System Setup- Tech?

[mstrlucky74]

Are you a big hitter? You have not revealed yourself!

If you really like some crazy stuff, just ask!
Check this out : https://www.synology.com/en-global/products/RS3617xs+#specs You should look for a combination device which will multitask everything including streaming your media.

There are some of them with 4Bays but look for the one with Intel CPU (Best if iHD)


Eman.

big hitter like spend big bucks..well not exactly..lol. spending big money on our house Reno we just bought ..someone else posted a link to that . I need to read up on that so I understand the purpose / integration into my system.

[jmaddox]

Using homeseer you need 3 items. the homeseer software, a control interface and at least 1 home automation switch/product to control. Homeseer has a 30 day trial, I highly recommend you try before you buy. The control interface depends on the protocol of your home automation product/switch. Some examples are: smartstick, or znet; which are for zwave control or HUSBZB-1 which is both zwave and zigbee.

As I mentioned earlier Caseta can work for you. Looks like they even have paid installation; I don't know if that includes a consult to help you set up the software. I have no idea of the capability of their hubs; perhaps someone who has owned one of those can chime in. Homeseer can work with Caseta through a plugin, but you may not need homeseer depending on the capabilities of the caseta hub and/or using google/alexa/siri. In the case of caseta, their hub acts as their control interface.

For any home automation project there are probably at least 10 ways to accomplish the task. There is no single 'right' way to do this.

[Eman]

big hitter like spend big bucks..well not exactly..lol. spending big money on our house Reno we just bought ..someone else posted a link to that . I need to read up on that so I understand the purpose / integration into my system.

Ok, I found something else of interest : https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fanless-Ind...9&sr=8-8-spell


Eman

[Demusman]

If you're gonna buy a NAS, do your own research. For some reason people like Synology but I would recommend QNap over them. I have both. The QNap is better. But again, do your own research.

[Eman]

If you're gonna buy a NAS, do your own research. For some reason people like Synology but I would recommend QNap over them. I have both. The QNap is better. But again, do your own research.

I also have both and shelved the Qnap over its CPU. Not good for streaming media. Qnap is good for VMs and requires you to to install ffmpeg and some other stuff from community in order to install Emby. I also have a rack version one (also shelved) It's powerful but noisy, needs to be in a server room.


Extra : Since you brought that up, I went digging and found this : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBqBGwq_zD0 And streaming vs editing : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Be0oxz31Mn4


And a very reasonable assessment : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76yW1sUwpag



Eman.

[Demusman]

Didn't click your links and not gonna.
I can find links that say whatever I want them to also, what's the point?
Like I said, let him do his own research and decide for himself.

[mstrlucky74]

Not exactly sure what you mean there, TV's don't distribute video, video is distributed to the TV. If that's what you meant, the best bet would be a Harmony Hub/remote and a Global Cache for IR control. The problem would be for 6 TV's you'd need 6 hubs if you want to control all of them. The GC would allow you to receive IR commands in HS so you can have lights, blinds or anything else controllable 'activate' when you turn on/off a TV.



Blue Iris would probably be the most recommended here.



DSC would be a good choice



Many options, I would recommend UPB. I'm sure you'll get a lot more recommendations



A lot of options popping up for window treatments. Somfy, Zwave, Zigbee. Take your pick.



Sonos if you wanna spend the money, Russound would be cheaper but you'll have to run wires.



This would be the same as you choose for interior lighting protocol



Android tablets with wall mounts



HS will do all of the things you want to do.

6 hubs?? that's the only way to.accomplish that? seems ridiculous. thanks

[Demusman]

6 hubs?? that's the only way to.accomplish that? seems ridiculous. thanks

Not the only way, but the most efficient
Technically each hub has two blaster outputs. You can run one output to one room and the other to another but that gets really crazy when creating your activities.

But there's always another way to do anything.
People use Arduinos to do all kind of things these days.
Everyone will have a different opinion.

[Pocster]

I have a Synology 5 bay NAS - though agree Qnap is equally as good.
4 bays are set as shr-2 raid - so effectively can deal with 2 drives failing simultaneously . The 5th drive just records from ip cameras continuously .
The Synology DSM software and surveillance station all work really well - though be aware you need to pay for additional camera licenses - how many you get 'free' depends on which unit you buy ( usually 2 ).

[Pocster]

Regarding audio. I have raspberry pi zero's with op-amp hats. Max2Play is easily the best software on the pi for this. Then just use Homeseer squeezebox plugin to control. ipeng on iOS/android for better music control. Doing whole house audio like this is very inexpensive. In each room I have a Polkaudio ceiling speaker - which although 1 unit has both left and right channels in it.

[mstrlucky74]

I have a Synology 5 bay NAS - though agree Qnap is equally as good.
4 bays are set as shr-2 raid - so effectively can deal with 2 drives failing simultaneously . The 5th drive just records from ip cameras continuously .
The Synology DSM software and surveillance station all work really well - though be aware you need to pay for additional camera licenses - how many you get 'free' depends on which unit you buy ( usually 2 ).

if you don't mind can you explain in a nutshell what the NAS/Qnap function is ? thanks a lot.

[Pocster]

if you don't mind can you explain in a nutshell what the NAS/Qnap function is ? thanks a lot.

Sure
I use it for mainly 2 thing but will find other uses .
It’s storage for all my media , music , photos etc .
So the fact it can survive hdd failure is important . It also doubles as a nvr for the ip cameras .

[mstrlucky74]

Sure
I use it for mainly 2 thing but will find other uses .
It’s storage for all my media , music , photos etc .
So the fact it can survive hdd failure is important . It also doubles as a nvr for the ip cameras .

why not just store on comp or cloud like Google drive? comp I guess cause of HDD failure as you mentioned which seems rare. the NVR I can make a case for.
how do you access the storage? via comp?

[Pocster]

why not just store on comp or cloud like Google drive? comp I guess cause of HDD failure as you mentioned which seems rare. the NVR I can make a case for.
how do you access the storage? via comp?

Just like Homeseer I don't want my stuff on the cloud. Prefer my stuff stays in my control :-)
NAS storage easily accessible from anything , shared drive, URL, iOS/android app

As other's have said a lot depends on your particular views and budget.

After all there's no reason your Homeseer server couldn't be NAS and NVR.
But I like separate units to have separate functions - also means if one thing has a problem then everything doesn't go down.

[Demusman]

In addition to all Pocster said, the NAS would also run HS in a VM. One less PC needed.