For anyone who has been around the HA block a few times, I would appreciate feedback or corrections on the state of HA as I see it...
Homeseer: Nice a powerful backend, started thinking about using it when it was significantly cheaper. I tried the 1.6 & 1.7 demo a few times over the past year. I found 2.0 a pain in the ... Web management interfaces are clunky. But the back end stuff was nice. I think HS might be heading out of user land into commercial application land. There web interface was a step backwards in my opinion.
MainLobby: Since I want a nice frontend I would need something like this. But spending $$$ on HS + plugins + ML= Too much! Or even ML + Girder... You're still around $150!
Girder: Looks like a typical event driven backend. Better on the cost than HS, but still needs a front end.
NetRemote: Works with Girder. OK skinnable front end, but seemed a little bit too light for my taste. + by the time you've got Girder+Netremote you're at least at $120.
XLobby: Love it! Got nice and excited about it. Slick, fast, editable. But obviously doesn't have the back-end event driven components. Sure I could interface it with Girder for output, but getting XLobby to display realtime info *from* an Ocelot or alarm system seemed like a workload to do. I can program to save my life, but if I don't have too....
MisterHouse: Love the price, interface is OK. But really didn't feel like dusting off my perl books to get it setup.
HouseBot: The price is right for... A very powerdul event driven system AND a lobby w/interface builder. The best of both worlds (HA + Lobby) in my opinion. I'm on my trial, but have easily gotten it talking to my ocelot. I'm very happy to see generic rs232 support which will make writing a plugin for my caddx alarm panel easier. It seems more stuctured than HS which gives it a more complex feel at first, but am sincerely liking it.
To MEEDIO... Have read some of the posts in this forum about support, etc. In my opinion, at your price point and the strength of Essentials & TV products, you could take a good chunk of the HA market. Keep the price reasonable and keep the product well supported. I think you are onto a good thing.
I already have an ocelot with a few modules, some nice Leviton x10 lswitches, caddx alarm system. But I am wired for 6 zone audio, satTV and about anything else I could pack into the walls of my house while it was being built. Plan on using Airpanels or Stylistics on the wall for control.
I'm sure I've missed a few, but this is essentially what I looked at.
Timoh
Does this HA/Lobby summary make sense to you folks?
Timoh
I think you have covered most of the issues we all have with the various systems. I have been using Housebot for about a year and have found it to be excellent.Support from Meedio is poor, no actually very poor. with the exception of other users and Scottbot I think my use would of died.That said, the core community have been very helpful to me( much appreciated) and as you can see from the posts to others as well.
I also have Netremote and Girder. The support on their forums is amazing. They really do have a handle on things.Netremote has a nice media front end although slow on ce panels( does not work with ce3.0,needs 4.1 up)). Girder is well...very good at what it does.
Homeseer has not hit the mark with me either. There are some great webstes with users homepages. Most of the webpage reporting can be done with the external com control within housebot.
In summary I beleive that if Meedio do get their act together then this is the package that will certainly be the best.The steep learning curve is well worth it.No package will have all the plugins you want especially with the various zones USA/Europe etc and the relative hardware.If meedio had Girder/Netremote support then geez we would all be very happy.
Good luck with your decision
I think you have covered most of the issues we all have with the various systems. I have been using Housebot for about a year and have found it to be excellent.Support from Meedio is poor, no actually very poor. with the exception of other users and Scottbot I think my use would of died.That said, the core community have been very helpful to me( much appreciated) and as you can see from the posts to others as well.
I also have Netremote and Girder. The support on their forums is amazing. They really do have a handle on things.Netremote has a nice media front end although slow on ce panels( does not work with ce3.0,needs 4.1 up)). Girder is well...very good at what it does.
Homeseer has not hit the mark with me either. There are some great webstes with users homepages. Most of the webpage reporting can be done with the external com control within housebot.
In summary I beleive that if Meedio do get their act together then this is the package that will certainly be the best.The steep learning curve is well worth it.No package will have all the plugins you want especially with the various zones USA/Europe etc and the relative hardware.If meedio had Girder/Netremote support then geez we would all be very happy.
Good luck with your decision
Regards
PT
If it isn't broke,fix it till it is!
PT
If it isn't broke,fix it till it is!
PT,
If you have Girder/Netremote, why do you need/use HouseBot? Besides the ce support of course.
A couple of years ago, I went with HouseBot because it had the front-end and back-end in one package. With Meedio's lack of attention on HouseBot lately, I am real close to switching over to Girder/Netremote. Just waiting for the next version of Netremote to come out. Unless the Meedio crew comes out with one hell of a next version for HouseBot, I am done with it. Even after buying around 5 licenses to it. I use/love SageTv, so I don't need MeedioEssentials or MeedioTV.
If you have Girder/Netremote, why do you need/use HouseBot? Besides the ce support of course.
A couple of years ago, I went with HouseBot because it had the front-end and back-end in one package. With Meedio's lack of attention on HouseBot lately, I am real close to switching over to Girder/Netremote. Just waiting for the next version of Netremote to come out. Unless the Meedio crew comes out with one hell of a next version for HouseBot, I am done with it. Even after buying around 5 licenses to it. I use/love SageTv, so I don't need MeedioEssentials or MeedioTV.
