Hey Earth, what is your favorite control-A/V distribution system?

Question

A-la Netstreams, Colorado V-Net, Control 4, Lifeware or others. Not really interested in Crestron or AMX as my market isn't really that kind of market.

Answer 1

Hey Miguel!

I've been experimenting with Lifeware, which extends beyond Netstreams or Colorado V-Net. I'm aware of Control 4, but I've had no experience with them.

I know something about the guys at Colorado V-Net, and they are pretty hung up on themselves. Several companies have approched them with integration in mind, but they are planning to try to do it all by themselves. More power to them, but the public isn't waiting around...

I was in dialog with the Lifeware people in the early days. They originally planned to provide SDKs for their software and allow us to write our own drivers for whatever we wanted to control. In addition, Seale Moorer (the founder) and his gang felt that WSD was going to take the place of USB and Serial for control. I still think he's right, particularly since Vista comes with WSD built in. WSD, if properly executed is pretty amazing!

Unfortunately, Exceptional Innovations (Lifeware's co.) has moved to close their program to developers. Now we must wait until their staff writes the needed drivers for whatever our customers say they want, and they are understaffed. Their early promise of an open architecture is now a thing of the past. Too bad really, because they are otherwise spot on!

Originally, the Lifeware folks said they only developed hardware to fill the gap until others invented hardware to take the place. That may still be true, but the hardware they offer is state of the art and rock solid.

It sells for me this way: All systems in the house come under a single, easy to understand interface, available from any TV, touch panel or any computer in the house, not to mention several ways to communicate from outside the house. Because Lifeware controls the look and operation of the interface, you are not locked into me, the programmer. That's benificial in two ways. First, if you decide you don't like me, for any reason, you can get someone else to take my place. Second, if it's 3 AM, and you're having difficulties, Lifeware has a 24 hour hotline and since they use a preplanned format, anyone there can be as helpful as me. Go ahead and call Crestron or AMX at 3 in the morning and see how much help you get.

Lifeware does exactly what they say it does, and it does it well. Too bad those of us that are more adventurous don't have SDK support!

Because I have been playing with Lifeware lately, I use Russound for audio distribution. As you might imagine, no complaints whatsoever about performance, but they are starting to lag behind people like Netstreams in coolness features.

For video, I am a m*******t. Since the inception of HDMI, I've been trying to work with it. It's tricky to say the least, but it's where we're heading and I can't stop it. My experience, at present, leaves me thinking it's better to build my own matrix out of Key Digital v1.3 parts than to buy the prefab Gefen 4x4 matrix systems. I'm not completly settled here!

Jeff Bouchelli has designed some marginally useful test pieces for troubleshooting HDMI, but there's nothing available in the test arena for less than 50k that is conclusive. Meanwhile, I'm compelled to get my clients to the HDMI level with blinders on my eyes. Eventually, things settle down and work correctly, but it's a battle every time. Battery backups have helped a lot since most service calls come after a power outage.

I'm in a market where we sell, or compete with others that sell, Crestron and AMX. They are both blank canvases with which we can write on. (I only use Crestron) We have to write grapical interfaces and control code in both cases. They are like Colorado Vnet in that they are closed systems. Furthermore, the program and GUI I make belongs to me, no one else. It's a cool deal for the integrator, but not so good for the customer. That's why I like, and feel comfortable selling Lifeware.

I would love to hear your answer to the same question you asked me. Here, or by email, whichever you feel most comfortable with. I know you from your answers, and you tend to be on the money. People truly benefit from your participation here!

Edit:

I just read through my answer and I didn't complain enough about Lifeware's move to not make SDKs available. Really, if you think about it, they had the perfect product in mind. I'm sick and tired of waiting for people to write the drivers I need, regardless of the system. They "nailed" the need with a great solution--SDKs, and then gave it up. No one else has even considered it to my knowlege, unfortunately.

What about Source4? Is it open source or do they provide SDKs? I don't know much about them.

