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March 08, 2004
Some home automation companies
I will be looking into each of these and making comments on them.
ZigBee Alliance
X10
Leviton
Intermatic
Lutron
Echelon's LonWorks
Dust, Inc
Crossbow
Posted by Martin at 10:12 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The systems I need a network for
My architect outlines the following systems that we need some kind of network to administer:
Intercom.
Telephone wiring (concrete floor may cause wireless interference).
Audio/video.
Wireless network systems (concrete floor interference will likely require some wiring).
Satelite dish/cable wiring.
Security.
Master lighting control.
Heating controls.
In a perfect world, I would be able to run all this over one network. Today there are vertically integrated providers in each segment. There is not alot of overlap. But in my house there will be. Come hell or high water, I will have an integrated system that runs over IP.
Posted by Martin at 09:51 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Some more home automation companies to consider
I will be looking into each of these and making comments on them.
ZigBee Alliance
X10
Leviton
Intermatic
Lutron
Echelon's LonWorks
Dust, Inc
Crossbow
Posted by Martin at 09:33 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Rafe describes Zensys vs X10
Zensys Builds A Better Light Switch :: AO. My friend Rafe Needleman wrote a good article on the Zensys product. My question for my house is what will be working in 2 years. My bet is on Zigbee.
Posted by Martin at 09:25 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Whole House Installers have a trade group
CEDIA apparently is the trade organization of whole house intallers. They server the high end with all the fancy bell and whistle home automation things today. I am sure some will be calling on my project. But with light control alone a $3/sq ft item today (on a 5,000 sq ft house do the math). I am looking for options. I hope it is Zigbee and other mass market things by the time we have to make decisions.
Posted by Martin at 09:20 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Sylvania ships some of the first ZigBee home controls
Sylvania Products has begun shipping a remote control, power outlet, wall switch and a couple other things based on the chipset from Zensys Even though the standard is not done, these guys have to get their next round of VC financing, so they started shipping the chipset. It looks promising and infinitely easier to install than the X10 stuff, but it is not clear that it gives me what I really want two years from now. An IP address for each control. This system looks like you still have to use the remote control provided by Sylvania. Why not software an a PC with a Zigbee transmitter? Shouldn't it work just like Bluetooth? You have a USB dongle thing that barks out Zigbee controls. Software on the PC. Zigbee receivers in your light switches and poweroutlets. Done. I am betting this is done in two years.
Posted by Martin at 09:10 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 03, 2004
What to do about DVR/Home media server?
TiVo-like devices to get booster shot | CNET News.com. This article talks about a 3 streem record, 3 stream playback device being delivered by Scientific Atlanta this summer! I love my TIVO, but the only being able to record one show at a time and play back on one machine has always been a problem. So here come multistream devices. One and a half years before I have to buy something! I am totally stuck as to what to buy in two years. This choice also has implications on wiring. Let's assume you can pump in all your outside media services (cable, satellite, etc.) into one box. This box can tune to multiple channels simultaneously. Would the outside guys allow this? (currently they charge extra per box per room) If all these sources go into one box, how do you get what you want to watch from that box to the display devices? Is this ethernet? Or does this box feed a co-ax distributor? What capacity do you want for this box to support? Certainly I want at least three different video streams, a mix of live and recorded (one for me, alex and finn). Then probably two or three audio streams that can play simultaneously. Then there is data traffic for the internet connection. Multi-tasking is a reality.
It will be interesting to see how this goes.
Posted by Martin at 01:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack