Leopard and LD10 compatibility and lots of questions from a newbie!

["Baker, R Keith" <keith.r.baker@xxxxxxx>]

Hi

OK - confession - I'm a newbie, don't have any HA stuff, and can't find any
info to answer my questions.
Thanks to Steve M for pointing me to this mailing list - sorry to everyone
on it if these are questions asked before!!

I've done quite a bit of searching and I am leaning to a Leopard
controller, although Homevision also looks good.
I want to control scene style lighting (to start with!) and the LD10 looks
like it will do the job. (3 or 4 of them!!)

Do both of these 2 controllers have the capability to control all the LD10
functions, eg, dim rate, preset dim etc?

I want the lights to come on at a given dim level (maybe soft start) and
not full on and I want smooth
transitions to the next dim level.
So, will either of these controllers do that? that is, is there any limits
to the types of X10 command they can send?

I have got confused between X10 and professional X10 and X10 extensions, so
a controller that does it all is great!!

Are both controllers equally expandable?

I like the standalone nature of a touchscreen, ie, I don't need the TV on
or PC on (although they probably are!). Just
in case I go for the Leopard and then decide I want TV out, is there some
way to do that? Can't think why at the moment!

The IR receiver and transmitter on both these units point the same way -
clever marketing as you need an add on
transmitter.   Is it easy / cheap to add another one or re-wire the
existing one? I don't want an IR transmitter stuck on to
the TV/DVD what I want is the controller to work as a relay between the
remote and AV stuff, ie, I press DVD play and
it get this and also sends a switch channels to the amp and TV (plus dim
the lights and makes the popcorn).
Possible?

Does the Leopard come in an enclosure or do you have to mount it in
something?

Thanks for any info. I'd expecially like to hear views on Leopard and what
applications you have applied it to.
Plus any pitfalls that I will come across.

Cheers

Keith

------------------------------------------------------
Dr Keith R Baker
Consultant Engineer
Email:	Keith.R.Baker@xxxxxxx

Roke Manor Research Ltd, A SIEMENS Company.
Old Salisbury Lane, Romsey, Hampshire S051 0ZN

Website: http://www.roke.co.uk/

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