The era of AVA OS 3 begins today with the release of AVA OS 3.0

AVA OS 3 is here!

We are super proud to release AVA OS 3.0. At AVA it is important to us to build experiences that allows pro installers to create joyful and easy to use tech experiences for end-customers every day. AVA OS has made it a lot easier to succeed at that and today we are opening the next chapter of AVA OS.

AVA OS 3.0 brings you over 100 new tools and features, all of them free of charge to all AVA pros.

Total Customization

AVA OS has always intelligently generated the user interfaces used on Cinema Remote, and on the AVA app running on wall panels, tablets, PCs, and Macs. You start from a complete control experience. Now AVA OS 3.0 removes the boundaries on what you can do next to tailor that experience to your clients’ needs.

Completely New Custom UI builder

The new Custom UI Builder lets pros freely reshape the generated interface with a live visual preview. Buttons, widgets, cover art, and other elements can be positioned directly, making it faster to customize AVA Cinema Remote, wall panels, tablets, PCs, and Macs. Moving UI widgets, cover art, or buttons into the right position is now as easy as dragging them to the desired position. Adding buttons for commands or even whole Flows is quick an easy, too. And you can assign a name, icon, or color to any button or widget, too.

Customize Dynamic Keypad

AVA OS 3 opens AVA’s patented Dynamic Keypad to full customization for the first time. This interface has become a defining feature of AVA Cinema Remote. It’s one of AVA’s best-known innovations.

Every slide shown on the Cinema Remote’s touchscreen has an associated layout for the Dynamic Keypad. For example, labels and functions shift from playback to channel controls when you move from one slide to the next, while essentials such as cursor navigation and volume stay where users expect them.

But every home, every room, and every customer is a little different. So with AVA OS 3.0, Pros can customize every generated layout: keep the intelligent starting point, choose a recommended alternative, personalize colors, or use FreeStyle to drag controls from the main touchscreen onto the keypad—from lighting scenes and favorite commands to project-specific functions. Pros can even choose from new Dynamic Keypad colors, and AVA OS can even suggest colors based on the Flow that is being created — like Netflix red, Disney+ blue, and many more.

The result is a Dynamic Keypad that is still simple, familiar, and easy to use — but now flexible enough to perfectly match the needs of every room, every Flow, and every customer.

AVA Cinema Remote for Crestron Home

AVA OS 3.0 adds compatibility with Crestron Home, enabling AVA Cinema Remote to be used as a premium handheld control option in Crestron Home projects. AVA OS presents the appropriate controls and keeps state synchronized, allowing the Cinema Remote and Crestron touchscreens to work naturally side by side.

Crestron dealers can purchase directly from AVA in the US, or from any of AVA’s regional distribution partners around the world.

AVA OS Expands Around the World

With well over 10,000 users and integrators in more than 20 countries, AVA OS is now branching out to support more languages. AVA OS 3.0 supports 31 languages and regional variants. This is not just for the end customer. AVA’s configuration tools are also localized in these languages:

Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Danish, Dutch, English (Australia), English (Canada), English (India), English (Ireland), English (United Kingdom), English (United States), Finnish, French (Canada), French (France), German (Germany), German (Switzerland), Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Romanian, Spanish (Mexico), Spanish (Spain), Swedish, Swiss German, Turkish

AVA OS 3.0 moves KNX, one of the world’s most widely adopted building automation standards, from beta to general availability—extending compatibility to thousands of products from hundreds of manufacturers across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Oceania and beyond.

AVA OS 3.0 also expands AVA’s Lutron integration to Caséta and RadioRA 2, joining existing support for RadioRA 3 and HomeWorks.

So Much More…

TVs - TCL, Hisense & VIDAA get IP Control

Two more major TV brands now offer similar control to what AVA OS has offered with LG, Samsung, and Sony BRAVIA.

The TCL TV IP Driver supports North American TCL TV models. (This will extend if/when TCL enables API access in other regions.)

The HiSense TV IP Driver brings IP control to Hisense TVs. For other devices that use HiSense’s VIDAA platform, there is also a VIDAA IP Driver.

More Lighting: Lutron and Philips Hue

AVA continues to expand what lighting systems you can control with AVA OS, adding these platforms:

• Lutron RadioRA2 - Joining HomeWorks and RadioRA3, the new RadioRA2 driver extends lighting control to more Lutron pro install systems around the world.
• Caséta by Lutron - As so many of you have pointed out on the Idea Voting board, Caséta often crosses over into pro installs. Thanks to your help in making the case with Lutron, you now have IP control for this popular system, too.
• Philips Hue - a full Philips Hue integration with dimming, color control, and Dynamic Keypad support—giving pros another powerful way to bring lighting and entertainment together.

Video Walls, featuring Lunar Walls & Just Video Walls

A set of new IP drivers lets you call presets for video walls.

