I've always been interested in technology, and especially how it can be used within the home. When my wife and I moved into our current house, my first thoughts were not "where should the sofa go?" but "how can I get CAT5 cables routed round the house?" and "where can the house server be located?".
After the inevitable raised eyebrows, my wife replied "OK lets get on and wire the rooms up". By day I work as an IT consultant, so I'm familiar with networking, servers and communications systems. A request from my friendly local Electrician and heating guys to look for a reasonably priced smart home system for a new-build property they were quoting for, inspired me to look at what was out there technology wise, that didn't cost the earth.
After the inevitable raised eyebrows, my wife replied "OK lets get on and wire the rooms up". By day I work as an IT consultant, so I'm familiar with networking, servers and communications systems. A request from my friendly local Electrician and heating guys to look for a reasonably priced smart home system for a new-build property they were quoting for, inspired me to look at what was out there technology wise, that didn't cost the earth.
Services
As much as I love Loxone, its a really weak product for AV control, even Loxone admit that, so i've been on the training course and purchased a selection of URC:Total Control demo kit to integrate with my Loxone setup.
URC is a complete control solution from the US, which means its built for Audio Visual control from the ground up, not that control of lighting, heating etc is not included, its all there, this stuff talks to almost everything, Rako, Hue, HDL, Sonos, Honeywell, HEOS, Sony, Denon to name but a few.
URC is a complete control solution from the US, which means its built for Audio Visual control from the ground up, not that control of lighting, heating etc is not included, its all there, this stuff talks to almost everything, Rako, Hue, HDL, Sonos, Honeywell, HEOS, Sony, Denon to name but a few.
My Xbox is in the spare room, and the xbox inhabits the wardrobe, i've tried a number of devices from cheap to expensive, and its defintely yet again a case of spending the right money to get the right kit. I started out using an HD Anywhere Extend 2k (I am a cheap-skate and don't have either a 4k TV or an Xbox capable of running 4k), running over a 15 metre flat CAT 7 cable.
Part of the tidying up of the house has been about moving the loxone kit to more useful positions, today was the turn of the NFC touchpad, previously i've had it mounted on a surface mount box which still involved the unit wobbling as you pressed buttons on it, it didn't look particularly nice either.
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