----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, February 25, 2002 10:35
AM
Subject: RE: [ukha_d] HomeVision or
other?
I
was looking at getting the Leopard. But it seems that there is little
capability to use it as anything other
than an input device, ie, it would be nice to send messages from the
PC to display on the screen but
this does not seem possible unless the message is pre-programmed
into
the Leopard.
So, I was thinking that using a pronto, plus an Ocelot would be
better, then any HA control would be recieved
as
IR commands from the pronto.
Does this seem like a sensible aproach?
How good is the a Pronto? does it have ALL the commands
for my Sony 940 Receiver/Amp?
Are macros assignable to on screen buttons for single hit
use?
Pointers to useful Pronto web sites would be
good.
And what about alternatives to the Pronto? or different approaches
to
the combining remotes and HA control problem?
Cheers
Keith
I took a look at HV's current price and it does
seem more expensive than I remember. The differential is quite significant
now.
You can compare the hardware features yourself I
guess from the specs so here's some comments on the software
side.
The Ocelot is the brains behind the Leopard
controller and is well produced and professional product (IMO). I use the
Leopard and I am happy with it, but I find it awkward. A lot of my
criticisms are to do with the specific capabilities of the Touch screen
interface and the ongoing development of the product and hence don't apply
to the Ocelot. Basically little appears to be happening in terms of new
features but what you do have works well. The programming environment for
the Ocelot is quite different to HomeVision - much more like a programming
language and that may or may not be an advantage to you. I suggest you
download the software which is available on the web site and try it and
see what you think. It can be used without the Ocelot connected. In
addition I suspect the amount of code space inside the Ocelot is much less
than with HV and requires much more skill to code in a complex
environment. There is a well supported mail list for this however.
Homeseer supports Ocelot directly.
HomeVision - which I use too - is my choice of HV
controller. I find it easy to use and incredibly powerful, it has a busy
mail list supporting it and Craig does an exemplary job. In fact he
and Dan Hoehnen (ACE author) are my nominations for the best support
Oscars. I find it much easier to add things quickly into HV and to
understand things later on when I've forgotten why I did such and such.
This allows for more ad hoc experimentation & less planning is
required (but not recommended). The programming environment can also be
downloaded from CSI's site and works without HV so have a look and see -
it is a much more graphic environment. In addition the HomeVision
application links up with ACE etc via DDE to provide a very tightly
integrated solution. The ACE / Homeseer integration is much more of a
programming interface (COM).
In the USA there is also a product called HomeVision
PC available which is lower cost - the main difference being it is a card
sitting in a PC so it requires a permanently powered
PC.
My recommendation ?? HV every time but that's being a
little insensitive to the now much larger price difference than I had
expected, so you takes your choice I guess... If you will use TV display
then the HV of course is a certain choice.
Kevin
[[K]]
-----Original
Message-----
From: Andy Laurence
[mailto:andylaurence@xxxxxxx]
Sent: 22 February 2002
16:46
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxxSubject: [ukha_d]
Homevision or other?
I
suppose it'll be time for me to splash out on an HA controller of
some
description soon. I've been looking around at the
possibles. I've seen
this (http://www.letsautomate.com/10599.cfm?CFID=432&CFTOKEN=51078446)
which
seems to do quite a lot for not a lot of money.
I'm
after something which will do X10, IR and possibly control things
via
relays (no idea what yet). Bear in mind that I run a server
24/7 at home,
and have another which can do the same. What
would I be missing out on if I
bought the above rather than
HomeVision? I know I'd lose the TV interface
of HomeVision, but
that doesn't bother me. Are there other
alternatives?
Andy
--
PC-Based Multimedia System
http://www.andylaurence.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/pcbmms
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