HA Newbie saying hi!

[LeighRogers]

Hi everybody,
Thought I'd follow Phill_r's lead and introduce myself, with some questions to follow!

My name is Leigh, I'm 26 and and work as an Emergency Medical Technician for a local ambulance service. I come from a IT background and am pretty good with hardware, networking (traditional) and web programming (PHP\mysql primarily), but I know very little about AV stuff and absolutely nothing about electrics! I do have an uncle nearby who is an electrician who I can call upon though

Like Phill_r, I'm also just beginning in HA, and despite reading through forums for months, and also various websites, I'm still none the wiser as to where to start...

I guess I'm after a basic home automation system, controlling lighting, heating and maybe access control (Biometric would be lovely...) At the moment, my PC has several TB's of media, that I'd like to stream\distribute to other TV's around the house...That's it I guess...

My original plan was homeseer with x10, then Z-Wave looked better... Then I saw some of the node pictures on this forum - now that totally blew my mind... Now I'm just totally blown out, and would really appreciate some direction?!

Hi, and thanks! This stuff is hugely exciting!

[Ad]

I use X10 with HomeSeer and it works OK, it's alright - I don't have a large number of modules (about 20 that are actively connected) and don't have alot of problems with powerline comms so for me it works. There is a rumour going round about X10 stopping production of its modules, I don't know if that will be a problem for Europe as i'm not sure the modules are built in the US, theres also the X10^2 modules which still look to be made.

Z-Wave whilst i've never used it looks to be the focus of HomeSeer, don't look cheap though and i'm not sure if there is any locks available for the UK yet...

I don't have alot of media to share around my house but i'd seperate the home automation stuff from media sharing, certainly HomeSeer is not really geared up to share media....lighting/heating/access theres a few different ways of doing this with HS - take a look at the HS message board for some ideas..

Welcome to the madness anyway...

[LeighRogers]

Thanks for the reply Ad,

I must admit I'm a little disappointed with the availability and cost of modules compared with the US. It didn't even occur to me that Z-Wave would have us\uk version differences based on their frequencies...(NEWB!)

The lock\access control was really a nice to have. The important parts were light and heat controls as the autumn approaches.

It's quite important that whatever system I implement can be moved easily to a new home, as not intending to stay here much longer than 6-9 months...

I'm beginning to think I should just wait... See what developments occur in the HA world over the next few months... Shame though.

[JonS]

X10 is probably the cheapest way to go and I have a friend who is very happy with his X10 set-up, so it may work in your environment.
For heating I think a wireless solution is your only option, something like http://www.wordpress-1219309-4387497...ead.php?t=2050
other websites also stock it. I think over in the Heating Control sub-forum there are other systems discussed to.
As for media - its as much a nightmare of incompatible "standards" as HA is. E.g. I don't think there is a single media extender that supports all the catch-up TV services yet - will have to wait for YouView box, but then that may not support streaming you own media!
What ever you choose to do, start with want you want to achieve and work from there, don't start with the technology, its a means to an end.
2p

[Wexfordman]

My 2c worth... Depends on what your able to do from a wiring perspective!

I have x10 in my house for the last 10 years and it's worked pretty well, but today is very limited in what I can do, to the point that I'm looking to swap out completely! If I was starting out from scratch as you are, I would avoid x10 completely!

The idratek system looks great to my mind, and very affordable! However I'm in the process of migrating to velbus, which seems to be a very good system also, which I chose due to cost and compatibility (works with comfort alarm system, which gives me iPhone control too)

Would be prob more likely to go for idratek only for the comfort compatibility of velbus though!

[toscal]

Have you had a look at the Homevision system, this will control X10, and a few others via free plugins. I have had mine and its never failed. In fact its been so long since I have had to tweak it, i will probably need to read the manual again.

As for media - its as much a nightmare of incompatible "standards" as HA is. E.g. I don't think there is a single media extender that supports all the catch-up TV services yet - will have to wait for YouView box, but then that may not support streaming you own media!
What ever you choose to do, start with want you want to achieve and work from there, don't start with the technology, its a means to an end.
2p

Have a look at the XBMC project. This has plugins for iPlayer and ITV's version. It also has plugins for TVcatchup and for US TV it also has HULU.
XBMC is easy to install and it works very well. It hasn't failed at showing a video in Xvid, Divx, MP4, MKV and even a whole DVD stored as an ISO file.
For streaming TV around the house ( you will need a TV card of some sort) have a look at TVHeadend. It can also be used with XBMC.

[JonS]

XBMC does look good in many ways but I thought DLNA is the core unifiying protocol for sharing media in the home and it doesn't look like its supported according to wikipedia? Similarly no DRM support - surely services like netflix / hulu must use some sort of DRM else the Studios would never give them content? Suppose they coud streamed services rather download and play, inwhich case its unlikely to be HD, but even then would think some sortof DRM required.

I've been trying to get my head around media distribution in the home and every promising system has draw-backs, so many choices of backends, servers, head ends, front ends etc. Maybe a few long winter nights needed!

Would love to be enlightened, is this thread the place?

[toscal]

To give you access to your media around the home with XBMC, you just need a central file server with your media on it and in every location where you want to watch it, you have an XBMC box. Then so that every XBMC has the same catalogue of media you need to run an SQL server, on the server, and point every XBMC to this database. There are plenty of posts on the XBMC forums. You could just use the standard system, but this would mean updating each box manually.
There is also many posts about using DLNA, it seems at the moment it doesn't work 100% out of the box, yet.
Hulu works as there is a plugin for it. http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=109794 . There is also a way to get Netflix support too. http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=107997

MY XBMC uses a server in the garage with the PC connected to my plasma TV. Once I get my head round running an SQL server I will go the multiple XBMCs and when I find a TV tuner card that works 100% this will also be done, using TVheadend and XBMC.

Why not give XBMC a try there is a live CD version which can run off a CD or a USB stick. YOu can also install this version on to a PC, though personally I would go for a full ubuntu install and then install XMBC on that, once you have finished the test drive.

[Wexfordman]

The news of x10 going into receivership might add a new slant to your decision on which tech to go for!!

[LeighRogers]

The news of x10 going into receivership might add a new slant to your decision on which tech to go for!!

LOL! Since when? It absolutely does make a difference... Glad I've waited now!>?

[Wexfordman]

It's on the front page http://www.wordpress-1219309-4387497.cloudwaysapps.com/

Did some googling and lots on it!! As I said, I'm
In the process of moving away from x10 after 10 years of it! Nice timing I suppose!

One thing I was thinking as well, I didn't do it on all my internal doors, but should have! Put door sensors on them, the internal recessed ones! With them added you can be a bit cleverer about presence detection etc