How-To
Updated April 9, 2007 08:00 PDST
Z-Wave Home Theaters
By David Powell
Contributing editor
Only a few years ago home theaters and home controls were
out of reach for all but the rich and famous. The market
is changing rapidly and costs are coming down. In my local
area alone there are at least four new custom installers
targeting the typical homeowner.
A recent study performed by Parks Associates shows the
average high-end home theater cost being between $25,000
and $30,000. An estimated 72,000 homes had theaters installed
in 2005 and installs are projected to reach 103,000 in 2007.
These statistics are for high-end theater installs. Today,
many companies are starting to "market to the masses
instead of the classes" and members of the Z-Wave alliance
are no exception. So it's possible to get the home theater
you want without the hefty price tag.
Media servers are a hot topic in modern home theaters.
Most homeowners don't want to flip through CD and DVD cases
trying to find their favorite movies only to find that half
way through a movie that the disc has a scratch on it. A
media server can store your music and videos on a hard drive
and provide you with a method to select your media through
an on-screen menu.
Canadian
company
Embedded Automation has developed mTheater, a PC-based
media server that includes Microsoft's Windows Media Center
and Embedded Automation's mControl software. The PC has
been engineered specifically with home theaters in mind.
mTheater includes features such as 7.1 digital surround
sound, built in Dual TV turner, 19-in-1 Flash media card
reader, expandable storage capabilities and much more. The
media server is shipped with a Z-Wave starter kit that includes
a Z-Wave USB controller. Using the mControl software you
can quickly create macros that can be triggered by a number
of events. For example you could create a macro which dims
the lights and draws back the curtains immediately after
you push the play button and another macro to close the
curtains and raise the lights when you push the stop button.
Another
media server system - which is not yet on the market - is
Monster Cable's Einstein. The Einstein is much more than
a media server. It's an entire home theater system that
comprises multiple components. One of those components is
the high performance 960Gbyte media vault also called the
neutron, which has a capacity upgradeable to 7.5 terabytes.
Also available is a 200 disc DVD changer capable of playing
2 DVDs simultaneously. The brains of the system is called
the nucleus and it contains a built in Z-Wave controller.
Adding Monster's IlluminEssence lighting devices and the
Monster AVL 300 universal remote control really makes this
the ultimate home theater system. At the Spring EHX 2007
I was told the Einstein will be sold in most electronics
retail stores. Monster Cable licensed this technology from
Miami Beach company Pluto.
Pluto is written for a Linux operating system and the software
is freely available for download from their site for the
more advanced DIYers. Pluto is currently in beta testing.
Superna's
ControlBox is also a Z-Wave enabled media server. The
ControlBox does not have a large media storage disk, but
it does contain Media Center and it will let you stream
media from any of your networked PCs to your video display.
It has S-Video, Composite, Component, and VGA outputs as
well as S-Video and Composite inputs. Superna's ControlBox
supports Z-Wave and other home control protocols and is
a fully functional home control system with four dry contact
relays, six general purpose analog inputs, and eight infrared
transmitter jacks. Also included are multiple RS232/422/485
and USB 2.0 Ports. You can check out the rest of the specs
in their (PDF)
Technical Specification manual.
You
may not want a dedicated theater room with expensive media
servers. But if you'd like to be able to control your home
through on-screen menus and schedule events to happen automatically,
the BuLogics' BaseCamp could the solution. BaseCamp plugs
directly into your television allowing you to navigate through
the setup menu with its remote known as the Lantern. You
may notice that the Lantern remote control resembles the
Sirius
Conductor remote. They are pretty much the same remote
with different firmware. The BaseCamp supports adding multiple
Sirius remotes and/or multiple Sirius Radios. "When
this is done it is possible to stream the Sirius metadata
from any radio through the BaseCamp to any remote by using
the same menu that allows access to home automation functions"
says Ryan Buchert of BuLogics. BaseCamp also allows the
control of lighting, appliances, HVAC, window blinds, and
garage doors. The BaseCamp as well as many other great Z-Wave
products are available for purchase now through
www.zwaveproducts.com.
So how can these products greatly enhance your home theater
experience? Well, most of the magic comes from the ability
to setup macros. Using macros you can trigger events when
you push certain buttons on your remote control. For example,
pushing the power button would lower the lights to 50 percent
while turning on your display, drawing back the Z-Wave enabled
curtains which protect the screen and power up other components
of your system. Setting the lights to 50 percent provides
enough lighting for the rest of the family to walk through
the theater room and take their seats. Then you push play
and the lights turn off, the DVD starts to spin and the
HVAC system's fan is set to low to reduce background noise
during the movie. Pausing the movie for a bathroom break
would only turn the lights up to 30 percent, allowing you
just enough light to see where you are going but not so
much that you are blinded. You could have the movie pause
automatically when an event happens such as a fire alarm
going off or the telephone ringing. You're only limited
by your imagination.
If you have any questions about the above products or any
other Z-Wave enable devices please ask join the ongoing
discussion in our forums.
We would also like to hear your creative ideas. Let us know
how you are using or how you would like to use Z-Wave to
enhance your home theater experience. Write to me at david@zwaveworld.com.
____________________________________________________________________
A frequent contributor to cocoontech.com, David Powell
holds a B.A. in computers and information science from University
of Maryland. He started his home automation project with
a HomeSeer to automate his Z-Wave lighting and has since
grown his system into 25+ Z-Wave devices controlled by the
CQC software. He holds a Home Automation license, which
qualifies him to install Z-Wave devices in residential structures.
