HA Technology Comparison Spreadsheet

toymaster458 said:

On the Software Page where items are marked as 'via IR or Serial' Should we be marking it as such if it can controll it both ways or Mark it as 'Y' if there is already a driver created to control it via serial or TCP and 'IR' if there is no driver created yet but can control it via IR?

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My fist impulse is to do what provides the most detail with the least clutter. If you actually put Serial, IR, and TCP into the box then there is no guessing and it looks like it will fit OK.

Anybody have a different preference?

There was a lot of progress yesterday, thanks to all who contributed! Only one contribution so far on the Full System Examples page though. I'm hoping we will get some more input there because I think it will be helpful to folks trying to picture an overall automation strategy.

Since the Discuss feature does not work on multiple systems of mine, I'll ask here.

Under Software, someone added Automation Triggers: Received X10 Command and I added/suggested PL Command instead, as you would also need Insteon, UPB, z-wave, etc.

Any thoughts?

TonyNo said:

Since the Discuss feature does not work on multiple systems of mine, I'll ask here.

Under Software, someone added Automation Triggers: Received X10 Command and I added/suggested PL Command instead, as you would also need Insteon, UPB, z-wave, etc.

Any thoughts?

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We could use your line and enter X10 or UPB or whatever into the box but I expect some software will do them all. Maybe we need to have a line for each?

Another layer of complexity... Are we talking about triggering from the operation of a switch or a change in the status of a load or scene?

(We also need to keep the thing readable so we can't go into too much detail!)

Maybe a line for each is needed.

Are we talking about triggering from the operation of a switch or a change in the status of a load or scene?

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I'd say both. Maybe they need to be separate?

X10 triggers
Insteon Status Change triggers
Insteon Button Press triggers
UPB Scene triggers

What else? Does that cover it for Powerline Carrier triggers?

Seems like it. Wouldn't a scene change be a status change?

I assume, then, that Z-Wave is 100% wireless?

There is another correction to be made for the Elk M1 Gold. You can do basic math like subtraction with a custom counter.

Black Magic said:

There is another correction to be made for the Elk M1 Gold. You can do basic math like subtraction with a custom counter.

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OK Thanks. I'm still looking for somebody to step up and verify all the Elk M1 entries. I'm kind of surprised that I got so many people willing to help with the HomeVision platform but nobody for the M1 or OmniPro II.

I can confirm that the Breathe Audio driver is tested and operational for CQC (I wrote it). I guess you can consider it BETA although it should be released shortly.

Also, CQC supports about 1/2 dozen Extron video switchers, and both the Avalon and Borrego Neothings switchers.

Also, the Caddx vs Networkx for CQC is kindof confusing. The original Caddx NX8 with the 584 serial adapter does work with CQC. I'm not sure how you are differentiating Caddx vs Networkx?

robertmee said:

I can confirm that the Breathe Audio driver is tested and operational for CQC (I wrote it). I guess you can consider it BETA although it should be released shortly.

Also, CQC supports about 1/2 dozen Extron video switchers, and both the Avalon and Borrego Neothings switchers.

Also, the Caddx vs Networkx for CQC is kindof confusing. The original Caddx NX8 with the 584 serial adapter does work with CQC. I'm not sure how you are differentiating Caddx vs Networkx?

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Hi Robertmee,
Yes, I have been running into those issues where originally the spreadsheet was very generic like "Nuvo", but in reality it's a particular Nuvo as you can't necessarily command all, if you can command one. So, I have been expanding the brands into products as I am aware of the differences. For an end user, they want to know, either which to buy (it makes a difference) or, will XYZ software work with my existing PQR video switcher. Now of course, this doesn't yet cover the detail of "Ok, so you can control a Nuvo Grand Concerto,,,,but,,,can you do you support it's capability to do (blah blah blah)?"

AutoPatch is a single line item, but for example, we (Cinemar) are having to extend our AutoPatch plugin to accomodate their newest versions that include a graphic EQ, Gain control, etc. that the older ones (common on eBay) do not. This is the fourth time we have expanded that as it makes a difference to the end user (will it reallllywork?)

Spreadsheet can get pretty big once it is accurate enough to make purchase decisions. I think it's pretty good now to illustrate some of the scale differences.

For folks editing: If I have expanded a Brand into products, I took my best guess on which product the respondents were likely responding to...so, please double check my assumptions.

We need o be careful about going into so much detail that the HA novice avoids using this reource altogether because it is too intimidating. I think it is reasonable to suggest that this spreadsheet should indicate what products do, or do not work together on a general level leaving the nitty gritty details to the individual product web sites. I am also concerned that model by model details are going to make this thing impossible to maintain because that information changes so frequently.

I think we should focus mostly on WHAT various technology sets can do and leave the HOW (model, cost, limitations, etc.) for the individual product reps to spell out.

USM, what a great resource, and a great idea, and a great result so far!

Things I'd mention....does google docs allow for a certain row of info to be "frozen", so that it always appears on the screen even when you scroll down? Being able to freeze the row that has the topics of interest in them would help, because several times I've had to scroll back up to the top to see what column was the correct one again.

Also, is HTD distributed audio represented? (is it a different brandname?) I'm just asking, I have no info to share on that.

Finally, I don't have a problem with choosing the top-of-the-line system for comparison, but it would really help me if I saw what that system actually was. Or are you simply saying "Nuvo" to represent all possible nuvo devices that can be considered? If it's an actual system, then I'd like to see which one the stats came from. That also helps in case at some point Nuvo releases something even more "top", so we can see that the data would need to be updated.

Oh ya...and CQC has weather and horoscope.

beelzerob said:

Things I'd mention....does google docs allow for a certain row of info to be "frozen", so that it always appears on the screen even when you scroll down? Being able to freeze the row that has the topics of interest in them would help, because several times I've had to scroll back up to the top to see what column was the correct one again.

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I believe that is one of the drawbacks with google docs... as an editor it is locked/"frozen" in edit mode but if I do not login it is not frozen and scrolls off the screen

beelzerob said:

USM, what a great resource, and a great idea, and a great result so far!

Things I'd mention....does google docs allow for a certain row of info to be "frozen", so that it always appears on the screen even when you scroll down? Being able to freeze the row that has the topics of interest in them would help, because several times I've had to scroll back up to the top to see what column was the correct one again.

Also, is HTD distributed audio represented? (is it a different brandname?) I'm just asking, I have no info to share on that.

Finally, I don't have a problem with choosing the top-of-the-line system for comparison, but it would really help me if I saw what that system actually was. Or are you simply saying "Nuvo" to represent all possible nuvo devices that can be considered? If it's an actual system, then I'd like to see which one the stats came from. That also helps in case at some point Nuvo releases something even more "top", so we can see that the data would need to be updated.

Oh ya...and CQC has weather and horoscope.

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Thanks, hopefully it will be helpful to somebody trying to figure out where to start.

The sheets are all created with frozen panes for easy scrolling and this is working for those with editing rights. I guess it isn't supported when it is published as straight HTML for public viewing.

I have seen HTD mentioned and I am hoping somebody will volunteer to add the information for it.

I am reluctant to get too involved with individual model information because it is hard to maintain. That said, I will leave it to the folks actually contributing to determine what information needs to be included.

Hopefully the folks working on CQC will make sure the weather and horoscope features are reflected in the table.