Thanks,
Scott J
aka spike5884
Scott J
aka spike5884
Hi ScottJ
I had a couple of problems using netremote with my setup.These were.
I have 3 Aipanels dotted around the house and also 4 no viewpads. The viewpads( 2 No ce 3 and 2 No ce 4) I got the viewpads to work with netremote using fake dlls ( a little slow). The airpanels work with RDP, two linked to a server(windows 2003) and one to XP.I could not get a machine to have two instances of netremote running at the same time. I sent a note to support and Ben replied. At that time netremote did not support multiple instances so using 2 no airpanels did not work.It must be said that Ben did say that they would fix this and release in the next version( this is probably out now).
As an ongoing developed program I would agree Girder/Netremote is by far the best. A very active forum and a lot of help.
As a fairly new user my take on Housebot is that Scott obviously had a great program, committed support and development and then the meedio merge took place and perhaps he was misled on the amount of energy,time and effort they were going to put into Housebot.
I had a couple of problems using netremote with my setup.These were.
I have 3 Aipanels dotted around the house and also 4 no viewpads. The viewpads( 2 No ce 3 and 2 No ce 4) I got the viewpads to work with netremote using fake dlls ( a little slow). The airpanels work with RDP, two linked to a server(windows 2003) and one to XP.I could not get a machine to have two instances of netremote running at the same time. I sent a note to support and Ben replied. At that time netremote did not support multiple instances so using 2 no airpanels did not work.It must be said that Ben did say that they would fix this and release in the next version( this is probably out now).
As an ongoing developed program I would agree Girder/Netremote is by far the best. A very active forum and a lot of help.
As a fairly new user my take on Housebot is that Scott obviously had a great program, committed support and development and then the meedio merge took place and perhaps he was misled on the amount of energy,time and effort they were going to put into Housebot.
Regards
PT
If it isn't broke,fix it till it is!
PT
If it isn't broke,fix it till it is!
Thanks for the input to date
Hi guys, thanks for the input to date. I might take another look at girder if I really run into a support wall with HouseBot. Yep it costs more, but it sounds like paying more might be better in this case.
I am typically good at figuring out an issue and solving it. I typically use forums more for the "idea factory" aspect than anything else.
Thanks
Tim
I am typically good at figuring out an issue and solving it. I typically use forums more for the "idea factory" aspect than anything else.
Thanks
Tim
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TakeFlight
- Member
- Posts: 53
- Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2006 11:48 pm
- Location: Philly burbs
I know plenty have already ranted on this topic, but I feel the need to rant as well...
I went with HouseBot because it seemed liked it was a perfect fit for what I was trying to do. So far (and I've only been working with it for a couple of weeks now) it definitely seems to be a good fit and the price is definitely good. But, the lack of development and support on the part of Meedio is VERY discouraging. Had the product cost more I don't think I would have taken the chance on it. But, for what it costs I figured since it seemed like it was going to be a good fit for my needs I took my chances. But, anybody who visits this site clearly is going to see a lack of interest and support in this product. Sure, there are a number of happy users, but it's obvious that unless Meedio gets their act together, HouseBot will be yesterday's news. I don't like to sound so negative, because I like the product, but you can't just hang your current users out to dry and offer little to no updates for a long period of time and expect a product to be competitive.
I'm just hoping in the long run I didn't choose the wrong product. For now at least, HB is getting the job done with my HA project. But, since you are never really done tweaking a HA project, I can't help but feel something is going to come up down the road where I need support either from the community or Meedio and the support well will have long since dried up. At least for now we have ScottBot here to assist.
I went with HouseBot because it seemed liked it was a perfect fit for what I was trying to do. So far (and I've only been working with it for a couple of weeks now) it definitely seems to be a good fit and the price is definitely good. But, the lack of development and support on the part of Meedio is VERY discouraging. Had the product cost more I don't think I would have taken the chance on it. But, for what it costs I figured since it seemed like it was going to be a good fit for my needs I took my chances. But, anybody who visits this site clearly is going to see a lack of interest and support in this product. Sure, there are a number of happy users, but it's obvious that unless Meedio gets their act together, HouseBot will be yesterday's news. I don't like to sound so negative, because I like the product, but you can't just hang your current users out to dry and offer little to no updates for a long period of time and expect a product to be competitive.
I'm just hoping in the long run I didn't choose the wrong product. For now at least, HB is getting the job done with my HA project. But, since you are never really done tweaking a HA project, I can't help but feel something is going to come up down the road where I need support either from the community or Meedio and the support well will have long since dried up. At least for now we have ScottBot here to assist.
Well according to last month's update, Meedio is planning on:
So I'd say that's at least promising news.A new release of Meedio HouseBot
We plan on releasing an update to Meedio HouseBot that includes support for Insteon and several long-standing bug fixes this quarter. We also strive to get on a more regular release schedule for Meedio HouseBot, with updates coming more frequently.
