In wanting to achieve total home control, a big challenge emerges in what system to pick. The early adopter in me wants to use the newest and coolest ip based open standards systems. The practical guy in me wants something as reliable as a conventional telephone. There is nothing worse than having the blue screen of death when your wife wants to watch "Desperate House wives".
My general desire was to pick technologies that were standards based - i.e. TCP/IP, web, X-10, etc. I also wanted to use companies that had been around for a while (5+ years), or companies serving standards that had some age. I had used a lot of X-10 like systems in past home control attempts but often had signal and reliability problems, though there have been big improvements in this technology. I liked the scope and stability of companies like AMX and Crestron, though they carry the negative aspect of being fairly closed standards.
As an early adopter I have a history of buying first and asking questions later. I will buy something simply to try it long enough to understand how to build a better product. I however can not justify that behavior when it involves mission critical things in the home.
