I am very interested in home automation, always have been and most likely always will be. In my last home I used a bunch of different products. I first set up all kinds of "junk", which I bought from x10.com (don't visit that site). It's basically the cheapest and the worst way to go. I moved on and did some research before I impulse bought anything. I ended up using a nice software application by Perceptive Automation, which is now known as Indigo Domotics.
I set this up on my Mac Pro and had lots of lights, outlets and even my thermostat running from it. This was way before NEST. The software allows for powerful scripting so you can accomplish pretty much anything you want! For surveillance, I setup some older analog cameras and had a switch to convert them to ip address (because there was only like one Mac Pro analog video input card which was crazy expensive). The software I used for this was called SecuritySpy. It really did everything that I needed as far as capturing motion, saving recordings, etc. This software working with Indigo... it was pretty powerful.
Since then I have moved, never set up the software again just due to a busy life. I ended up buying a new HD IP cam surveillance system from Lorex (ip cameras and NVR). Having a NVR specifically for your camera systems is a must better solution... just more reliable, etc.
So now I want to get back into some home automation to add to my surveillance system. As everyone must know, I love Android and want this to be a big player in what I end up going with. NEST seems great for a thermostat and smoke/carbon monoxide alarm but I also want to set up outlets, light switches, doors, blinds, tv setup, etc and a bunch more.
In the end I am trying to to have the need to run 10 apps to control my home automation and I am just looking for some advice on what is currently out there and what to avoid, etc. Worst case I see is that I invest in NEST products and some other home automation protocol like z-wave (is this still the standard?) and then write my own app for Android to interface to both API's.... if something doesn't already exist.
Thanks in advance!
I set this up on my Mac Pro and had lots of lights, outlets and even my thermostat running from it. This was way before NEST. The software allows for powerful scripting so you can accomplish pretty much anything you want! For surveillance, I setup some older analog cameras and had a switch to convert them to ip address (because there was only like one Mac Pro analog video input card which was crazy expensive). The software I used for this was called SecuritySpy. It really did everything that I needed as far as capturing motion, saving recordings, etc. This software working with Indigo... it was pretty powerful.
Since then I have moved, never set up the software again just due to a busy life. I ended up buying a new HD IP cam surveillance system from Lorex (ip cameras and NVR). Having a NVR specifically for your camera systems is a must better solution... just more reliable, etc.
So now I want to get back into some home automation to add to my surveillance system. As everyone must know, I love Android and want this to be a big player in what I end up going with. NEST seems great for a thermostat and smoke/carbon monoxide alarm but I also want to set up outlets, light switches, doors, blinds, tv setup, etc and a bunch more.
In the end I am trying to to have the need to run 10 apps to control my home automation and I am just looking for some advice on what is currently out there and what to avoid, etc. Worst case I see is that I invest in NEST products and some other home automation protocol like z-wave (is this still the standard?) and then write my own app for Android to interface to both API's.... if something doesn't already exist.
Thanks in advance!