Articles: Windows Home Edition – 69
Brett Gideon skives off from his real job to find out what’s so special about a smart home controlled by Microsoft’s operating system
A SMART HOME FOR LESS
You can pay as much as you want for a smart home system, but it’s possible to pick up a basic package consisting of the following (two rooms) for as little as $4995
· Media Centre PC setup with network TV and 150+ hours of shared storage
· Ethernet switch
· 1 x Media Centre extenderA more comprehensive package comprising the following (effectively covering three rooms) is available for $9995
· 15-inch ili touch screen
· Camera interface
· 500GB of mirrored storage for other media
· Media Centre PC setup with network TV and 150+ hours of shared storage
· Ethernet switch
· 2 x Media Centre extenders
Don’t worry, this isn’t an article about a cut-down Microsoft operating system aimed at home users: we’re looking at a very smart smart home with Windows Vista running the show. The functionality and expandability is impressive and the price will please even the grimmest bank manager. But how is this possible?
My first reaction to this Windows-powered smart home was a combination of skepticism and curiosity. I wanted to be there when the owner tried to get into his house to be confronted by the dreaded ‘blue screen of death’ or to see his face when he couldn’t make coffee because the drivers for the kettle software were playing up. Then it occurred to me that I hadn’t had all that many problems with Windows recently, especially compared to the bad old days of Win98, and that my laptop is generally more reliable than both my cantankerous car and misbegotten mobile phone. So I resolved to go out with my seldom-used open mind to check it out. And I’m glad I did.
The brains behind the smarts come from a company called ili, headed up by an amicable bloke named Rob Wilcox, along with his business partner Matt Brunton. They’re both ex-Navman technology developers so they know their stuff, and Rob and his family actually live at the Mairangi Bay smart home that’s used to showcase the company’s technology, so he’s standing behind (and inside) his products in no uncertain terms.
Smart homes are usually based on proprietary home automation technology that can be a pain to install and configure as well as being frightening to pay for, but the ili team uses Windows Vista Media Centre as the heart of its system. They evaluated the Vista platform and found it to be reliable, giving them easy and comparatively cheap access to media including DVD, live and recorded TV, photos, music and video.
The Microsoft Software Developers Kit allowed ili to customise Vista Media Centre to convince it to interface with either Kristil or C-Bus home automation systems. The C-Bus version offers full control of systems like lighting, climate, under-floor heating, irrigation, blinds and shutters and even the pool, and gives ili the ability to retrofit its system to the horde of C-Bus installations out there.
The real beauty of the system is the use of Wireless Media Centre Extenders (WMCE) made by Linksys. These reasonably priced little units allow full access to the home media system using a common Media Centre interface without needing to have a PC in each room. So the system can be easily expanded or rolled out to existing homes without complicated wiring, as and when the owner chooses, and at a price that won’t break the bank.
The WMCEs have an optional built-in DVD player along with HDMI, S-Video and composite video outputs, plus digital and analogue audio outputs, so they can be connected to a television and/or music system or integrated into a multi-room audio system including outdoor zones. The audio options are pretty much limitless – anything with amplification can be plugged into the extenders. Rob’s even got a set of cordless headphones hooked up to the system, allowing him to work in the garden without losing touch with his precious music.
Up to five WMCEs can be run off each PC, and they definitely work as described. The server in the basement happily streams recorded television programmes to a WMCEÂ three stories above it. Given the occasional vagaries of wireless networks, there may well be areas of a home that won’t cooperate with an extender, but there’s always the option of running cable to these spots if you have to. Microsoft’s Xbox 360 also offers WMCE functionality, so a child’s room or a rumpus room can be connected to the home system with almost no effort.
For rooms that have a high definition television, there is the option to use a PC with more powerful graphics capabilities rather than a WMCE. The use of networked TV means that there doesn’t have to be a TV card in each PC. Live and recorded TV is distributed to each of the Media Centre PCs, laptops and WMCEs in the house and it is seamless in use, with storage being limited only by the amount of hard drive space across the system.
Every aspect of the system can be controlled from a wireless touch screen that simplifies the Vista Media Centre interface by using a 15-inch LCD in a 19-inch touch surface. There is a series of direct access buttons located around the LCD allowing one-touch control of functions like TV access, track forwarding, volume control and so on without having to work through multiple layers of the Windows GUI. Having a common (and exceedingly intuitive) user interface at every touch screen makes the system guest and child friendly, and Rob’s kids are totally comfortable with the operation of the system.
The system can also be accessed from a wireless tablet or laptop PC, the WMCE and media centre remotes or even a water-resistant screen that can be located at the pool, spa or in the bath. Water-resistant panels might sound a bit excessive but think about it: with the full system in place there’s total control of lighting and security cameras, as well as all the media, so you could check on the bambinos, set the alarm, dim the lights, put on some Coldplay [Oh God no! - Horrified Ed] and open a bottle of chardonnay while you’re up to your nose in bubbles. Sounds pretty cool to me.
Security is elegantly catered for by this system, with the screens able to display the front door camera when the doorbell is pushed and open it remotely. If someone hears a noise at night, they can access the system from the screen in the bedroom to see if motion detectors have been activated. If so they can trigger the alarm and/or turn on all the lights in the house. The security system is linked to swipe cards, so a simple swipe activates and deactivates the alarm. If the alarm is set off, it calls Rob’s mobile phone and he can log into the system remotely from a work PC, his wireless tablet or the PC on his boat to see what’s going on at home.
The overall cost of a full home automation control system has been substantially reduced with no loss of functionality by using a simple and inexpensive IT-based infrastructure that doesn’t require complex wiring or involved programming. In fact, Rob used to work with a company that built automation systems for superyachts and other luxury vessels. These systems had costs running into the hundreds of thousands of dollars but had less functionality than this smart home.
When the low cost is combined with the comprehensive functionality, simple expansion and easy integration to everything from home theatre to sprinkler systems, it’s easy to see that ili is onto a winner here. I’m sure there are similar systems in development all over the world, but this one is Kiwi driven and it works beautifully. I give it 12 months at most before Bill Gates is at the front door with a Gucci bag full of greenbacks.
Posted by Tone on April 11th, 2008 in Articles
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