I recently bought a house and looking for ways to digitize, make better use of current hardware technologies to make the house as optimized as possible.

First of all I not having any kind of desktop computer in it.
For work, it will be 1 macbook + a nice 27" Screen.

Second, for storage, I am considering nice state of the art servers (such as the Synology DS2411+)
which would:
- Scale
- Does not take a lot of space
- Redundant (RAID)
- Offers secure access (even online access).
I would use the above to store every media i have, from movies, dvds, to family albums, ....

For the above to work, I would also need nice wifi media players connected to my tvs so they stream whatever media format I want from the server.

So that's it for the Media stuff.

I am not really into electronics, and many people here are actually advanced in that domain, so would like to know what can be feasible, ie:
- Ability to turn on/off heaters,.. from online locations ( my home server online).

Is that even feasible? or even cost effective?

Thanks :)
A good, free, DLNA-compatible Media server to use would be PS3 Media Server and no it doesn't only work with PS3s, it work with any DLNA device (including iPhones and iPads with AirPlayer application).

I'll leave the hardware stuff to the other members but you're covered on the software side!
Feasible yes, cost-effective, not really

What's your budget?

If you get a vital signs monitor from ebay, you can actually secure pressure sensors, pressure gauges, temperature sensors, gas sensors, flow valves, IR sensors, A/D converters, alarm indicators, and a high-resolution display screen. This way, you can install a fire alarm system, a water level indicator and controller, a water heater controller, a gas-leakage indicator system, and a temperature monitoring system. You can hook all the sensors to a central monitoring system which can be controlled either via a universal remote or SMS-based wireless control system.

If you want to be super high tech, get a shower cap:



and control your system via EEG signals.
ZeRaW wroteI am not really into electronics, and many people here are actually advanced in that domain, so would like to know what can be feasible, ie:
- Ability to turn on/off heaters,.. from online locations ( my home server online).

Is that even feasible? or even cost effective?

Thanks :)
If you are serious about this, You know where to contact me :) I think i have a pretty interesting deal for you .
I am not looking at spending 1 million usd.
Jad, i will contact you soon but i do not want any missle launchers ;)
Why does the name "J4D" always get mentioned along with missile launchers in the same sentence? 8-) :P
Kassem wroteWhy does the name "J4D" always get mentioned along with missile launchers in the same sentence? 8-) :P
You can do really nice stuff with quite a low budget, if u stay away from ready made BMS and control systems.
For example what I did to a friend is get 10 zigbee module, interface them serially to an SBC with a 10" touch display. At each wirelessly controled device, I had a different custom made device that would "hack" onto it, or simply interface to it when available. For example, his LG tv had a serial port that allowed me to change channels, lower/raise volume etc .... So on the main panel, he could program it to turn the tv on and switch to certain channel at a specific time, or know which channel is playing remotely,
As for the fridge for example, we only implemented on/off. For the AC untis, that really depends on the unit you may have. You could easily emulate it's remote control (if it's a split unit) if it dosent have an interface/BMS port.
All in all, doable and fun if you have time.

As for DLNA, test the devices first, or read reviews about then, a lot of them simply "don't work as excpected". Software side, I'll personally go with the PS3 media server, on of the best and free ones out there. You will have to transcode some of the videos on the fly, so don't go cheap on the proc/ram. Oh, and stay away from ready made DLNA servers like BlackArmor.
Padre wroteYou can do really nice stuff with quite a low budget, if u stay away from ready made BMS and control systems.
...
All in all, doable and fun if you have time :P.
Time is ZeRaW's problem. If time can be bought, he'd pay a fortune to get some.
And as you mentioned Padre, this is really fun to do. It might not be a total success in functionality and interface, but it'll always be fun to mess with such stuff.
Mmm thanks padre great ideas, i was just checkung blackarmor.
Georges my house will not be done untill end of 2012 so there is a lot of time
Mp man :)
If you still need help, let me know the architecture you have in mind, and we can go from there.
4 days later