HouseBot

Ok, I have a BUNCH of X10 stuff (light modules, motion sensors, appliances modules, timer, etc) and was wondering what everyone uses HouseBot for?



I was hoping people would posts some sweet stuff they got going on that would want to make me purchase it. So please.. Post what you do with your setups..



Thanks

OK here's the list

X10 --- Theater room lighting, power on/off control over x-overs(2), amps(7), etc

IROUT - remote control of Philips DVD-963SA, Pioneer 563 (DVD-A/SACD) Pioneer 909 (LD) Outlaw 950 Preamp, INsight Cable box, Voom satellite box, CD-HD Scaler, Sony SDP-E800 (AC-3RF decoding for the LD player)

Serial - Extron RGB 8 port switch and Marquee 8501 CRT projector

Slave Control - Winamp on HTPC box

So basically if you didn't have that MONSTER home theater (and I do mean MONTSTER.. That's the most components I've ever heard of) then you wouldn't really have a use for it?

I have it control my reciever and x10 ligting. Thats about it though. I'm looking forward to meedio integration as it would be nice easily view/control them from meedio.

OK, so I'm still in the planning stages, but here's a couple of things I'm going to use housebot for:



1. Time-sensitive motion sensors in hallways/living room - IE: between hours of dusk and midnight, turn lights on in that zone 100%, but hours midnight to dawn only turn on 30% to save your eyes as you get a midnight snack.



2. Automate scenes when starting movies - with some integration with Meedio, I'll be able to have scenes triggered as movies are chosen from the HTPC - lights at 50% during previews, then off during movie. If I pause the film - 50% again - play -> off again.



3. This one's a long shot, and I need to do more research to see if I can do it - but I'd like a rain monitor on my patio, then sprinkler control. Hopefully I'll be able to set conditions like (if rainfall=0 then water plants at sunset)



Thats just a few things I've dreamed up. I'm currently setting up housebot without any devices, and planning out the system - so hopefully I'll be able to 'plug and pray' soon.

Server 1:

USB-UIRT Hardware Interface & IR Devices:

Denon Receiver

Panasonic TV



WinAmp & PlayListManager Devices:

Simple control of playing music collection



Script Device:

SageTV



Task & Text2Speech device (& others already mentioned):

Alarm Clock (Turns on Stereo,Announces time, & starts playing music. At set intervals: pauses music, announces time, raises volume, & un-pauses music)



Server 2:

X10 PowerLinc USB Hardware interface & x10 Devices:

Lamp/Appliance modules

Motion sensors

Webcams



W800 RF Receiver Hardware interface:

RF remote interface to system



Tasks:

Night Lights: Turn off and on based on sunrise indicator

Dawn/Dusk: gives that lived in look

RF Relay: Take RF signals from remotes and apply to proper devices/tasks



Script device & Text2Speech:

Motion: Turn on certain lights, record via webcam, & announce motion

PowerLinc USB Hardware Interface for X10 devices

Lights and fans throughout the house





Generic Serial Hardware Interface for Xantech ZPR68

Whole house audio/video distribution system

Provides power and volume control along with source selection for each room





USB-UIRT Hardware Interface and IR Devices



Basement Theater

Onkyo receiver

JVC D-ILA projector

Sony DVD player

LG HDTV Receiver

Pioneer Laserdisc Player

Sony Minidisc Player



Living Room Theater

Onkyo Receiver

Sony front-screen projector

Dwin line multiplier



Bedroom System

Pioneer receiver

Toshiba TV



Shared Components (connected to ZPR68)

ReplayTV PVR (connected to Dish Network)

ReplayTV PVR (connected to over-the-air antenna)

Kenwood 400 disc DVD changer

Sony 400 disc DVD changer





Script Devices



“Clock Radio” - runs every morning at a preset time to slowly ramp up the bedroom lights, turn on the bedroom receiver, and switch the source to tuner. Also looks at a database table which contains holidays and vacation days (so it won’t run on those days).



DVD playback control – this one is a bit hard to explain as there are over 50 scripts that I wrote for this. Some of the things they do are:



• Allow one panel on a software remote to control multiple different DVD changers (with different IR codes) depending on which disc was selected for viewing (DVD information is stored in an Access database)



• Build an automatic list of all available titles with additional buttons to show titles starting with each letter of the alphabet along with “category” buttons (James Bond movies, music videos, etc)



• Build a set of panels for all Star Trek TV series episodes. This one shows you a list of episode titles (sortable by title or air date). When you click on one of the titles a second panel is updated with a synopsis of the episode along with production notes. If you decide to watch it the correct DVD is automatically loaded from the appropriate DVD changer and playback is started.



• Tracking of the title currently loaded in each DVD changer. This information is then displayed on software remotes in all areas of the home.





Tasks



Shut off all AV components whenever the security system is armed (currently done via X-10 transmission from my HAI Omni controller).



Pop a caller ID screen on all software remotes whenever a phone call is received.



Automatically update mute and power state properties for zones on the ZPR68 when certain properties change.



Bring up theater lights to preset levels (Intermission, Movie, etc)



Power up and power down the AV components in the theaters.





-- Dave

Man, just reading a few of these makes me realize how Mickey Mouse my HT setup is...

Hi Shawn,



Everyone has to start somewhere. Since audio/video is a major hobby of mine I have ended up collecting lots of equipment as the years go by. HouseBot has made it MUCH easier to control and integrate all of this stuff.



Before this I had just a Pronto Remote. It was very nice as remotes go but it was quite a bit of work to keep it up-to-date and I always wished it had some kind of programming language. Having VBscript available with HouseBot has been *huge* for me (especially since I do database development at work so I'm quite comfortable with using it).



The software remote is probably the single biggest feature that attracted me to HouseBot. I ended up buying three ViewSonic ViewPad 100 tablets and I use them as "remote controls on steroiods".



I also purchased Meedio Essentials shortly after it came out but I really haven't done anything with it yet. Once the HouseBot to Essentials link is released I'm sure I'll do a lot more there as well (I really want to use its media library features for my large audio and video collection).



-- Dave

Pretty much the same list as those above, although not quite as "hardware heavy" as some.



X10 lighting control throughout



Music system control for non-HT zones. includes speaker zone selection, volume/mute, source (sat, FM, MP3/WMA, DVD), DVD control, winamp control, FM station selection.



Access to Weather.com for current conditions, forecast, radar & sat images



Announce time/temp



Not using Essentials - waiting on the HB integration. In the meantime, I'm working with the Jukebot and Winamp plugins.

I use HouseBot to automate my WGL X-10 sprinkler system, lighting, thermostat, and to monitor my safe (logs everytime the safe door opens and closes).



I also use a TempLinc sensor to fine tune the thermostat and control heat lamps to prevent my well from freezing in the winter. TempLinc will also be used to fine tune the sprinkler during the summer.



I also used used a script during the winter to turn on my electric blanket to prewarm my bed and then turn it off in the morning.



Crashless: I am planning on integrating a Rain Bird rain sensor to fine tune the sprinkler system. I have already tested using a regular Rain Bird sensor with a X-10 PowerFlash Interface. I just need to get the sensor mounted, run the cable, and a install another AC outlet in my RainBird enclosure.