12.25.2006 — Best Buy is going to sell a packaged solution of Media Center plus home automation. Literally, it’s a package—a box. A customer walks into a Best Buy store, delights in the demo, buys the package, and waits for its arrival in a big box about four-foot square. [Correction: four-foot-cubed, as many pointed out]

The package costs $15,000.

For that you get a z560 Digital Entertainment Center (a Media Center PC) from HP, Lifeware home automation software from Exceptional Innovation, one Xbox 360 (which doubles as a Media Center Extender), two Panasonic wireless cameras, one communicating thermostat from Residential Control systems, Ethernet/powerline adapters from Corinex, and assorted devices—five dimmers, five switches, two keypads--that communicate over the powerline via Insteon technology.

It also comes with installation—mostly. When the box arrives, the first step is for the homeowner to get the high-voltage gear (12 Insteon powerline products) installed. Best Buy, of course, warns the consumers to hire an electrician for the task, but I assume many consumers will tackle that task on their own. (Note: CE Pro and its parent company EH Publishing recommend that only licensed electricians install high-voltage .... blah blah blah ...)

When the switches are in place, the customer calls a special 800-number, a Best Buy integrator is dispatched, the rest of the gear is installed and configured, the customer is trained on the system, and the household revels in the integrated media/automation experience.

In fact, they can even tap into the experience from afar with a $19.95/monthly fee. From any Web browser, they can pull up the Lifeware software and control the home, check what the kids are watching, even view recorded TV shows—sans audio for now, but that’s coming soon. (We don’t need no stinkin’ Slingbox.)

The remote-access software is a branded version of gotomypc.com, but the price is the same.

Behind the Scenes

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? In fact, a lot of effort went into assembling the package and the entire program.

The program is called ConnectedLife.Home. (How are we going to abbreviate that one? CL.H? We already refuse to put the pipe in “Life|ware.") It’s part of the Best Buy for Business group, and it’s headed by Chris Mauzy, who used to run the builder program for Ultimate Electronics.

Unlike most installation companies, Best Buy aims its offering at the retrofit market. “This extends way beyond new homes. Our qualifying question is: Do you have electricity?” Mauzy says, adding that a broadband connection sure makes the system more enjoyable.

Best Buy jumped through hoops (not literally, like Circuit City’s Firedog installers) to assemble a stable, robust solution that requires no new wires. The first bit of business was the WAN/LAN network--a critical component for distributed entertainment, and a nice thing to have for the not-required-but-recommended Internet connection. The ConnectedLife team tested virtually every flavor of wireless and powerline technology and settled on the AnyWire Ethernet/powerline solution from Corinex, featuring technology by DS2, a competitor of HomePlug.

Corinex boasts rates of up to 200 Mbps. Actual throughput is more like 50ish Mbps, but still not bad.

“The big reason for using Corinex was the great communications between the Xbox and Media Center,” Mauzy says.

Many powerline solutions in the U.S. require a phase coupler to bridge the two phases in a home. ConnectedLife installers test each home’s network to ensure adequate speed and coverage, plugging in a phase coupler if necessary. Mauzy says only about 10 percent of homes need it.