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TakeFlight
- Member
- Posts: 53
- Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2006 11:48 pm
- Location: Philly burbs
You are right, that is promising news! Honestly, I overlooked that announcement but my comments still stand none-the-less. Again, I don't want to sound negative but from my perspective as a new customer there is an overall lack of information regarding HouseBot in comparison to other Meedio products. Hopefully this will change this year.
Pardon me for being a newbie. And pardon me for re-opening a thread that's been dead for over two years but I thought it'd be good to see if there's been any change in the direction of this product that was indicated by the thread. Seems like a couple years ago, members were concerned that Meedio(cre) was killing it. Seems that it's still alive but I'd like to know how much. [EDIT:] I see HB was taken over by CeBotics, still I'm interested in user satisfaction.[/EDIT]
I'm looking at HouseBot but I'm currently using Mainlobby along with ancillary apps and modules which have cost me a bundle. But after several YEARS, Mainlobby has one of the weakest, inflexible music players I can imagine. It only ties in with the obscure J.River player and allows for virtually no customization of the player interface. Seems anything I want to do, I have to buy another plugin and it's getting old. I'd like something where the company is more interested in satisfied users instead of profits.
QUESTIONS:
=============
1. One MAJOR omission that I see so far, is that there is NO mention of XM (or Sirius) radio control with HB. I've come to love my XMPCR and whatever frontend I use has to work with it.
2. Maybe the HB website could use a bit of work, because it really doesn't show all the capabilities of the system (where's a good sample screen that shows music playing?).
3. Can I run server and client together on just one computer?
4. What HVAC units does HB work with?
5. What irrigation units does HB work with?
6. Does it work with LCD display panels like the Matrix-Orbital MX2?
Thanks for any help understanding this product!
I'm looking at HouseBot but I'm currently using Mainlobby along with ancillary apps and modules which have cost me a bundle. But after several YEARS, Mainlobby has one of the weakest, inflexible music players I can imagine. It only ties in with the obscure J.River player and allows for virtually no customization of the player interface. Seems anything I want to do, I have to buy another plugin and it's getting old. I'd like something where the company is more interested in satisfied users instead of profits.
QUESTIONS:
=============
1. One MAJOR omission that I see so far, is that there is NO mention of XM (or Sirius) radio control with HB. I've come to love my XMPCR and whatever frontend I use has to work with it.
2. Maybe the HB website could use a bit of work, because it really doesn't show all the capabilities of the system (where's a good sample screen that shows music playing?).
3. Can I run server and client together on just one computer?
4. What HVAC units does HB work with?
5. What irrigation units does HB work with?
6. Does it work with LCD display panels like the Matrix-Orbital MX2?
Thanks for any help understanding this product!
The thread is from long ago and since Scott retook control of HouseBot he has pushed out several major updates. All good, all centered on issues and requests from his user base.
I can't speak for all, but i am very satisfied with what Scott has developed. Honestly, the sky is the limit with his software package...with one caveat - you have to be willing to roll up your sleeves to get the most out of the base package he has developed.
Whatever you want to interface to HouseBot can be accomplished, typically using the generic serial interface or a script device. There may not be native support for some of the things you currently use but that doesn't mean they can't interface to HouseBot. I recently integrated Sonos ZonePlayer devices into HB....doubt Scott would ever bother to put the time into integrating such a niche device (and I wouldn't blame him).
The server can run on the same machine as a software remote. I currently run the server software and RDP into the same machine with two additional devices (Philips Desxcape and Nokia 770).
There isn't a native HVAC device that I am aware of. I am in the process of writing an ActiveX object to interface to the Proliphix IP thermostats, though. This will allow these to be integrated via a script device. Aprilaire and others are serial so they could be integrated with a generic serial device quite easily. Also, Scott is enhancing Z-wave support which is another option.
Again, irrigation is the same. If its serial or IP it can likely be easily integrated (ala wgldesigns devices).
If you can plug the LCD panel into a computer, it will work with HouseBot. Just need a 'puter to run the swremote.exe.
Osler
I can't speak for all, but i am very satisfied with what Scott has developed. Honestly, the sky is the limit with his software package...with one caveat - you have to be willing to roll up your sleeves to get the most out of the base package he has developed.
Whatever you want to interface to HouseBot can be accomplished, typically using the generic serial interface or a script device. There may not be native support for some of the things you currently use but that doesn't mean they can't interface to HouseBot. I recently integrated Sonos ZonePlayer devices into HB....doubt Scott would ever bother to put the time into integrating such a niche device (and I wouldn't blame him).
The server can run on the same machine as a software remote. I currently run the server software and RDP into the same machine with two additional devices (Philips Desxcape and Nokia 770).
There isn't a native HVAC device that I am aware of. I am in the process of writing an ActiveX object to interface to the Proliphix IP thermostats, though. This will allow these to be integrated via a script device. Aprilaire and others are serial so they could be integrated with a generic serial device quite easily. Also, Scott is enhancing Z-wave support which is another option.
Again, irrigation is the same. If its serial or IP it can likely be easily integrated (ala wgldesigns devices).
If you can plug the LCD panel into a computer, it will work with HouseBot. Just need a 'puter to run the swremote.exe.
Osler