Elk vs DSC. Not seeing the appeal

[ano]

Appreciate all the input gents, that does help me and clear up some of my confusion. I personally don't think I'll get too deep down the automation rabbit hole (famous last words?) as I just can't think of a lot of things I'd really need/want. Turning lights on and off based on occupancy is about as broad as I'm thinking currently. 
 
With that said, I think I'll go the DSC Powerseries route with an Envisalink interface w/ Homeseer plugin and touch keypads so they're not hideous blocks on my wall. If I find Homeseer unstable or unable to do what I want, then I'll likely go down the Elk or more likely, OmniPro path. 

A lot of people mix-up "home automation" and "remote control." Also the controlling lights when you enter or leave a room has to be one of the weirdest "home automation" uses I can think of. Maybe when lights were incandescent and paying for electricity was a top concern, but today LED light barely use any power, and having lights follow you is just a bit weird, in my opinion, but I worked on doing this when I started out also.
 
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying everyone has the same "home automation" requirements, but you will discover your needs and wants change after you get more involved with it more.  What you may THINK you want now will likely change over time. 
 
Before you buy anything, I'd start making a list of what functions you want automation to help you with. Security? Lighting? Drapes? Thermostat?
 
Next take about a week and observe how you and the family "interact" with the house and what annoys you of the process.  If, for example, you do think that turning on and off lights just takes too much time, not WHY you do this. Are you turning on the same 5 lights every day when it gets dark?  Yes automate that. But also think HOW a system could do it better.  Do you REALLY want to go over to a panel to switch a light you can just switch?  That's a pain.
 
The best home automation systems, according to what I've learned, operate behind the scenes and are invisible as possible. They also act on stimulus they can easily obtain. For example my blinds go up and down based on how hot or cold it is, and based on how bright the sun is. My thermostat changes several times per day based on comfort, electric rates, and various schedules.  Flood sensors and fire sensors and burglar sensors alert me to other problems. 
 
The home automation rule of thumb is only automate actions where automation can do a better job than you.  That is where the auto lights falls short. Using motion to turn on some lights is fine, but keep in mind there will always be a slight delay, and you will never be able to accurately know when everyone is out of a room at least for a bit of time. Plus actually just hitting the light switch to achieve the same thing is rather easy.
 
Another favorite automation task is controlling large amount of light switchs with a single button or action. I have "party mode" in my house, and normal mode, dinning mode, bright light mode, etc. With one switch I can put a house full of lights into a scene. This is very handy, at least to me.

 

[auzzzie]

A lot of people mix-up "home automation" and "remote control." Also the controlling lights when you enter or leave a room has to be one of the weirdest "home automation" uses I can think of. Maybe when lights were incandescent and paying for electricity was a top concern, but today LED light barely use any power, and having lights follow you is just a bit weird, in my opinion, but I worked on doing this when I started out also.
 
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying everyone has the same "home automation" requirements, but you will discover your needs and wants change after you get more involved with it more.  What you may THINK you want now will likely change over time. 
 
Before you buy anything, I'd start making a list of what functions you want automation to help you with. Security? Lighting? Drapes? Thermostat?
 
Next take about a week and observe how you and the family "interact" with the house and what annoys you of the process.  If, for example, you do think that turning on and off lights just takes too much time, not WHY you do this. Are you turning on the same 5 lights every day when it gets dark?  Yes automate that. But also think HOW a system could do it better.  Do you REALLY want to go over to a panel to switch a light you can just switch?  That's a pain.
 
The best home automation systems, according to what I've learned, operate behind the scenes and are invisible as possible. They also act on stimulus they can easily obtain. For example my blinds go up and down based on how hot or cold it is, and based on how bright the sun is. My thermostat changes several times per day based on comfort, electric rates, and various schedules.  Flood sensors and fire sensors and burglar sensors alert me to other problems. 
 
The home automation rule of thumb is only automate actions where automation can do a better job than you.  That is where the auto lights falls short. Using motion to turn on some lights is fine, but keep in mind there will always be a slight delay, and you will never be able to accurately know when everyone is out of a room at least for a bit of time. Plus actually just hitting the light switch to achieve the same thing is rather easy.
 
Another favorite automation task is controlling large amount of light switchs with a single button or action. I have "party mode" in my house, and normal mode, dinning mode, bright light mode, etc. With one switch I can put a house full of lights into a scene. This is very handy, at least to me.

 Great post, that actually helped me out quite a bit. I've also started a "State/Action/Hardware" table so I can map out under what circumstances I want action X to happen and what hardware/modules etc I need to make it happen. I think once I have that, it will make it easier to pick the right system from the get go. 

 

[ano]

 Great post, that actually helped me out quite a bit. I've also started a "State/Action/Hardware" table so I can map out under what circumstances I want action X to happen and what hardware/modules etc I need to make it happen. I think once I have that, it will make it easier to pick the right system from the get go. 

Yeah, one of the big problems of "home automation" is what it is or why its needed. It usually can take years for people to really pin down what it is for them, but once they do it, I think you will learn that most people that do it would never want to give it up. Home Automation, that is.
 
A long time ago, when computers were just starting out there was this game written in BASIC that could guess the animal you were thinking. It would start by saying to think of an animal, then it would ask you if its an elephant? If it wasn't, it would ask you to enter a question so it could tell your animal from an elephant. A basic kind of learning. For example if you were thinking of a dog, you'd enter a question to separate a dog from an elephant. You could enter "Does the animal have a trunk?" For elephant it would be yes, for dog no. Then the program tries to guess a new animal with that question added. In other words, the program learned along the way how to identify an animal by using your questions.
 
Home automation is a lot like that. You will think of things like "I want to turn on the driveway lights when a car is in the driveway and its dark" but then you ask "How do I know a car is in the driveway?"
 
One easy task you could start with is to make your home look "lived in" when you are away. In other words, when you are away, and its dark, then randomly turn on and off lights. That's pretty hard to do without home automation, but an easy task for it, since your alarm should already know if you are home or away.