Does anyone have any experience with the HomeSeer hardware line of controllers they can share?  I am wondering if this is a viable alternative to other low cost solutions for whole home HA such as Control4.

Thanks.

A dealer who won an EH Home of the Year Award swears by it. Let me track down his info. I’m quite a fan of homeseer myself, but it lacks the user interfaces that C4 and others provide. What apps are you looking at?

Hi Julie - many thanks for the reply.  Application wise, I am looking at most of the usual suspects: lighting, A/V (including multi zone distribution and media management/streaming), HVAC/energy management, security, information services (i.e. weather, news, movie listings), irrigation, etc.

Best,

Cliff

Spend some time on the HomeSeer Message Board/Forum.

Also consider CQC (paired with VidaBox for an off the shelf, pro solution).

I think all of these products are ‘married’ to Windows, as are most commercial software applications - Windows is ‘locked down’ to prevent conventional use.  The ATM you just took money from uses Windows.

A correctly configured dedicated PC will have little trouble running any of these solutions.

Email or phone some authorized dealers listed on these home pages, to get honest, real-world perspectives.

Whichever you choose, use it first, in your home.

GL!

Julie Jacobson - 22 April 2009 02:41 PM

A dealer who won an EH Home of the Year Award swears by it. Let me track down his info. I’m quite a fan of homeseer myself, but it lacks the user interfaces that C4 and others provide. What apps are you looking at?

Julie - Actually, we now have an OUTSTANDING user interface for all our home automation systems, with the release of HSTouch™ earlier this month. HSTouch is an IP-enabled and fully integrated design system that allows dealers to create screens quickly and easily and then deploy them to their customer sites remotely.

HSTouch also includes a built-in RSS browser to all easy creation of information screens for weather, news, sports, stock quotes and other important data.  A webinar video is posted here for anyone who would like to take a closer look: http://www.homeseer.com/videos/HSTouch-Webinar.htm

Mark Colegrove
HomeSeer Technologies

Neurorad, thanks for all the great thoughts.

Neurorad - 24 April 2009 10:18 AM

Spend some time on the HomeSeer Message Board/Forum.

For sure - I have been doing so.  I downloaded the trial version of HSPro so besides browsing the forum have been using the board for support.  This experience has been a mixed bag.  On the one hand, for some posts I received rapid responses from HS staff through to resolution.  For others, I’m still waiting.  (Next step is to open help desk tickets on those issues.)  More generally, I am a bit discouraged by how many issues I’ve encountered.  One issue I hit turned out to be the result of downloading a very old version of the software.  Of concern is that the version I downloaded came directly from an e-mail link sent to me in response to requesting a trial from the site.  I am also experiencing setup issues just performing basic configuration connecting to a GC-100, and the nature of those issues makes me feel that no one has really run the GC-100 driver through its paces.  These issues make me feel a bit like I’m off the beaten path on a journey that’s already a bit treacherous.

Neurorad - 24 April 2009 10:18 AM

Also consider CQC (paired with VidaBox for an off the shelf, pro solution).

I trialed CQC and it seems like a nice product.  My sense, though, it that they are under capitalized.  As much as I’m convinced that Dean cares greatly about his product, I don’t fancy relying on such a sparcely staffed company for support when I run into an issue with an install.  Also, having to deal with separate vendors for the software and hardware control seems like a recipe for disaster, especially considering the immature and complex situation with standards.  For these reasons, I feel CQC is a wonderful solution for the DIY market, but not yet pro.

Neurorad - 24 April 2009 10:18 AM

I think all of these products are ‘married’ to Windows, as are most commercial software applications - Windows is ‘locked down’ to prevent conventional use.  The ATM you just took money from uses Windows.

I should be more clear.  It’s not that Life|ware runs on top of Windows that concerns me, but rather their apparent tight coupling with the MCE product/architecture.  That seems like a deep tie at an architectural level to a specific aspect of Windows that may or may not remain relevant.  I’d rather not make that bet, especially since HA is an area where innovation is key, and my confidence in Microsoft lies in their staying power - not in their innovation leadership.

Neurorad - 24 April 2009 10:18 AM

GL!

Thanks!