, particularly when using a projector and a conventional screen. Normally this involves either a tedious process of manually closing the drapes, or buying expensive, custom, powered blinds.

While drapes and blinds are less exciting and glamorous to write about than expensive projectors or take-no-prisoners surround sound systems, QMotion’s motorized drapery rods offer a reasonable solution to a real problem. They can be powered by batteries if desired, and have spiral grooves molded into them. Specialized drapery loops are grabbed by the rotating rod, which opens or closes the attached drapes.

The drapes (blackout or not) are chosen by the user from any source, and the rods can be self-installed. Rods up to 9-feet maximum, in 6 finishes, are available. They also have an Anti-Tug feature, though I have no idea what that means. While I didn’t catch the prices, it’s very likely that using these rods will be cheaper than professional-installed, motorized blackout blinds.