I've been using HAI Omnipro 2 since 2008 with HAI Automation Studio powering my touchscreens. With Automation Studio seemingly at end of life and with my desire to create a customized mobile app (vs. Snaplink), I know it's time to find and dive into the right "front-end" software.
I know many front-end software apps (HomeSeer, CQC, Bitwise, etc.) offer varying degrees of integration, logic control, etc., but I will always keep my most important and security logic in the Omni because it is just rock solid and always works.
So my question to this community: if you were to start today with a front-end, what would you use?
Here is my initial take after a week of evaluating a few of the options:
Bitwise
As far as my requirements and what's important to me....
Mike
OmniPro II
100+ HLC/UPB lights
6 Omnistats
Nuvo Grand Concerto w/ 16 zones
3 Zwave Locks
15 Axis IP Cams
I know many front-end software apps (HomeSeer, CQC, Bitwise, etc.) offer varying degrees of integration, logic control, etc., but I will always keep my most important and security logic in the Omni because it is just rock solid and always works.
So my question to this community: if you were to start today with a front-end, what would you use?
Here is my initial take after a week of evaluating a few of the options:
Bitwise
- This is what HAI is pushing and presumably Bitwise is the replacement for Automation Studio. I've played around with it and it's great as an A/V control system. Bitwise just introduced Omni integration but they still have a ways to go. The mobile app designer is good, but again it lacks some capabilities that in my opinion make it suitable for security and automation. For example, i don't like that the end-user can select their start page (GUI in their language) and the app cannot jump to GUIs based on Omni events/triggers.
- I like everything I read about HomeSeer and I would love to expand my logic/automation to the breadth of plugins HomeSeer offers. I'm a little hesitate about running another server in my system, but perhaps the purpose built HomeTroller's are solid. For me, the lack of Nuvo integration is a potential show-stopper, although I could get around some of it by having the Omni drive Nuvo via Buttons from HomeSeer Omni plug in.
- CQC looks interesting as well and has a strong following. The fact that it almost when out of business awhile back is concerning and the pricing seems a bit steep for software-only solution (I have 6 kids and a wife who also need "clients"). The logic control seems solid but the mobile designers "in development" are also concerning.
As far as my requirements and what's important to me....
- I like building sophisticated logic
- My favorite part of automation is the human interface (touchscreens, voice input capability, text to speech acknowledgements, etc.). For this reason, I am very intrigued by the text to speech abilities of HomeSeer, CQC, etc. and the HomeSeer Alexa integration. I would love the ability to "Say Something" or play specific MP3s to specific audio zones. Today with Omni/Nuvo, I am limited to the 500 Omni words and paging to all zones at once via the 2-way voice module. I've come up with some very creative uses for this, but an unlimited vocab, localized zoned TTS, Alexa, etc., would be exciting!
- I need to support interfaces for both IOS and Android devices and I would like to replace all my Omni 5.7 Touchscreens with iPads (cheaper, bigger).
- I cannot practically replace the Nuvo Grand Concerto system...I've invested way too much in it.
Mike
OmniPro II
100+ HLC/UPB lights
6 Omnistats
Nuvo Grand Concerto w/ 16 zones
3 Zwave Locks
15 Axis IP Cams