Edit: Re Additional Information

I've not tried GuiFX nor any of the other folks out there that provide this sort of help. I pay a programmer for graphics other than simple projects like Nevo and the color Pronto. I enjoy the graphics side and I'm pretty good with Photoshop. I charge $400 to come up with a program on either of these brands, but sometimes I get lost in the fun of the graphic design, so it works out to $5 per hour. Wish I could live on it because I like graphic design a lot!

I know integrators that are quite happy with Netstreams. I haven't wrestled with it myself, but I hear it's pretty easy to work with and it does do what they claim. I agree that IP based communication is a big advantage, and holds the best hope for total integration.

Here's a few additional reasons I like the Lifeware product:

First, Seale Moorer is a financial powerhouse worth in excess of 1 billion dollars, and he's excited about home automation. He has taken over the Point of Sale industry throughout the supermarket world and other retail chains through inovative products and smart marketing, much to the dismay of formidable competitors like NCR and IBM. His track record seems exactly right for what he's trying to achieve in our industry. Having strong financial backing places Lifeware above the long line of companies that have tried to break the Crestron/AMX stranglehold only to run out of money and have to close. Before Lifeware, I never experimented with any of them because I didn't want my clients, nor me, stuck in the trick bag with no support, repair or expansion available from a bankrupt company.

Second, Lifeware works as a standalone or as a part of Vista Media Center (there's an XP version also) which brings total control to any TV or PC in the house (or outside the house) in an inexpensive way. It of course works with touch panels too. The look and feel is the same as VMC also, which I find elegant and quite intuitive. Have you ever used a cable box with Moxi software? Even my "Silver Foxes" (my senior clients) pick up on it right away. Digeo won an Emmy for their ingenious Moxi software a few years back, and VMC works essentialy the same way, only flipped 90 degrees.

Third, we've gotten really spoiled with our PCs. We plug into an Ethernet cable and magically we're on the Internet. We immediately work interactively with all sorts of web services, and we do nothing in the way of configuration to achieve this.  Web Services is the reason for much of this ease. Web Services for Devices, an incorporated part of Vista, is designed to make our @home experience equally easy. WSD SDKs are available to anyone interested in making their equipment discoverable, and useable on a network. When I plug WSD devices into Lifeware, they are discovered without additional effort. This may be part of the reason why Lifeware has 10 times as many partners as Netstreams. Netstreams communication system is proprietary as opposed to WSD. Hopefully, one day, WSD devices will be as commonplace as USB devices are today. Lifeware will of course work RS232, trigger, and IR for anything outside the realm.

Forth, I had a debate with Seale once about the merits of button romote controls vs. touchscreen remote controls. He liked buttons, I liked touchscreens. (we'd probably agree on the hybrids that are available these days) Lifeware can be controlled by any unified remote, no matter how elaborate or inexpensive, buttons, touchscreen or hybrid. I like that flexibility. You can even run Lifeware from a hand-held PC. I have a Samsung UltraMobilePC that will completely control anything installed anywhere in the house. At $1000 each, they make really affordable touch panels!

Speaking of affordablity, Lifeware systems fall between Crestron/AMX and Netstreams pricewise, but have flexability comparable to Crestron/AMX and in some cases beyond. Now that Dlink and others are making v2 Vista Media Extenders, it might be possible to do Lifeware for even less than Netstreams. I'll have to think about that one. Lifeware's base product is a server/client lisense at $1000 which includes enough equipment lisenses for a small house.

DirecTV is in beta now with their HDPC20 PC based receiver. I'm looking forward to this product being able to record HD television onto a 3 terabyte NAS drive! With a Vista Media Center plugin, DirecTV should work seamlessly with every other aspect of home control, all under the same user interface. Home control and home media distribution are really two different things, but MediaCenter/Lifeware ties them together in the cleanest way I've seen.

I just re-read this post and it sounds like I'm a Superdelegate for Lifeware. Lol.  I just like their product, and I like Vista Media Center. Tell them Dan from DC Design sent you. Maybe I'll get a bottle of wine next Christmas. ;o)