upstatemike
Senior Member
I've been reading some of the threads on Home Theater automation and I think there is something basic that I am missing here. I don't do much HT automation in my house because I have trouble identifying the "value added" that automating it would give me.
Whole house music makes sense and having a central music repository has worked great for me but I can't see a way to apply the same paradigm to video. In other threads we determined that it is not practical to convert a video library to PC storage once it gets beyond a certain size. Besides that, I don't see the value of a touchscreen interface to operate video equipment. Once I am on the couch with universal remote in hand why would I want to get up and go over to a PC screen to operate the system? I suppose a touchscreen system would let you operate the system remotely but if you aren't in the same room as the TV, why would you want to be controlling it anyway?
A good universal remote can control every aspect of HT playback, lighting etc. I could certainly use a DVD changer with an elaborate IR and video distribution system to play DVDs in multiple rooms but a basic cost/benefit analysis seems to indicate that a nice piece of furniture to centrally store my DVD library plus a local player in each room will give me more bang for the buck.
So what features am I overlooking that would make me want to automate my Home Theater?
Whole house music makes sense and having a central music repository has worked great for me but I can't see a way to apply the same paradigm to video. In other threads we determined that it is not practical to convert a video library to PC storage once it gets beyond a certain size. Besides that, I don't see the value of a touchscreen interface to operate video equipment. Once I am on the couch with universal remote in hand why would I want to get up and go over to a PC screen to operate the system? I suppose a touchscreen system would let you operate the system remotely but if you aren't in the same room as the TV, why would you want to be controlling it anyway?
A good universal remote can control every aspect of HT playback, lighting etc. I could certainly use a DVD changer with an elaborate IR and video distribution system to play DVDs in multiple rooms but a basic cost/benefit analysis seems to indicate that a nice piece of furniture to centrally store my DVD library plus a local player in each room will give me more bang for the buck.
So what features am I overlooking that would make me want to automate my Home Theater?