Home Automation continued: (tldr; established brands and licensed installers are interfering with the goodness) So I bought a big TV at Best Buy - because something scary about model numbers and China, so buy it in person... While there, they offered to send a consultant to talk about my AV distribution and Home Automation needs ... Sure, why not?, says I. BTW, I own a Data Center, so dont send a dolt. Oh. Ok -- we better send James. Hes been doing this for over a decade. Cool. ---Fast Forward--- Hi, this is Chad from the Geek Squad? What I thought: Come closer, little hobbit... cloooosssseeer.... What I said: Hi Chad, I thought I was going to get James. After a few mutters and grumbles, Well both be there... Super, Chad. ---Fast Forward--- Chad and James show up in their Geek Squad jackets, complete (I kid you not, with BRANDED black booties for their shoes). Hi, Im James. James, are you familiar with the ISO/OSI stack and protocols, or just AV? No, were primarily media distribution... (Points for honesty, but I smell fear...) Ok, James, heres the situation ... blah blah blah -- [insert brain flex here] -- blah blah blah -- my house MDF is here, Im going to extend into a pseudo IDF here in this Wine Cellar that Im converting to a data room blah blah blah and so on. 30 minutes later - after discussions of HDMI distribution, IR injection, multi-channel usage ... and by discussion, I mean my monologue while walking through the house. James says, Yeah, so were going to have to escalate you to Magnolia - theyre the experts. We bought them in 2000, but theyre the ones who can really do this. Insert usual disappointed technus interruptus here. James finishes by saying, What youre going to want is a proprietary solution -- you wont be able to program it yourself -- and the vendors wont let you -- youd have to be a certified technician, which is a licensing issue -- blah blah. Then he told me about the brands that are at play in home automation and how theyre warring and buying each other up, etc. So - I learned something today. Home automation protocols are fragmented because the ESTABLISHED high-end INSTALLER brands are interfering with the model. Theyre buying anything that is promising and either blocking it out with licenses, or killing it completely. You cant program it yourself -- well... thats kind of like a call to war, no? Im waiting for Magnolia to call me -- However, I admit, Im 50/50 on whether I want to fight that war or just roll over and have the shiny toys.
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 00:06:38 +0000
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