new to forum, lots of reasearch done, would appreciate some basic help to start

[capall]

Hi all,
This is my first post after doing months of research and any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks

My system will initially be 8-10 zones of audio (5 synced hopefully) and 2 zones of video fed from a server to clients connected to the TVs, and then I will expand to the rest of HA. I want to use touchscreens for audio and video can be touchscreens/ IR /RF.

However I’m struggling to understand how the various hardware components connect to the network in the house and how you control and use them. I’ve listed the main components below and the communication protocol available on them.

Input devices; Main Q is what you are using to control what hardware (wired/wifi/IR/RF) and the advantages of each ?
Touchscreen monitors and POS systems such as ELO/Planar (vga/usb), Samsung Q1 (wifi), Nokia n770 (wifi), Ipad (wifi, wired Ethernet), Tablets such as Fijitsu Stylistic, HP 5700 thin client, HP Ipaq.

Hardware; Main Q here is about getting IR and RS232 components onto the Network (ie those that don’t have Ethernet ports) and how you are controlling them (if not answered above)
AVReceivers, BluRay, DVR’s, Matrix, Security cameras, Alarm, Lighting, Thermostat, Garage door,

HA software (listed these 3 in order of what appears to be the most popular for DIY);
CQC, Mainlobby, Girder. Do these have their own music playing and video playback engines themselves or do you program them to launch media players such as JRMC, MediaMonkey, Itunes,VLC,TMT,SageTV,Windows Media Center, XBMC etc

The computer running the DIY HA software (CQC, Mainlobby, Girder);
Is this a standard PC running Windows or can it also be a PC running Windows Home Server (either homebuilt or HP MediaSmart)

Thanks
capall

 

[Neurorad]

Welcome to CT.

I was in the same boat as you 2+ years ago.

I still haven't decided on a main controller.

Took 2 years to research and retrofit install my whole house audio system. B)

I picked a WHA/DA system (Nuvo) that works well with several of the controllers.

Still polishing the audio system, but I'm leaning toward CQC.

The best way to figure out the answers to your questions is to visit each of the dedicated forums every day (CQC, MainLobby, Girder, Elve, HomeSeer), and spend time searching old posts. Specifics of each system aren't usually discussed at forums other than the dedicated forums.

I've had pretty good luck copying what other people do; I don't like being a guinea pig.

Because I knew it would take a long time for the audio system - and prob just as long to replace the alarm system - I have the luxury of waiting to see what turns up, controller-wise. Lighting and HVAC control planned as well.

I can't really install a controller, without the subsystems installed to control. I'm trying to choose subsystem hardware that works well with many control systems.

 

[jwilson56]

Did you check my blog out? I have a 6 zone whole audio setup that many others have duplicated in some form or another.

Take a look.

 

[capall]

Hi john,
Yes, actually read one of you older system description posts and like how you did the audio portion. I'll have another look at your blog and hopefully will have some Q&A for you.
Thanks
Capall

 

[jwilson56]

Hi john,
Yes, actually read one of you older system description posts and like how you did the audio portion. I'll have another look at your blog and hopefully will have some Q&A for you.
Thanks
Capall

I am looking to upgrade it soon with a new piece of hardware I just got. I posted a possible design change on the blog today. This new switch matrix is going to add a whole lot of versatility when it comes to syncing zones. I can do a hardware sync with the master zone right now which has worked fine but with this added device I will be able to sync any zones together as well as switch in any other audio source I might find down the road.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5258/5512369235_b5e0862b72_b.jpg

 

[capall]

after some more research, is my understanding correct of the touchscreen options?

1. low powered pc's such as Hp thin clients running a HA s/w client app connected to an in-wall touchscreen such as ELO, Planar. ELO seems to be the most popular
2. if using an ipad, you run a non-native client app (RIVA for cqc)
3. all in one tablet/touchscreen pc's (Fujitsu Stylistic), same as #1 but built-in screen, or ipad but they can run the windows native app?, but expensive and ipad would now be the most bag for the buck
4. Samsung Q1, nokia N770/800 use RDP via web browser or native app ??

