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Security DVR + iNet + X10 = Easy Home Automation (Video)
25-year electronics veteran Conrad Lee noticed that commodity multi-channel security DVRs have both more channels than a typical household needs and more capabilities than their makers advertise -- at least, with some creative re-use of their video feeds. With a home-grown controller hooked up to an otherwise unused video channel, a run of the mill security DVR can be used as a command center for household items, like lights, locks, thermostats, cameras, or whatever else you think of) by means of controls both old-fashioned (the ubiquitous X10 devices, some of which you probably have stashed in a drawer) and new (Z-wave). He showed off his system at last month's Maker Faire -- take a look (video below) at what his clever hardware re-use makes possible, and at Lee's controller. It means giving up one (relatively) inexpensive channel, to gain capabilities that would cost quite a bit more in a ready-built system, like smart-phone control and pan/tilt control for cameras. (Alternate Video Link)
You must be hitting beta.x-10.com
It could be worse, it could be Monday.
Yes! Fuck ubiquitous, cheap industry standards, and everything they stand for!
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
I have to hand it to this individual for definitely thinking outside-the-box and hooking up three types of systems using interfaces you'd not expect to be used in this manner, and coming up with something which is (at least in his case) useful.
This was very gratifying to watch.
Yes, I have lots of those 30 year old x-10 modules, but they don't work with CFL or LED lights. I've tried disabling (trace cutting) the local on feature and using appliance modules. They work a little better that way, but aren't reliable. I finally gave up on them, but I have lots, because they're cheap at garage sales. I can't bring myself to toss them.
THIS is the real meaning of "hacking"!
Prove anything by multiplying Huge Number times Tiny Number
Whenever I try to see videos on /., I get a module error andf that the player can not be downloaded. /. about video or players (or linux)
Searching for a solution only gives me articles on
It is the pnly site that gives me any error and I should not download a player as I already have one.
Oh well. Not missing that much I guess and now waiting for this post to disapear into -20 due to off topic.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
I saw this at Maker Faire, he's using an on-screen display generator to produce menus and output that you feed into a video input channel on the DVR, and it intercepts the DVR's RS-485 bus (used for pan-tilt-zoom control of cameras) to receive command input from the user. Pan down is parsed as next menu item down, pan right is "enter", etc. It's quite nifty. The menus are set up for individual X-10 or other commands, and you can even set up multi-event macros.
The hard part is getting everyone to agree on a standard.
Yes, that is annoying, but there are plenty of other reasons not to like X-10. Like the fact that 90% of their stuff is wireless when it is supposed to be a communication over electricity standard. Why should I have to be constantly buying batteries for something that is supposed to be hardwired?
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
warranty voided? and how long before some kind of lock out is added to the DVR's?
Not sure why the DVR + the extra board comes into play, especially with the cryptic control method ...'iris' is actually a menu, 'swipe right' to activate a macro, etc. One gray screen with blocky white text to control it all.
I have an X10 system with Active Home Pro running on a spare laptop in the basement 'network closet'. I just VNC directly to that laptop (either from another computer or my phone) and access AHP through that. The graphics look like actual graphic switches, sliders, knobs, etc and are grouped by 'rooms' and labeled with what they do. Just click the switch from a computer or tap the screen on the phone and the module (or macro) is activated. Another VNC port to access web cameras, etc.
In the days of the horrible X10 web ad onslaught, I vowed to never EVER buy anything from them, and anyone who did is directly responsible for that web annoyance. Just like buying from email or FAX spam, you are financially enabling them to continue spamming others.
Warranty on what?
Voided how?
The X-10 things, as mentioned here, are quite old, well out of their warranty.
The Z-wave, who knows, but they are not demonstrated in the video, but I suspect they'll be doing the task they're designed for, and hence the warranty could hardly be voided.
The DVR warranty? It's sending (via RS-485 bus) control signals to "a camera", exactly as it's designed to do. It's receiving video signals from "a camera", again, as designed. How can the warranty be voided by something doing what it's designed, built and bought to do?
The "camera" is a signal generator that generates whatever camera signal you desire (within reason, it seems to be a basic CRT kind of early Pong level of display complexity kind of thing).
Nothing in there to break any warranty of any component.
And this would likely cause DVRs to sell better, use 3 cameras for security, use the 4th camera to control your home automation.
So why would anyone trying to sell DVRs make them less attractive to buy? What special kind of idiot says "I don't want to make money giving people what they want without any effort on my part"?
Maybe mentioning this capability for home automation and also having for sale the equipment needed to set it all up would sell even more DVRs (and, obviously Zwave and Inet2DVR sets).
I am interest in how this is going....
It said "windows 98 or better" so I installed Linux