Homeseer SE set up

**toscal** · 26 March 2013, 11:53 PM

I used to use Homeseer and was a beta tester for V2.0 of their software. Its very comprehensive, but it can take time to get used to it. But it works well and you can do some pretty fancy things.
The unit is basically a PC running a version of XP with the homeseer software built in. Basically the embedded version of xp means that only the components needed to run Homeseer are installed, this produces a light weight system designed to run only Homseer. So it may not run some software you may want to install.
A client of mine was going to buy a Homeseer box, but instead bought a Dell PC (did not include monitor or keyboard etc he already had these) that was on special offer and then purchased just the software from Homeseer. The whole lot cost about the same as a Homeseer box (plus it had a better spec), at the time there was only one box to choose from. He got such a good deal on the Dell PC that he bought another as a spare.
One thing I have found is that Homeseer prefers a PC that isn't running much else. So don't try and run too many other programs while Homeseer is running.

If you can, download the trial version from their download page and have a play

**SimonG** · 27 March 2013, 03:18 PM

Brilliant I think that's all I need to know, thanks for the reply!
All seems as straight forward.
Out of interest what are the Homeseer stand alone box's/gateways like, are they a bit like the new Vera Lite (Vera Lite seems pretty fool proof) Never seen much about them & can't find much. Just wondering as if my son starts looking into the automation world I want to keep his/my costs down as he's already drained enough(!)
Thanks, Simon

**toscal** · 27 March 2013, 05:55 PM

don't know about the stand alone boxes. They are or seem to be mini-itx based machines. Still think for the price you are probably better off building a basic run of the mill PC. Mind you if you want voice recognition then you will need a PC with a fast processor, otherwise the delay makes it unusable.
You may also want to take a look at the Loxone miniserver, this is pretty good, I will be using one for a client install in a few months, job keeps getting delayed so it could be more than a few months. The miniserver has virtually all you need to start automating. 8 inputs, 8 relayed outputs so you can switch mains devices on or off. And a few other inputs and outputs.It has a built in webserver, and free apps for iOS and Android devices. For the price its pretty good I think.
Another system is Idratek, this is probably one of the best. There is also a forum on here for Idratek stuff.

The problem you will find is that there are many competing systems, think Betamax-VHS format wars but with many many more formats, some talk to each other but most don't.
The loxone miniserver also has gateway extension modules to other HA systems so this can make it more appealing for some people.

**SimonG** · 27 March 2013, 07:15 PM

Thanks Toscal, been very helpful & given me a couple more option to think about. But agreed personally I'm going for dedicated pc, not a bad one as it goes/good processor, vocal links to trigger events etc are a must as one of our family has special needs & voice control would be more than useful & besides I'm quite looking forward to wandering about shouting random commands & not being told off by the wife

Thanks for all your help, much appreciated - Speak soon!

**toscal** · 27 March 2013, 07:52 PM

Take your time and train Homeseer to recognise your voice, or whoever is going to use it.
You may want to go over to the Homeseer forums and see what's happening there.

Homeseer SE set up

Homeseer SE set up

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