Qs
1. are the POS terminals essentially a cheap all in one pc with poor resolution
2. Is there anything specific to touchscreen monitors wrt drivers that I need to be aware of before buying
3. If you select music on one thin client/touchscreen unit, is it synced and controllable from another on the network?
4. Can the Hp thin clients display SD video on their touchscreens..ie in the kitchen/bathroom or do you need to go up to a acer Revo

thanks

 

[jwilson56]

I will answer the ones that pertain to my setup

I use an ELO touchscreen with an old laptop gutted down running WinXP Pro for native Netremote

I use both the Nokia 770 as well as my Droid 2 Global with RDP for my Netremote skins designed for their own screen resolutions. I use the multi login hack for XP Pro to gain a total of three login and use two of these accounts on my SageTV server to log in from those RDP sessions.

Someone on CT sold some cheap POS and I run Netremote from those running XP Pro native. These have a built in ELO touchscreen which I find works great. The ELO is a very responsive TS design IMO.

On my setup all clients are instantly updated when any other client changes something that either pertains to the zone being 'viewed and controlled' or when any light or power status indicators or controls change (such as LED lights or sliders). I did play with HSTouch and I could not get the clients to stay updated with each other but they might have fixed that by now. Each client can select any zone to control (they can also be set to control the same zone as another client as well). In Netremote/Girder a variable/image table is shared and updated by all clients. For instance I can set an image variable from Girder and all Netremote clients will be instantly updated. I use this for things like security cam snapshots as well as a digital photo frame.

The music/database player I use is J Rivers Media Center which is one of the best apps that directly supports multizone audio. Netremote integrates with JRMC seamlessly as does MusicLobby from what I have seen. HSTouch is not supporting JRMC at the moment and the current paid plugin that they sell does not work. Elve is working on support for JRMC and I am testing new releases to see how their progress is going (I own a license for Elve as well as Netremote/Girder 5 and Homeseer 2.0). I have high hopes for Elve in the future as Promixis (NR/G) seems to have stopped any new development.

I have a video download link of my Droid skin in action in my blog if you want to see Now Playing on my Droid 2 in action.

http://www.cocoontech.com/forums/index.php?app=blog&module=display&section=blog&blogid=8&showentry=319

http://www.cocoontech.com/forums/index.php?app=blog&module=display&section=blog&blogid=8

 

[capall]

thanks for the response john,
good idea with the old laptop.

any response issues with RDP?

wrt the screens being synced with other, I assume that you program this with girder/net remote. Can CQC and ML both do the same?

ML has apparently moved away from HRMC with their latest release, but either way I've also read that there's adv's in leaving itunes(which i run) and going to JRMC wrt zones especially.

I also have a droid (incredible)

I like your receiver concept since being on a DIY budget and their availability on craigslist/ebay vs the cost of multichannel amplifiers. Are you using the matrix to completely remove the IR portion of your setup?

I'll check your videos this evening.

Thanks john
derek

 

[DavidL]

wrt the screens being synced with other, I assume that you program this with girder/net remote. Can CQC and ML both do the same?

Yes, Both CQC and ML can "synch" screens.

ML has apparently moved away from HRMC with their latest release, but either way I've also read that there's adv's in leaving itunes(which i run) and going to JRMC wrt zones especially.

ML supports MediaCenter, iTunes and their own music database. For general use, Cinemar's MusicLobby is their best of the three methods. Don't recommend their integration with iTunes. MainLobby also supports Girder, but there really isn't much need to use Girder.

 

[jwilson56]

I am amazed at the response of RDP when I use it for Netremote. It works as well as if it was native. Yes my Now Playing skin is done with Netremote that handles the GUI front end on the clients and Girder 5 that handles the home automation side. Netremote also comes with Mediabridge that sits on the server and interacts with JRMC as well as a bunch of other players like Winamp. Of coarse like I said JRMC probably does the best job handling multizone IMO. The problem is that they keep making changes that breaks their API for JRMC so Mediabrige needs to be updated. Hopefully Promixis will at least do that for us.

I use an Ocelot with the SECU-16IR module to control all the equipment with IR. It has 16 independent IR zones. Each receiver is powered on and off as needed when that zone is being played so it conserves power when not needed. I will probably also control the Shinybow Matrix with IR as well. You can control the volume of each zone in JRMC via NR but I also use the built in tuners in each receiver to play local FM. In order to control the volume therefore I control the volume of each receiver instead.

As shown in my block diagram I also use a Delta 410 PCI card that gives me 4 stereo pairs of sound channels. These cards can still be obtained off Ebay now and then. It is a high quality sound card and many people have used it.