Here's another angle which will infuriate fans of third party control systems.
Basically my advice is to forget about a control system at this stage and save yourself a bundle of money.
I recommend the following approach
Lutron Homeworks for
lighting,
blinds, curtains, garage door, gate and a little overlap of simple functions on the AV side.
Their free app will be fine for now.
Forget about any sort of third party control for
underfloor or any sort of heating/cooling.
If you have to adjust anything manually there is something wrong and in very rare cases where you have to get involved all systems have manual control.
I recommend the Nest Learning Thermostat.
Think hard about whatever you are trying to achieve in your new home.
Is the function to be automated or manual.
In my experience people get confused about Home Automation.
The clue is in the name!
One does not need tablet control of everything.
In fact it can be quite aggravating to perform some functions via a touch screen apart from media selection.
Most people who try to control a Sky plus HD box using a tablet very quickly revert back the proprietary remote control.
We all know, operating a SKY or Cable IR remote becomes an extension of your hand.
It's tiresome to keep taking your eye off the TV then keep looking down at a touch screen to find the button then looking up again to see if it's happened.
Handy to have the Sky app for the planner though.
As a personal study I'm trying to coax people into using gesture control which is in it's infancy but could possibly be massive.
It will be interesting to see where C4 and it's peers fit into that kind of a future.
A dedicated autonomous
Home Cinema is a perfect candidate for a control system IE. C4 etc. but don't shell out for whole house control at this stage.
Multi room Sky and other fantastic features = Smart TV's and free apps for Sky and TV's.
Multi room audio = Sonos via tablet control.
CCTV lots of great DVR based stand alone systems with free apps.
I personally don't like IP CCTV set ups.
Aftermath.
So you wake up after it's all finished, all bases are covered and you have an impressive Lighting, AV, Multiroom sound system and CCTV. but also an impressive bank balance.
This is because you haven't purchased any third party control kit or employed a programmer to enable you to perform functions on tablets you are presently enjoying for nowt! albeit not as refined.
I guarantee that every feature you are enjoying at this point using proprietor apps will not be achievable on a third party system.
You can also go out and buy a new TV, AVR etc. anytime without paying said programmer a not inconsiderable sum to reprogram every time there is a new addition to your system.
After all this if you find my advice was boll**ks, you are itching to spend the few grand required and wish you had opted for a control system after all, then that option is still open to you having suffered no loss.
The advantage of doing it this way round is, once you have used your house and new system for a while you will tend to reconfigure a few things but at a relatively low cost.
You will then be well placed to tell your programmer exactly what you want control wise.
FYI. I am a CI and have given this advice to lot's of people and some have taken it.
Without exception not one has retrofitted a third party control system, but I am sort of biased
When that happens I will stand corrected and write about how their lives are now complete.
all the best with your project however you decide to proceed.
Steve
