Before Time runs out...

[Steve]

Just to be anal, it's written in very high level C++ (for the most part, with some assembly in key places like some of the image processing.) I'd have long since hooked the hose up to the tailpipe if I had to do this in C

Yeah, there are so many variants I thought I'd just stick with the 'basic'!

Delicious, I would also agree with IVB that if UPB support is the only reason keeping you from CQC you will likely regret not saving $400. Dean has made it clear it is a pro product and since UPB is a pro oriented lighting control, it will be coming shortly post 2.0. Remember everything lately has been focused on 2.0 and the new media stuff etc. My money says that once 2.0 is released in a few weeks, there will be a few weeks of tweaks, etc and then you will probably see UPB support within 2 months after that. When I jumped on CQC before the previous price increase there were some missing pieces too but I am confident they will be added - many are already.

 

[DeLicious]

Well, it's in part because of UPB support... the other problem is my automation budget doesn't get renewed until after the new year, but the price increase is Dec 10, and I couldn't justify to the wife spending that much money after the new year.

If Dean could put off the price increase until mid-January, then I would be on board (with the understanding that UPB support is impending).

 

[Steve]

Sounds like you need to have a personal conversation with Dean to see if something could be worked out. :unsure:

 

[dbinaz]

Hmmm....no UPB currently huh. I was all set to go z-wave, but sort of got talked out of it in another thread. So what do I use in the meantime while we all wait patiently for UPB support? I don't want to throw a wad down on something and put lots of time into it then change in a couple months.
BTW, I won't be installing anything untill end dec begin of jan.

D

 

[Steve]

See my reply in the other thread. You don't need CQC support of it if using Elk or HAI panel.

 

[IVB]

what else do you want to do?

given that you're just starting out, it'll take you a few weeks or so to come up with a design & layout & fxnly to do everything else. Based on your project scope, i'd bet UPB is ready for you before you get everything else done.

As a point of comparison, i started automating 14 months ago. I literally just ordered some zWave stuff as a trial, the truck was supposed to be here yesterday, so AO put a tracer on the package. It took me nearly 12 months to feel like I was ready to begin contemplating automated lighting.

 

[dbinaz]

I don't think it will take me that long. I am a "want it now" "get it now" type of guy. I am married, but WAF is 100%. She doesn't care. She thinks it's cool.

 

[IVB]

I don't think it will take me that long. I am a "want it now" "get it now" type of guy. I am married, but WAF is 100%. She doesn't care. She thinks it's cool.

Well in my case, hooking things up to the PC didn't take that long, but once I get over the "ooh, i can control via my computer", i didn't know what I actually wanted the system to do. I mean, really, BFD, so I can turn all this junk on/off via the PC. How does that help me? There's really no "best practice" that you can look at, it just takes time to look throug what folks are doing to see what you want to do.

Between that angst, and all the issues with EVERY lighting protocol out there, I decided do lighting last.

 

[Dean Roddey]

As I've mentioned elsewhere, since the vast bulk of our customers who are donig whole house automation are either using an Elk or Omni, and they always want to drive the lighting through those (with CQC accessing it indirectly through the panel), or they are using one of the pro-level lighting systems we do support, we've just put our time into other important things for a while.

But we will address the UPB thing after the new year.