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Plenty of good advice here, especially having a central cupboard where you can run your wiring and have your media centre and putting Cat5e everywhere. I would add:
* put the cupboard not next to a bedroom, the whirring can get annoying
* run HDMI and speaker cables to your media cabinet
* tvs you don't include in above, put 2 plug sockets behind so you can power a Roku/mk802/etc
* run light switch cabling and lighting cabling back to your switch cabinet rather than in series, then you can connect how you want
* you can put IR control light switches in, Google "livolo", then make sure your controller (android tablet) has IR blaster
* for my next project I will definitely buy from here for controllers, including dimmers and sensors
* you can put IP cameras rather than motion sensors, or you can combine with IR, but placement is important
* might want to put cabling to above windows should you decided to have curtain controllers

Like others, I would put insulation as a top priority. Heating is one of the major costs in running a house.

Phillip.

I've invested in relays and dimmers from National Control Devices and have run Cat 5e all over my apartment, even into my light switches and where I expect to put sensors in the future. It's hard-wired, hence secure and safe from interference, and speaks via simple ASCII to a serial port which available on nearly any embedded controller. The great thing about serial is that you can add a dirt cheap serial-usb or serial-ethernet interface.

I'm not really interested in a proprietary interface like Zigbee. What is needed is a HA API. That way you can write a driver for all the proprietary protocols such as this, as well as things like ProXR, Dallas 1-wire, DMX, and many more.

Some ideas for a back-end to the API can be taken from the aging Perl app Mister House. What would then be a REALLY nice addition is a MythTV module front-end so you can control the whole house via your television.

Phillip.

Here would be my plan: use an eePC as the hub, plug in a USB GSM modem, install asterisk, use Ethernet based independent controllers for hardware (like these), develop the control software as a MythTV plugin which will allow you to offer a more expensive "Multimedia solution" just by beefing up the PC and hard drive without changing anything else. Also offer iPhone/Blackberry/etc web front-ends so people can use their current phone without having to buy yours.

Phillip.

Network Operations Centers use these kinds of setups all the time (except for the audio). This is going to seem like a plug, but I've been researching this for work. One that I've found so far is the MediaWall 2000. You can control it via serial or Ethernet, so the presumption is that you might have a customzed/handheld interface developed. They also have other, related products.

You say that you want an on-screen display with remote, but most configurations this complex aren't being built for you, they are going to emergency response centers and such where there is a person in the hot seat watching various view points. It needs to be quick, easy, and customized (label the inputs for example and put the most used at the front of the list). This quickly points to an embedded solution. Talk to a sales rep and find out what your choices are. I'm going to end up doing the same in a few weeks.

I'm quite sure this isn't the only vendor for this type of product, but I did search for a while and came up somewhat cold. Talk to a local audio/video specialist for help, although they probably will want a piece of the action.

As for the audio - you and I both know you need a mixing board, even a simplistic 16-channel version. You said that you want picture within a picture, but these really complex solutions might mean you want four pictures on screen and to have each feed come from one of four speakers, presumably in pseudo-surround mode. A mixer could work in two modes - aux1-aux4 feed amps that drive four speakers around you. The main setup could also just drive your fronts, although you'll lose and 6.1 sound you might be running.

In the end, I think you're overdoing it. You probably can't process more than two pictures at a time, much less 16, unless you're watching sports. You want to avoid a "bunch of VCRs" but yet you want 16 channels of individually tunable inputs ala tuners. I don't get it. You won't be able to maintain surround sound at 6.1 and still have multiple audio feeds. Since you want so much versatility, I assume you're one of those rich boys that will gladly plunk out US$3000 every couple of years for a new display. Then it may also be safe to assume you would pay someone US$1000 to design such a system to your specifications. People do this for a living so as the yellow pages in your area for help with Audio-Visual-Consultants.

Other interesting finds:

• Zektor audio/video switches. 4 channels, but HD and digital audio supported
• Crestron the maker of RS-232 control units.
• AMX - a competitor to Crestron.
• Tekron Communication Systems - okay, these guys are for broadcasters, but maybe you really want to get weird.
• AVR 8000 - a security video switcher
• Barebones for the cheapskate in all of us

If you want to control each light then here is a 1-wire ballast controller which should cost about $1 per controller. This would be great as you could add it to each individual bulb and get total control, but I can't find anyone that sells it. I want to light my entire apartment using LEDs, and am thinking of using this 8-channel PWM module as a dimmer. It's centrally controlled though and rapidly gets expensive if you want to control too many lights individually (with RBG you need three channels per light).

There are PICs with PWM output and CAN/RS485 built in. I'm amazed no-one is prepared to sell a micro-PWM dimmer for a couple of bucks each. Maybe someone can help this guy out?

Phillip.

...and some nifty video switcher to take care of everything.

I don't have one of these yet, but I've wanted to get one for ages to try with some nifty projects. Their original ASEL model now has an optional rack-mountable case.

...and some nifty video switcher to take care of everything.

I don't have one of these yet, but I've wanted to get one for ages to try with some nifty projects. Their original ASEL model now has an optional rack-mountable case.

I'm not sure how hard it would be to put something like that together yourself, but I can offer one suggestion in case you decide to try.

National Control Devices has been offering a video switcher for a few years now that will handle up to video 16 inputs, for only $150. It looks really impressive. I've been considering getting one for ages, just to play around with. It's controllable through an RS232 serial port.