Hi guys,
Have just done all of this for my own home rebuild and would like to offer the following suggestions.....
My house is around 4500sq ft and now has a home theatre, over 200 low voltage lights with dimmers, mood settings, music streamed to indoors/outdoors simultaneously with individual playlists, foxtel to theatre, living plasma, bedroom LCD, intercom/videophone to front gate and 4 internal rooms, all able to be remote controlled from anywhere in or out of the house.
I went and had a home automation consultant draw up a cabling diagram and my wish list of functions. He came back with a bill of $240,000. I bought his cabling diagram (so he got paid for his expertise) gave it to my electrician and started my own research based on my own experiences.
Here in Oz we have a major company who do structured wiring and intelligent sytems. Whilst they are very good, each light switch is 'intelligent' and therefore needs its' own programming, (and the labour for that is
excessive).
I used a simple relay set up from a company called CONSON
http://www.conson.com/engelsk/start.htm and any electrician can install it for you. It means that the programming is fairly simple and they do it for free.
I have lighting coming on when I get home, low level night setting for when we get up to check on our son, an 'all off' button night sweep of the lights next to our bed and mood lighting depending on the request. I am also installing a light and movement sensor for the passageways so that at night they come on automatically (to 20%) in case I am not near the switches.
This week the interface for the reverse cycle airconditioning goes in so I can operate it from anywhere also.
I was able to get the lighting done for $12,000.... less than 1/3 of the 'intelligent' solution. My neighbour went down the track of a similar thing with the big company and they are there every second week reprogramming or fixing faults.
For the sound I used a DVICO Tvix
http://www.pcauthority.com.au/review.aspx?CIaRID=2317 ($250 plus hard drive)with 160Gb hard drive as the music server, linked to Roku Soundbridge ($900 ea) controllers in each area.
http://www.rokulabs.com/ The Roku's act like an Ipod and you just need speakers and Amp in the area you want the music. The speakers can be top end or computer speakers, up to your sound taste. It can all be wired (as I have) or wireless.
The Home Theatre is connected to a dedicated server room where I have placed the Foxtel connection, PS2, Internet with media keyboard, connection to the Tvix (for stored DVD's) and a standalone DVD player in the room itself.
I have connected the plasma in the living area to the Foxtel, Tvix and a local home theatre speaker DVD system from Pioneer for everyday use. This means that I have the musioc server playing through that DVD system as well.
I have then used a network extender to enable the remotes that work on IR to be used as wireless, and am now setting up a Phillips Ipronto tablet
http://www.pronto.philips.com/index.cfm?id=938 instead of a Crestron touchpanel. When I compared specs and programming, the Phillips wins as I can program it and it is cheaper. (as an aside you can set up most notepad computers to do the same thing)
I am also waiting to get a Nevo remote as they are programmable and are apparently the manufacturers with ALL the codes for hi fi equipment remotes found here
http://www.mynevo.com/index.php?page_id=1# This is for the Home theatre room and outside etc.
When I sat down and looked at what can be done versus what is really practical, I dismissed some of the consultants overspecified hardware and features. All I want is to be able to have ease of use without massive configuration issues.
I am happy to answer the front door from either my remote, a telephone or the intercom, and I regard it as security wise to take a photo and email to me the visitors voicemail that have come when I am not home.
That said, I am equally happy to go and answer the front door myself.
So far I have spent $12,000 on the lighting control, about $8,000 on the music distribution, remote and intercom and $10,000 on the plasma (52 inch) and LCD
It is nearly complete and I expect to have spent around $40,000 when all is said and done..... I believe that with a bit of effort, you can achieve a virtually future proof set up as I can upgrade any of my components when I like.
IMHO, computer manufacturers are also moving in to the entertainment world as these items 'converge' and when that happens, components such as a $14,000 IMERGE music sever will get blown away by things such as the Tvix.
Yes you can spend $240,000, but do you HAVE to?
Hope this helps