Control4 / All in home controller

Hi,

Hope this is the correct sub-forum, if not please move.

Just starting to do some research, as i will be doing my flat up from scratch. Considering installing an all in control. I don't know anything about this, so am interested to know if anyone can either tell me what i should search for / what its called.

Thinking of a control that i can use to control TV, speakers, lights etc.

Have just been looking at this Control4, Can someone give some pointers on installation / costs or where to look? Any experiences you've had.

Thanks...

http://www.uk-automation.co.uk/categories/X10-Home-Automation/

Or

http://store.yourdigitalhome.co.uk/x10/DSKIT.html

For proper home control you need to be prepared to spend a minimum of £3000. For that you'd be looking at an off-the-shelf package capable of talking to lights, heating, blinds and AV gear.

What you could expect is to control the AV gear in the lounge and feed sound to a second area with some budget speakers. dimming control of a couple of light groups in the main lounge + 1 group in bedroom + 1 group in 3rd zone (dining room / kitchen / patio etc). You'd get a control pad with the standard touchscreen layout and some of the network backbone + wiring infrastructure installed.

Stuff such as interfacing with heating and blinds requires the correct type heating controller and room blinds to be installed. A heating controller could be anywhere from £500 - £1500+. Window blinds - rough budget figure of £1000 per window is a safe number.

Bear in mind that the bigger systems such as Control4, Crestron, AMX and the like are scalable to many rooms. Control4 has a lower entry-level price than the others, but that's because it's available pre-configured with a basic interface whereas the others are truly bespoke.

Stuff like iPhone apps, X10, Harmony remotes etc is kind of tinkering at the edges of what a proper home control system can do. But they are a step up from the standard universal remotes. It all depends on your expectations and how much money you can throw at the project.

The final thing which can't be underestimated is installer knowledge and experience. I've done very well buying used touchscreen remotes for a fraction of the original £1000+ price from people who thought they could do it DIY but found it never really worked out. The reason is that there's a steep learning curve to making a system easy and intuitive. Very few people have the knowledge or time to devote to a DIY project to get a professional result.

Thank you for your really helpful responses. I will look into this a bit further before i post more.

I would not be able to justify 3k, will probably see if its viable to hook up the lounge lights, tv and soundsystem to a pre configured system like control 4.

£3K is what Control4 will cost you once you factor in labour, wiring, additional controllable hardware and some expertise to ensure that the system hardware you have is controllable.

What do you anticipate a realistic budget might be for your project?