Alright,
We are currently building a custom home in southern california. The foundation is poured, and the framing is going up in a little over one week. I have been doing a ton of research on all of the different options I have...(control4,CQC,cortexa,homeseer,pluto,etc...) I was very intrigued by CQC and the customization it has. However, I still had some worries about using it for my project.
Here is what I want, and plan on, doing:
All-in-one Control:
I want to be able to control/access my lighting/hvac/security/whole house audio from ONE interface. I am trying to avoid using multiple systems to control the automation/audio.
I want to use a touchscreens to control the main automation system.
Things to Control:
Lighting:
I want to control all of the lighting in the house. Both indoors and outdoors. I have not decided on a protocol, but I am leaning towards either zwave or insteon. I also want the lighting to be event based/scheduled. Such as turning on the bathroom lights at 20% if someone gets up at night, etc..
HVAC:
I want to be able to have this as automated as possible. The less I have to worry about the temperature in the different rooms, the better. The system should monitor itself, and each room, to make sure they are always at the desired temperature and adjusted automatically. However, I also want to be able to change them on-the-fly depending on our preferences.
Security:
I have not picked a security system as of yet. So anything is possible I suppose. We want to have a full blown security system, such as window/door monitoring, motion sensors, video surveillance, etc. However, I have read several people speak about how they prefer their security system to not be controlled by their HA system. I can see why this would be, but I am not sure of how it would be implemented. I would like to be able to control the arming/disarming of the system using the touchscreens, but not have the security depend on the status of the HA.
Whole House Audio:
We have not figured out how many rooms we are going to want to have audio, but at least 6. I have heard really good things about the Russound CAV6.6 system. I want to be able to control the volume, songs for each room individually. Would having a tablet-pc based inwall touchscreen for each room be good? Or would something like the RAD-I/O be more efficient? I want to be able to go through all of our music which would be stored on a HDD. I would like to see the cover art of each CD/artist in each zone of the house as it is selected. Also, a big part of this is being able to use a subscription-based service such as Rhapsody, Yahoo, Napster, etc. I do not know if it is possible, but if I would be able to access there servers to pick music on the fly, and then have it sent to the zone that selected it.
Video Distribution:
Video only needs to be available to 3 rooms in the house. The Theater, Family Room, and Kitchen. However, only the Theater and family room NEED HD signals. I am going to be using DISH satellite to receieve all of my HD programming. I have not upgraded to HD yet, so I can use any means of getting to this. Also, I was thinking of using an OTA HD antenna for the local HD broadcasts instead of DISH. I want to be able to use a PVR/DVR system for all of the tvs. Whether this is through DISH recievers, or a HTPC is not yet decided.
Also, I want to be able to access my entire DVD collection from the family room and home theater. They would be stored on a server (NAS, htpc, etc.). I would then want to be able to go through the entire collection on the tv's. Being able to select each movie by coverart and additional information (dvd profile style) is wanted. Also, I would like to be able to watch two separate dvds in two different rooms from the same system at the same time.
Home Theater:
This is probably one of the most important areas of the house to me. I want to be able to have the entire room automated, and be controlled from a single tablet-pc/touchscreen. I would like to have pre-scheduled events such as: Watch DVD - Projector turns on, equipment sets the right inputs, lights dim, curtains pull apart, dvd library appears for selection. I also want to be able to access the music server/library on the remote. Basically, I want the everything in the room to be "noob" proof, so that anyone can watch a movie/tv/play a game.
Also, I want the video system to be driven by a HTPC. Preferrably using TheaterTek/Zoomplayer with ffdshow as the dvd player. Not sure about the audio side of things, although I know that some motherboards are coming out with DTS HD, and True HD sound chips.
Possible Integration:
Now, I am not sure this is even possible, but here goes. I would also like for the system to be controlled through HAL. I would not want HAL to actually create the scheduled events or automate on its own. Rather, I just want to use its Voice Interface(not sure what it is called) in order to control the CQC system. Such as saying "Alfred(what I would call it hehe), Its Bed time." HAl would then send a command to CQC telling it to run the "bed time" event, which would turn off my bedroom light, turn on the fan, turn off any music playing in that zone, and turn on the air purifier.
I do not know if CQC can handle this, but I am so giddy about the idea of being able to "talk" to the house, and have its functions carried out.
What systems would you guys recommend that are capable of this? Homeseer, Cortexa, CQC???
PHEW!!! That was a lot to write. I hope I did not miss anything, but I probably did. I know it is a lot to read, but if any of you guys could give me some tips/help.
Thanks again in advance. Sorry for the long post!
