Hi All
I am totally new to home automation, I have never tried it nor do I know much about it.
We are planning on building our dream home so to speak in the next 5 years or so, at this moment I am simply investigating what I can and can't do in regards to this build and I'm hoping you guys could give me some insight.
I have read other posts here and people say to be specific in what you want to achieve so here goes.
We plan on a the following house:
Lounge: HD Projector, 5.1 surround sound
Family Room: TV, 5.1 surround sound
Kitchen: TV, 5.1 surround sound, other applicances (ovens, dishwasher etc)
Bed 1, 2, 3, 4: TV, 5.1 surround sound
Rumpus: TV, 5.1 surround sound
Laundry: Washing Machine, Dryer etc
Pool (outside): Projector, 5.1 surround sound
What I hope to do is put together a server computer (in a large wardrobe type room) which will be 1. A media server and 2. run the automation. In each of the rooms above I would be installing into the walls a barebones computer (something like a AMD A8 APU, 4gb Ram, SSD etc), I was looking into Raspberry Pi's for the local room computers but I have one and did tests and they are not quite up to the standard of power than I need, hopefully in a few years time there will be more powerful options so I could save money on the local computers.
In each room the 5.1 surround sound speakers would be installed into the walls, and both the sound and the tv/projector would be controlled by the local computer. I will be running XBMC with a Mysql library for the whole house. I chose this local computer solution as I investigated having the server run multiple virtual machines for sound etc and that seemed like it would cause too many issues.
Heres the hard part. I want know if I could install room microphones into each room (the larger rooms having two or more), and using voice recognition and scripting on the server, have all the home automation controlled by voice command, so my main questions are:
1. Is there home automation products that control appliances like TV's, Dishwashers, Ovens etc? By control I mean able to turn them on/off mainly.
2. All the rooms I hope to have fully automated, meaning curtains, lights, heating (will have a climate control vent system), even opening and closing doors? Is this possible?
3. I have used free voice recognition software which I have been able to assign to keystrokes on my computer, which I have mainly used for gaming (giving commands via voice which equate into keystrokes on the computer). Is it possible to have home automation software that can be controlled by keystrokes (like shortcuts etc)?
4. Does anyone have any experience in the voice controlled idea? Is this even possible with room mics (as they would be in the walls/ceiling, not close to the users mouth)?
5. I would hope to be able to control XBMC via voice also (if the keystrokes thing could work then there is no reason why this couldn't work with xbmc in my mind)?
6. Since the TV's/Sound is controlled by the local computers surely I could have independent sound/tv in each of the rooms at once? Again controlled via voice via commands from the server machine?
Thats about all I can think of so far, quite ambitious I know but I'm thinking a new build is probably the best time to do this as I can hardwire everything in the walls for better quality etc.
Thanks in advance for all your help.
I am totally new to home automation, I have never tried it nor do I know much about it.
We are planning on building our dream home so to speak in the next 5 years or so, at this moment I am simply investigating what I can and can't do in regards to this build and I'm hoping you guys could give me some insight.
I have read other posts here and people say to be specific in what you want to achieve so here goes.
We plan on a the following house:
Lounge: HD Projector, 5.1 surround sound
Family Room: TV, 5.1 surround sound
Kitchen: TV, 5.1 surround sound, other applicances (ovens, dishwasher etc)
Bed 1, 2, 3, 4: TV, 5.1 surround sound
Rumpus: TV, 5.1 surround sound
Laundry: Washing Machine, Dryer etc
Pool (outside): Projector, 5.1 surround sound
What I hope to do is put together a server computer (in a large wardrobe type room) which will be 1. A media server and 2. run the automation. In each of the rooms above I would be installing into the walls a barebones computer (something like a AMD A8 APU, 4gb Ram, SSD etc), I was looking into Raspberry Pi's for the local room computers but I have one and did tests and they are not quite up to the standard of power than I need, hopefully in a few years time there will be more powerful options so I could save money on the local computers.
In each room the 5.1 surround sound speakers would be installed into the walls, and both the sound and the tv/projector would be controlled by the local computer. I will be running XBMC with a Mysql library for the whole house. I chose this local computer solution as I investigated having the server run multiple virtual machines for sound etc and that seemed like it would cause too many issues.
Heres the hard part. I want know if I could install room microphones into each room (the larger rooms having two or more), and using voice recognition and scripting on the server, have all the home automation controlled by voice command, so my main questions are:
1. Is there home automation products that control appliances like TV's, Dishwashers, Ovens etc? By control I mean able to turn them on/off mainly.
2. All the rooms I hope to have fully automated, meaning curtains, lights, heating (will have a climate control vent system), even opening and closing doors? Is this possible?
3. I have used free voice recognition software which I have been able to assign to keystrokes on my computer, which I have mainly used for gaming (giving commands via voice which equate into keystrokes on the computer). Is it possible to have home automation software that can be controlled by keystrokes (like shortcuts etc)?
4. Does anyone have any experience in the voice controlled idea? Is this even possible with room mics (as they would be in the walls/ceiling, not close to the users mouth)?
5. I would hope to be able to control XBMC via voice also (if the keystrokes thing could work then there is no reason why this couldn't work with xbmc in my mind)?
6. Since the TV's/Sound is controlled by the local computers surely I could have independent sound/tv in each of the rooms at once? Again controlled via voice via commands from the server machine?
Thats about all I can think of so far, quite ambitious I know but I'm thinking a new build is probably the best time to do this as I can hardwire everything in the walls for better quality etc.
Thanks in advance for all your help.
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