[mythtv] Mythtv and HomeAutomation

[buzz]

Kevin,Personally, if I was going to do it, I would have gone with pluto for
automation ( it also integrates mythtv too), but kudus to you for doing it
"from scratch".  :-)
about: http://plutohome.com/index.php?section=home_automation
for devs: http://plutohome.org/
download: http://plutohome.org/index.php?section=get_pluto

Buzz.

On Thu, Feb 21, 2008 at 8:57 AM, Kevin Wambsganz <wambs at verizon.net> wrote:

>  Hi,
>
>
>
> I'm currently working on MythRecipe and a few folks were curious about my
> home brew "home automation system". Below is some information about it.
>
>
>
> Initially I used MisterHouse, but I found that Perl does not handle thread
> management every well. I needed to communicate with serial ports quickly, 5
> times a second, and MisterHouse does not do that well. Jakarta, does this
> much better, plus it has a great web server built in. So, I built a system
> that controls a lawn sprinkler, alarm system, sound system (output only),
>  HVAC (8 zones), door bell, mailbox. Jakarta runs a numbers of threads which
> monitors the alarm, HVAC, etc. This worked well, but for light control I was
> using X10.
>
> X10 does not work well because there is a lot of interference in the power
> line wires. Many times the lights would not come on correctly. So I research
> a bit, and found that a Crestron light control system, while expensive, work
> fine for me. Plus it provides control for keypads. The Jakarta is the master
> in the system, while the Crestron unit responds to light command. Its used
> TCP/UDP/IP between the crestron and Jakarta. While the Crestron unit can
> provide a web server, it is limited and the touch panels are very expensive
> (>$2000) each. So, Jakarta serves the web pages which are built to be touch
> controllable. Its just standard HTML, javascript, and JSP stuff.
>
> My home automation system consists of the following:
>
> - A crestron central light controller which manages lights and keypads in
> every room.
> - A jakarta web server, which handles the sprinkler system, alarm system,
> HVAC, sound output, doorbell, and mailbox. Most of this is controlled thru
> relays, digital inputs, and analog inputs via the serial port on a PC. The
> same PC which runs the jakarta web server.
>
> I have partly merged MythTV and the home automation system in the web page
> interface only.  The interface to the home automation system has always been
> a web page. So on the Jakarta web server, I added mythweb (php)  which runs
> on apache. Apache handles myth php stuff, jakarta handles java stuff (home
> automation).
>
> This took a huge amount of work, running wires, installing relays and
> controllers. It also cost a bit, mostly the Crestron stuff, although I
> bought a lot of it thru Ebay. To program the Crestron stuff you have to know
> how to program  it. I did this is a previous job for 6 months.  This type of
> work does NOT pay well.
>
> The work is on going and is customized for my system and thats while I
> did/do not actively advertise it. This is not as easy as MythTV, and MythTV
> is not really that easy, yet.
>
>
>
> It would be great to integrate some home automation stuff into mythtv.
> However, we need to find some inexpensive HW that works well and does not
> take a PhD to setup/install.
>
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Kevin
>
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>
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