upb switches, thermostats, hdmi

[william]

hello,
i am installing linux mce in mynown house for home automation, i am now at the cabling stage, there are a couple of issues if anybody could help me out i'd be grateful

1 UPB switches: are UPB switches supported by linux mce, will they run out of the box so to speak and if they don't what is issues with it

2 Alarm panels: is it possible to work without an alarm panel and if so how do i connect the cabling of the sensors to the s port of a computer

3 Heating controls: how does linux control the heating, is it with an ir thermostat or is it ired directly back to the linux mce core. if so howis this done. also if it is an ir receiver would anybody recommend any makeor models.

4 hdmi signals: is it possible to wire a ring/loop system of hdmi over cat 6 to each hdmi wallplate so as to avoid buying a splitter, something like a ring socket circuit

5 smoke alarm/heat detectors: is it possible to get a smoke alarm sensor which will receive a unique ip address and how are they wired back to linux mce core, if not is there any alternatives to this maybe a panel and if so any recommendations

6 speaker system: i have 2 speakers in every room wired back up to the room where the core, do i need an amplifier to connect these to the core or can the computer directly handle the amplification of the sound, if so how would you go about doing it.
i was thinking of going with a system like the nuvo grand concerto but is quite expensive. any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated

any help on any of the above matters would be greatly appreciated, i apologise for the long list of stuff, any experience of any the above matters would be welcome we are based on a 50hz sytem in ireland 240 volt system

thank you for your help in advance

[Techstyle]

I could answer a few of these questions but I think the answers would be found quite easily with the search tool:

1. No idea what a UPD switch is

2. You do not need an alarm panel if you use z-wave/X10/Insteon sensors connected to a PC interface connected to the LMCE system.  For instance buy a Z-wave dongle http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Aeon_Labs_Z-Wave_Interface_with_built-In_Inclusion_Remote and a PIR http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Everspring_SP103 and you have the beginings of an alarm system.  If you do want an alarm panel, there are compatible alarm panels see the wiki http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Caddx_NX-8E or http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Apex_Destiny-6100.

3.  Radiant heat or forced air?  you are in Ireland so I think radiant heat is more common?  if so you can use a Z-wave thermostatic radiator control http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Danfoss_RA-plus-w if it is forced air you can use the WAYNE-DALTON Z-WAVE® THERMOSTAT http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=5844.0

4.  Not sure what you are trying to do?  the system is designed such that each screen is connected to a media director (MD).  The core can act as an MD, commonly known as Hybrid Core but it can be dedicated also.  Only MD's can play media, TV, etc and all have an onscreen Orbiter available.  it sounds like you are trying to pump 1 MD (or the Hybrid) to multiple screens.  Is that correct?  Do you want each screen as a clone of the one MD?  if you are not bothered about media and just want to control the system from multiple locations get som WebDt 366's http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/WebDT_366 or some PDA's, or mobile phones.

5.  Not sure

6.  you need to amplify them and how to connect them will depend on how you want to split them up.  Normally each room would have its own MD and each MD has its own sound card to powered speakers (directly - like computer speakers or indirectly - through an Amp or AV reciever).  Would you like them all on at the same time all the time?

[william]

thank you very much for your help

here are a couple of things to clarify our system

1: a UPB  switch is a switch which will control the power to the lighting, the are made by homecontrols.com, http://www.homecontrols.com/UPBDevices, they is no real answer on the internet so far as to say whether they are supported or not, if they aren't would it be possible to write your own code for it and if so where would i get the technical info to do so.  want to go with UPB instead of z wave as seems to be a better response time to commands and sounds more reliable as a technology plus they are supported on a 20volt system.

3: the system we would  like to go for is an underfloor heating system which is on a 240 volt system, is there any product like an ir thermostat that will be compatible with linux mce

4 we are trying to bring the hdmi signal down from the linux mce core through cat 6 cabling with hdmi/cat6 wall plate connectors, we think hdmi quality will be lost if we don't bring down it by hdmi quality cabling, is this correct, if not can it be brought down by a single cat 5 cable to the md and the md will hd render the picture?


thank you very very much for all your help on these matters, really thank you so much

[merkur2k]

you didnt really clarify your intentions with #4 very well. It seems like you dont really understand how linuxmce works or how it provides multi-room media services. you would normally put a pc in each room that you want media in and hook your display device to it directly. the only reason you would want to be routing hdmi signals is to share a video device (cable/sat box, bluray player, etc) that cannot be used in mythtv or vdr.
but if you did need to route hdmi over a long distance, there is no need to worry about picture degradation as it is a digital signal; it either works at full quality or not at all.

[Techstyle]

1.  you would have to code yourself for this or go with Z-wave, because of its matrix network Z-wave is very reliable and gets better everytime you add a device.  Where would you get the info for coding yourself - Try the developers guide on the wiki

3.  If it is just electric you could use a z-wave plug in appliance controller to switch it on and off, there are Z-wave PIR's available with temp sensors built in.

4.  you can send HDMI over Cat5e or Cat6 but can you cable it like a ring main I am not sure.  If you are cabling up a brand new house I would go as flexible as possible.  A ring main would not neccessarily provide this each HDMI socket would give the same signal.  I would do 4x Cat6 drops to each room then this gives the flexibility to run anything over Cat6.  I am thinking of doing the same thing to run HDMI over 1 drop, USB2.0 over the second, Network for VOIP phone over the third and the 4th is spare.  You could link one drop from each room to give the same HDMI signal as you have suggested and then later you could add HDMI switch to direct the Hybrid Core or a cable box to each TV if you wanted.

[totallymaxed]

4 we are trying to bring the hdmi signal down from the linux mce core through cat 6 cabling with hdmi/cat6 wall plate connectors, we think hdmi quality will be lost if we don't bring down it by hdmi quality cabling, is this correct, if not can it be brought down by a single cat 5 cable to the md and the md will hd render the picture?

Hi William,

If your running the HDMI's over distances longer than say 2.5 M I would recommend using HDMI->CAT6->HDMI converters. Currently these have to be used on a point-to-point basis in a 'star configuration' from wherever all of the HDMI sources are located. You could also use HDMI switchers (with LinuxMCE/RS232 control) to switch the sources displayed on any of your screens at a later date.

There are also some HDMI->CAT6 converters coming on the market in the near future that will allow you to route the HDMI data over the same CAT6 cabling/switches/routers that your LAN is using. These are very new and still somewhat un-proven but they will surely be the way to go once the technology 'beds' down a little and prices come down as they give the ultimate in flexibility and ease of installation.

All the best

Andrew

[coley]

I happened across these http://www.justaddpower.com/Home-Theater-HDMI-Matrix/View-all-products.html recently. Don't seem too expensive and would give you hdmi over your existing LAN cabling. They seem to have updated their website within the last week or two with a FAQ too.

-Coley.

[totallymaxed]

I happened across these http://www.justaddpower.com/Home-Theater-HDMI-Matrix/View-all-products.html recently. Don't seem too expensive and would give you hdmi over your existing LAN cabling. They seem to have updated their website within the last week or two with a FAQ too.

-Coley.

The HDMI-CAT6 IP converters are $299 + $399 per end-point plus you have to use a managed switch to. There are several companies about to announce similar products...but they all of similar costs associates with them while a CAT6 point-to-point solution using non-IP based converters could be purchased for < $40 per end-point (and there is no expensive managed switch in the middle). The IP based route will mature and become both 'mainstream' and lower cost on the next couple of years for sure though.

Andrew

[william]

thank you so much to everybody, please keep up the great work, wouldnot be able to implement what i want to without you thank you again