Best Home Automation Software/Controller

Hello, What is the best Home Automation Software Controller ? Here are the points that is important for me:
Easy to use.
Price,
Compatibility,
Features,
Android.
I need a software/controller for:
Light,
Sercurity System,
Multi Room Audio,
Sprinkler,
Heat and Cooling,

Are you asking for 'software' to control an existing 'controller' or wanting recommendations on a hardware controller/software package, or just wanting information on a controller itself?

I am looking for a hardware controller or Software package running on a PC

Personally my favorite HA Software is Homeseer.  I do have two boxes now running HS today. 
 
My favorite HA hardware is the HAI OPII and I have two of these also running today. 

Ding Ding.... And .... Fight!

wuench said:

Ding Ding.... And .... Fight!

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That's why I sure wasn't going to be the first to reply! Besides everyone already knows elve is the best. But back to the question most all popular packages have free trials so try them all and see what you like.

Psssst
 
Did I just hear someone open a can of worms?

Step 1 should be to figure out what equipment you'd like to use for lighting or home audio, etc.  This will determine your options because some software packages support some devices while others support different devices. 
 
Specific PC based software and comments from my limited research:

• Homeseer - Seems to be a good system with strong community support.  Does not support my lighting choice (Lutron RadioRa 2).
• CQC - Also seems to have strong community support.  Dean recently added a driver for RadioRa 2 so this will be the software package I purchase this month.
• Elve - I originally was most interested in Elve...until I joined the forum and realized it was not very active.
• Premise - Popular open source system but I never really considered it for whatever reason.

 
Regarding hardware, I think Elk and HAI are both great and either could be a strong cornerstone of a home automation and security system.  I will choose HAI primarily due to support of the lighting system I chose (RadioRa 2) and it is slightly more capable in terms of whole home audio.  Note that the Elk also supports RadioRa 2 but it is a separate ~$300+ interface.
 
David

dgage said:

I originally was most interested in Elve...until I joined the forum and realized it was not very active.

Click to expand...

True that. Its so quiet I can hear myself think. And no good has ever come of that.

most have a free trial.  you should just try a few out

lanski said:

Hello, What is the best Home Automation Software Controller ? Here are the points that is important for me:
Easy to use.
Price,
Compatibility,
Features,
Android.
I need a software/controller for:
Light,
Sercurity System,
Multi Room Audio,
Sprinkler,
Heat and Cooling,

Click to expand...

So basically you want everything
 
You need to tell us what kind of environment you are dealing with.  Do you have an existing security/home theater system?  If not, is your house wired for this?  What kind of lighting do you have now?  What kind of furnace do you have?  We need to know this limitations in order to help you.
 
Also, there is a list in place which lists every piece of home automation software on the market, and you can filter by features, so it should help you with your quest:
 
http://cocoontech.com/forums/page/home-automation-software

That is for a new House, i want to start with that in April.
I look at Homeseer and try the trial version.
 
For lights i want to go with Zwave and insteon.
I don't have a Home Theatre i will have just a Multi Room Audio with Russound or a PC media server.
Security System, i am looking at DSC and i want to install that or simillar.
 
My Problem is i am not a programmer and i will have Controller/Software that is easy to use.
I am not sure but i think for me HomeSeer is a great package but maybe to much for me.
I check mcontrol too, but that is more for Apple.
For me is Important that the controller/software is easy to use and stable.

I would probably narrow it down between CQC & HomeSeer.  HomeSeer is a little easier to learn, but not sure how good the drivers for Russound systems are.  CQC is extremely powerful as well, but the learning curve is a little steeper there.
 
If you think there is a chance you don't want to deal with the backend at all, then maybe something like a 2GiG Go!Control panel might be another viable solution, as it combines home automation and security into 1 platform, and is easy to use.  However, these panels aren't DIY, so you would have to pay someone and might be stuck with a monthly fee (it uses alarm.com for online control).
 
Another route is to go the ELK M1 route, or the HAI Omni Pro II, both are extremely powerful security systems, supporting many home automation features.  Most of us rely on these panels AND software as our primary platform.  HAI also offers great add-ons, such as multi-room systems, but the price goes up pretty quick.

Thx all,
At the end i will control my House complete with my Android Tablet.
 
It is possible with the Elk M1 ?
For multi Room Audio I can go with a as many i need USB Soundcards and than use the JRiver music player.

The android apps for the M1 aren't as good as the iOS apps from what I can tell.  That said, Homeseer/CQC let you build your own Android interface, so it would make a nice addition, but I would strongly recommend against exposing your ELK M1 directly to the internet, use a VPN/SSH tunnel instead.
 
You have many options, and going with the trial version of these software solutions as recommended earlier in this thread is definitely the right approach.