• Lunar Walls IP Driver for Lunar Walls.
• Just Video Walls IP Driver for Just Video Walls.
• AWALL IP Driver for AWALL.
• Novastar IP Driver for any video wall that uses the Novastar processor

Big Audio? Dynamite!

Two notable audio systems join the IP control world:

• Sonos Amp Multi - Sonos’s amazing new rack-mounted 4-zone amp now works with the Sonos IP Driver.
• AudioControl Hyperion - the new Hyperion theater platform has an IP driver, too

Free Project Backup, Restore, and Upgrade

You can now create a full project backup with one click and export the AVA project file. The encrypted backup also includes all devices’ configurations. This means after a full restore (even if you restore onto a different Nano Brain), all control works immediately. No need to re-pair or otherwise re-establish control. This even includes all authentication-based drivers.

Restore also enables you to easily upgrade from a Remote Only project to a Nano Brain project without having to rebuild. You can also go other way and move a project that was previously running on a Nano Brain over to a Remote Only setup.

Use Cinema Remote’s Emitter in External Brain projects

AVA Cinema Remote’s IR emitter array combines clever lens design, broad distribution angles, and other characteristics to deliver an exceptional IR signal. Until now, this has only been available in remote-only projects; when used with a Nano Brain the Cinema Remote gave way to the Nano Brain’s internal IR blaster and any attached AVA Flat Emitters. Latency is the natural enemy of IR control, so it was no small feat to get this right, but we are please to announce that AVA OS 3.0 enables a Cinema Remote to act as an IR emitter in a Nano Brain project. We heard you, and you now have new options for designing External Brain projects.

Oppo BluRay Player IP Driver

Ted tells me that the AVSforum users really, really wanted this one.

Over 100 new tools, integrations, features and improvements

Here are just a few of the tools, features, and improvements included in AVA OS 3.0:

Smarter control

• First click support for Dynamic Keypad - even before the remote has awakened, the first command tapped on its Dynamic Keypad goes through.
• Flow State Sync for Dynamic Keypad Across Devices - pick up a remote and it readies to control a Flow that has been started from any other device or the AVA companion app.
• Power Off Auto-Exit Screens Across Devices - When you power off a flow, any other interfaces showing that Flow also show that it’s off.
• Shade Tilt Controls - Shades now support tilt for louvers
• Improved Volume Overlay

Faster setup

• Faster “Add Device” - workflow optimization to make adding a device much quicker
• Better Device Search - faster results, better results
• QR Setup Instructions - get the setup instructions onto another device fast
• Nearby Nano Brains - When creating a new project or adding a Satellite Brain, you now see available Brains and a separate list of Nano Brains that have already been configured. (If a desired Brain is not available, it might already be configured in some other project.)
• Add a Satellite Brain now by IP address for when the Brain doesn’t discover automatically.
• Improved Nano Brain Wi-Fi Setup - Nano Brains now use Bluetooth for super fast setup.
• Easy Brain Wi-Fi change - new workflow for when you need to move a brain to a different SSID.

A more polished experience

• Redesigned Flow Editor - you have to check it out…and don’t miss that you can drag and drop to re-arrange Steps in a flow.
• Refined Now Active Flow Banner - “Now Active” can show more banners for active Flows with with a better layout and using a modern frosted style.
• Custom Wallpapers - You can now set a custom wallpaper for each device, including companion app devices. There are also a few lovely new AVA OS 3 wallpapers to choose from.
• You will also see a vast number of refinements to performance and appearance across all AVA OS user interfaces.

More tools for pros

• Network Event History - lets you see when lags and outages affected a Cinema Remote
• Expanded Service Tools - explore around in Settings > System > Service Tools.
• Cinema Remote uses ToughLink for Brain Connection - keeps Cinema Remote connected to Nano Brain more reliably.
• Split View for Companion App - you get this more convenient layout on computers, tablets, and other larger screens running the AVA companion app.
• Stability Improvements - As always, every release of AVA OS brings in several enhancements for performance and stability.

And so much more.

How to Get to AVA OS 3.0

AVA OS updates are non-disruptive.

• Cinema Remote & Home Remote — AVA remotes update automatically when on their charging dock. You can also get the latest version of AVA OS from the Play Store as an update to the AVA app.
        💡 Pro tip You can get to the Play Store fast from Settings → General.
• AVA Nano Brain — You will see an Update Available red badge on any remote connected to the Nano Brain.
• AVA Companion app — Windows, Mac OS, iPad, iPhone, and Android are available at ava.com/download. Companion app 3.0 rolls out in the next few days.

As always, part of what made AVA OS 3.0 happen is input from our pro installers. Keep the ideas coming on the Idea Voting page! It matters and we’re always grateful for it.

Thanks for being part of AVA,

Raph