Techliving

[tobad78]

Not sure if anyone else gets this magazine but thought I would share abit of this months article.

They had a 2-3 page article about Homeseer and Zwave. They mentioned alot of the same stuff "most" of us know from reading this board. But one thing I found interesting was near the last "z-wave switches in about a year will drop about 50% in price". The article also pushes for HomeseerSe which is good but should support a few more then 8 devices.

Anyways thought I would share this,
BrianD

[Rupp]

"few more then 8 devices". Was this Z-wave devices or Z-wave and X10? If it's both the writer of the article must have looked in the device list. This is just a subset of what HS can control and the beauty is, a user can built hundreds of devices to support by using the device types tab on the HS option form.

[GenevaDude]

It sounds like th author didn't do his research. (Typical for reporters these days).
I doubt if he actually contacted anyone at HomeSeer.

[MPodlin]

The HomeSeerSE only supports 8 devices and 32 events max. You can see the comparison charts between the two versions HomeSeerSE

Not sure, but I think the SE only supports Z-wave device types. HS Tech will have to confirm this. Also looks like you can only purchase the SE version in a starter kit format which comes with a Z-wave remove, USB interface and one module.

The Pod

[electron]

wow, I have never heard of HomeseerSE before, that's new to me for sure.

[Squintz]

Thatis nice of them to offer HomeSeerSE for those who are beginners and do not need all the extra features but i would recommend that you just fork it out and buy the real deal in the first place. The advanced users will be able to help more than they would with a SE and when the time somes when you want to write a little script or something your gonna have to upgrade. That just sounds like more work to me.

[WayneW]

How long has TechLiving been publishing? Last I heard about it, somebody said it was going to be the replacement for "Home Automation" magazine. I assumed they would just transition their subscribers. I will have to check when I got my last issue of Home Automation, but I never got any notice about the new mag. Is the new mag any good?

[GenevaDude]

Wow!
I never, ever heard about HomeSeerSE (SouthEast? .) When did this become available?

I never saw any announcements nor discussions about this. It would seem there would be a discussion thread for HSSE.

[huggy591]

When Home Automation went under, they converted my remaining subscription to Electronic House, which, IMO, is geared to high-end non-DIYers (read that, a waste of paper). I tried it for a few months and cancelled my subscription. Now I'm still getting it cause of the home Automation mag failure.

[sponnath]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>When Home Automation went under, <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Now I can stop looking for it at MicroCenter. I didn't know it had gone under and would always check the mag rack.

Shame......

[rjh]

HomeSeerSE (Special Edition) was never discussed here since I doubt anyone on this MB would be interested in it. The goal was to create a complete starter system for less than $200. So SE is sold only as a Z-Wave kit right now. We may break it out later. We are considering an X10 version possibly.

SE supports 8 devices and 32 events and Z-Wave only. So there is no interfaces tab in the options, no scripting, and no voice recognition. It simply starts and goes, very little configuration is needed. It does have the web server with the standard HS web pages and the touchpad interface also. Users can upgrade to HS at any time and they end up paying the same. So its a good way to get started.

An SE forum will be created soon.

-Rich

[Rupp]

Rich,
This is an excellent idea. If there were 3-way z-wave switches this would be a killer starter system. Without the 3-ways I believe an X10 version would be beneficial as well.

[JLehnert]

Techliving just put out it's first issue. I've only done a 5 minute scan in the reading room, so I'll withhold comments on the content until I've had a chance to read it more fully. I thought they were going to roll over the HA mag subscriptions to the new mag, but EH publishing doesn't print the subscription expiration date on it's mailing labels like the rest of the world, so I can't check.

[Mark S.]

Yes, I believe your Home Automation subscription will roll over into TechLiving. I got my copy of the first edition today. It looks like they are basically abandoning any meaningful DIY home automation content. It looks like more superficial news and info on home audio/video/PC gadgets. I won't be renewing it and will e-mail both editor/publisher with my opinion.

Too bad - ever since Jeff Anderson's Home Automator folded, Home Automation was the last magazine with any DIY content.

Anyone want to start a new one?

Mark

[WayneW]

My first issue arrived today. If it wasn't for this message board, I would have no idea what it was or where it came from. I never received anything from EH stating that the old mag was going away and TechLiving was replacing it. And I don't think the subscription label has the expiration, so I have no idea how many more issues of this I will get.