We are currently building a custom home in southern california. The foundation is poured, and the framing is going up in a little over one week. I have been doing a ton of research on all of the different options I have...(control4,CQC,cortexa,homeseer,pluto,etc...) I was very intrigued by CQC and the customization it has. However, I still had some worries about using it for my project.
Here is what I want, and plan on, doing:
All-in-one Control:
I want to be able to control/access my lighting/hvac/security/whole house audio from ONE interface. I am trying to avoid using multiple systems to control the automation/audio.
I want to use a touchscreens to control the main automation system.
Things to Control:
Lighting:
I want to control all of the lighting in the house. Both indoors and outdoors. I have not decided on a protocol, but I am leaning towards either zwave or insteon. I also want the lighting to be event based/scheduled. Such as turning on the bathroom lights at 20% if someone gets up at night, etc..
HVAC:
I want to be able to have this as automated as possible. The less I have to worry about the temperature in the different rooms, the better. The system should monitor itself, and each room, to make sure they are always at the desired temperature and adjusted automatically. However, I also want to be able to change them on-the-fly depending on our preferences.
Security:
I have not picked a security system as of yet. So anything is possible I suppose. We want to have a full blown security system, such as window/door monitoring, motion sensors, video surveillance, etc. However, I have read several people speak about how they prefer their security system to not be controlled by their HA system. I can see why this would be, but I am not sure of how it would be implemented. I would like to be able to control the arming/disarming of the system using the touchscreens, but not have the security depend on the status of the HA.
Whole House Audio:
We have not figured out how many rooms we are going to want to have audio, but at least 6. I have heard really good things about the Russound CAV6.6 system. I want to be able to control the volume, songs for each room individually. Would having a tablet-pc based inwall touchscreen for each room be good? Or would something like the RAD-I/O be more efficient? I want to be able to go through all of our music which would be stored on a HDD. I would like to see the cover art of each CD/artist in each zone of the house as it is selected. Also, a big part of this is being able to use a subscription-based service such as Rhapsody, Yahoo, Napster, etc. I do not know if it is possible, but if I would be able to access there servers to pick music on the fly, and then have it sent to the zone that selected it.
Video Distribution:
Video only needs to be available to 3 rooms in the house. The Theater, Family Room, and Kitchen. However, only the Theater and family room NEED HD signals. I am going to be using DISH satellite to receieve all of my HD programming. I have not upgraded to HD yet, so I can use any means of getting to this. Also, I was thinking of using an OTA HD antenna for the local HD broadcasts instead of DISH. I want to be able to use a PVR/DVR system for all of the tvs. Whether this is through DISH recievers, or a HTPC is not yet decided.
Also, I want to be able to access my entire DVD collection from the family room and home theater. They would be stored on a server (NAS, htpc, etc.). I would then want to be able to go through the entire collection on the tv's. Being able to select each movie by coverart and additional information (dvd profile style) is wanted. Also, I would like to be able to watch two separate dvds in two different rooms from the same system at the same time.
Home Theater:
This is probably one of the most important areas of the house to me. I want to be able to have the entire room automated, and be controlled from a single tablet-pc/touchscreen. I would like to have pre-scheduled events such as: Watch DVD - Projector turns on, equipment sets the right inputs, lights dim, curtains pull apart, dvd library appears for selection. I also want to be able to access the music server/library on the remote. Basically, I want the everything in the room to be "noob" proof, so that anyone can watch a movie/tv/play a game.
Also, I want the video system to be driven by a HTPC. Preferrably using TheaterTek/Zoomplayer with ffdshow as the dvd player. Not sure about the audio side of things, although I know that some motherboards are coming out with DTS HD, and True HD sound chips.
Possible Integration:
Now, I am not sure this is even possible, but here goes. I would also like for the system to be controlled through HAL. I would not want HAL to actually create the scheduled events or automate on its own. Rather, I just want to use its Voice Interface(not sure what it is called) in order to control the CQC system. Such as saying "Alfred(what I would call it hehe), Its Bed time." HAl would then send a command to CQC telling it to run the "bed time" event, which would turn off my bedroom light, turn on the fan, turn off any music playing in that zone, and turn on the air purifier.
I do not know if CQC can handle this, but I am so giddy about the idea of being able to "talk" to the house, and have its functions carried out.
What systems would you guys recommend that are capable of this? Homeseer, Cortexa, CQC???
PHEW!!! That was a lot to write. I hope I did not miss anything, but I probably did. I know it is a lot to read, but if any of you guys could give me some tips/help.
Thanks again in advance. Sorry for the long post!