RE: HomeVision or other?

["Mark Harrison" <Mark.Harrison@xxxxxxx>]

Keith,

If your "control world" is limited to X-10, or things you want to
control only when you're there with the Pronto, then it's fine.

If you want to have control of other (non-X10) devices by
timed/triggered macro, then you need something more sophisticated.

For example, when my house is in "away" mode, the following
happen:

- Somepoint in the evening, the study light goes on

- Later the light goes off, and the light in the bedroom comes on
together with the TV

- Later the TV goes off, then the light.


Mark Harrison
Head of Systems, eKingfisher

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-----Original Message-----
From: Baker, R Keith [mailto:keith.r.baker@xxxxxxx]
Sent: 25 February 2002 11:58
To: 'ukha_d@xxxxxxx'
Subject: RE: [ukha_d] HomeVision or other?


Thanks for the info.

Now I'm sure this has been considered but instead of using a dedicated
controller like HV or Ocelot, why
not have a simple CM11 interface and use the pronto for control.  I'm
sure there is a catch here, so what
is it?

Cheers

Keith


-----Original Message-----
From: Andy Bovingdon [mailto:bov@xxxxxxx]
Sent: Monday, February 25, 2002 11:03 AM
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [ukha_d] HomeVision or other?


www.remotecentral.com <http://www.remotecentral.com>
www.prontoedit.com <http://www.prontoedit.com>

The new Marantz colour unit looks nice - shame it costs so much.

----- Original Message -----
From: Baker, R Keith <mailto:keith.r.baker@xxxxxxx>
To: 'ukha_d@xxxxxxx' <mailto:'ukha_d@xxxxxxx'>
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


-----Original Message-----
From: Kevin Hawkins [mailto:lists@xxxxxxx]
Sent: Friday, February 22, 2002 6:22 PM
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: RE: [ukha_d] HomeVision or other?


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.

A comparison of HV against JDS's Time Commander is quite
enlightening and is available here http://www.csi3.com/hv_comp.htm
<http://www.csi3.com/hv_comp.htm>
.

Kevin


[[K]]
-----Original Message-----
From: Andy Laurence [mailto:andylaurence@xxxxxxx]
Sent: 22 February 2002 16:46
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: [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
<http://www.letsautomate.com/10599.cfm?CFID=432&CFTOKEN=51078446)>
&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
<http://www.andylaurence.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/pcbmms>


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