Re: Dedicated Z-wave sites?

["Robert L Bass" <robertbass1@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

>I think that the thing limiting Z-Wave is
> their choice for a very low speed network.
> It's going to be hard to achieve ubiquity
> when your system cannot ever be used
> to even transmit media metadata, much
> less media data...

Z-Wave is not a media distribution medium.  It is intended to control lights and appliances.  For that it doesn't need a high speed
network.  A few bytes of data are enough to operate almost anything targeted by Z-Wave.

> No powerline technology really could even
> be used for either of those things either I
> don't think. Zigbee seems to be the only
> one that could really have a chance at being
> a fairly ubiquitious wireless control technology...

Hmm.  The only control technology that comes close to ubiquity is X10 and it does so without so much as a nod to media distribution.
There's a reason for that.  While entertainment distribution and HA have overlapping markets they are not congruent.  In fact, most
HA projects do not control entertainment hardware.

It's nice when a control medium can support both and for that Zigbee does have an edge.  But that doesn't mean that Zigbee will
become the dominant medium.  It doesn't even guaranty its survival.  IMO, the strongest indication of a product or technology's long
term prognosis for survival is support from major industry players.  In that regard Z-Wave is way ahead of Insteon, Zigbee and
several others.

> But, in the end, media is going to be the
> single biggest driver of acceptance of
> home automation technologies...

That's an opinion.  You've built a platform which supports media and HA functionality so it stands to reason you'd believe that.  I
disagree.  IMO, the most important consideration in choosing an HA system is security.  Next is lighting control.  Then comes
entertainment and HVAC.  It's difficult to tell which is last though.  I base this on the features that my clients request.
Virtually all of the callers ask for some subset of the above and better than 90% ask in that order.

> Wireless IP would be optimum in that scenario...

Numerous CAT5 (Ethernet and non-Ethernet based) systems do a fine job of distributing and controlling AV systems.  Several of these
are starting to play nice with popular HA platforms.  I mentioned in a recent thread, for example, that ELK's M1G will soon be able
to control Russound entertainment systems.  Once that's done, I'll probably ask them to do a Xantech interface to work with our
MRC44 and MRC88 systems.

--

Regards,
Robert L Bass

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