----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, February 25, 2002 10:35
AM
Subject: RE: [ukha_d] HomeVision or
other?
I
was looking at getting the Leopard. But it seems that there is little
capability to use it as anything other
than
an input device, ie, it would be nice to send messages from the PC to
display
on the screen but
this
does not seem possible unless the message is pre-programmed into the
Leopard.
So,
I was thinking that using a pronto, plus an Ocelot would be better, then
any
HA control would be recieved
as
IR commands from the pronto.
Does
this seem like a sensible aproach?
How
good is the a Pronto? does it have ALL the commands for my Sony
940
Receiver/Amp?
Are
macros assignable to on screen buttons for single hit
use?
Pointers to useful Pronto web sites would be
good.
And
what about alternatives to the Pronto? or different approaches to the
combining remotes and HA control problem?
Cheers
Keith
I took a look at HV's current price and it does
seem more expensive than I remember. The differential is quite significant
now.
You can compare the hardware features yourself I guess
>from
side.
The Ocelot is the brains behind the Leopard
controller and is well produced and professional product (IMO). I use the
Leopard and I am happy with it, but I find it awkward. A lot of my
criticisms are to do with the specific capabilities of the Touch screen
interface and the ongoing development of the product and hence don't apply
to the Ocelot. Basically little appears to be happening in terms of new
features but what you do have works well. The programming environment for
the Ocelot is quite different to HomeVision - much more like a programming
language and that may or may not be an advantage to you. I suggest you
download the software which is available on the web site and try it and see
what you think. It can be used without the Ocelot connected. In addition I
suspect the amount of code space inside the Ocelot is much less than with
HV
and requires much more skill to code in a complex environment. There is a
well supported mail list for this however. Homeseer supports Ocelot
directly.
HomeVision - which I use too - is my choice of HV
controller. I find it easy to use and incredibly powerful, it has a busy
mail list supporting it and Craig does an exemplary job. In fact he
and
Dan Hoehnen (ACE author) are my nominations for the best support Oscars. I
find it much easier to add things quickly into HV and to understand
things later on when I've forgotten why I did such and such. This allows
for
more ad hoc experimentation & less planning is required (but not
recommended). The programming environment can also be downloaded from CSI's
site and works without HV so have a look and see - it is a much more
graphic
environment. In addition the HomeVision application links up with ACE etc
via DDE to provide a very tightly integrated solution. The ACE / Homeseer
integration is much more of a programming interface
(COM).
In the USA there is also a product called HomeVision
PC
available which is lower cost - the main difference being it is a card
sitting in a PC so it requires a permanently powered
PC.
My recommendation ?? HV every time but that's being a
little insensitive to the now much larger price difference than I had
expected, so you takes your choice I guess... If you will use TV display
then the HV of course is a certain choice.
Kevin
[[K]]
-----Original
Message-----
From: Andy Laurence
[mailto:andylaurence@xxxxxxx]
Sent: 22 February 2002
16:46
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxxSubject: [ukha_d]
Homevision or other?
I
suppose it'll be time for me to splash out on an HA controller of
some
description soon. I've been looking around at the
possibles. I've seen
this (http://www.letsautomate.com/10599.cfm?CFID=432&CFTOKEN=51078446)
which
seems to do quite a lot for not a lot of money.
I'm after
something which will do X10, IR and possibly control things via
relays
(no idea what yet). Bear in mind that I run a server 24/7 at
home,
and have another which can do the same. What would I be
missing out on if I
bought the above rather than HomeVision? I
know I'd lose the TV interface
of HomeVision, but that doesn't bother
me. Are there other alternatives?
Andy
--
PC-Based
Multimedia System
http://www.andylaurence.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/pcbmms
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