Re: XTB - the Future of X10 has arrived!

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Marc F Hult" <MFHult@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

<stuff snipped>

> Bobby,
>
> Like many folks that participate in this newsgroup, your window on what is
> available in HA seems to be based on what you afford/prefer/have and what
is
> in the air and echoes around c.h.a.

In the previous message you were talking about how people comment on things
they have NOT used personally, so I guess the above description of me is a
compliment!

> That is an exceedingly narrow subset of what goes for HA now-a-days.

Uh oh.  Maybe I was premature in my assessment!

> You could do everything you want and more by calling up a
> contractor specializing in Crestron www.crestron.com/ or
> www.amx.com/, enter one of those complete HA worlds,
> and never think about, see or deal with _any_ of
> the devices in the paragraph that you write above.

I have a friend who does AMX for the Pentagon where they can afford to spend
$100K+ for media room automation.  It ain't me babe, nor many people here
given how they've described themselves.

As Dave Rye said, X-10's success depends on three factors:  price, price and
price.  Without CHA I would have been another frustrated X-10 user who might
have eventually chucked it all.  The problem, as I see it, is that all those
other protocols and technologies all have there own fora, so there's not
much cross-pollination anymore.  There really aren't many other worldwide
forums to address HA in general except here.

> In particular, the hard-wired lighting manufacturer you mention
> is but one of perhaps a dozen.

In my limited experience, Centralite's what I have seen most often in the
hard-wired home automation world.  Sure there are more but my whole point
was that X-10 has lasted while others have not.  My sense is that despite
the detractors, there are still some very, very smart people here who use
X-10 daily.  I'm assuming that they are price conscious people who know they
can save enough money using X-10 to take a two week vacation or to buy a new
digital radio or whatever.

X-10 stands quite alone at its price per load.  Insteon may be able to
parallel it somewhat by being part of the manufacturing chain but the bottom
line when you make a million of something you can sell it cheaper than a
company that makes just 1000 or 100 units.  X-10's so far along that power
curve that only an outfit like IBM, MS or GE could bring similar economies
of scale to bear.

My whole point in starting this thread was to alert the CHA community's X-10
users that there's still hope in the form of Jeff's XTB.  For the folks with
huge houses and lots of "sucker" loads, the XTB will be a godsend.   It's
also something I was fortunate enough to have direct experience with in the
development phase, so I feel it's incumbent upon me to share what I've
learned.

--
Bobby G.