You won’t see a single touchpanel on the walls of this home. Nor will you run across big, beefy speakers or keypads blanketed with a bazillion buttons. With the exception of a 100-inch screen in the media room, this home doesn’t appear to be very high-tech at all.

But when you pick up one of the family’s six remotes, the true sophistication of the electronic systems becomes apparent. From any one of these ordinary looking clickers, the homeowners can control every light switch in their 4,500-square-foot home, adjust any of three Aprilaire thermostats, arm and disarm a DSC security system, access a wealth of entertainment content stored on a Niveus media server, tap into online music services provided by their Sonos whole-house music system and view images from three Panasonic surveillance cameras on an HP TouchSmart monitor in the kitchen or any TV in the house.

It’s all made possible through the combination of a Microsoft Windows Media Center operating system and Exceptional Innovation Lifeware home automation software, says Matt Peters of home systems installation company Wireless Home in Naples, Fla.

The Windows Media Center environment was something the homeowners had grown extremely comfortable with, having test-driven a Media Center-focused electronics system several times at the Wireless Home showroom.

“They were particularly impressed by how the Windows Media Center platform could allow them to use very few devices to create an extremely powerful home control network,” says Peters.

With only a few key pieces to install, Peters and his team wouldn’t have to worry about the technology intruding on the home’s clean, contemporary style, or having to install miles and miles of wiring. Just about everything the homeowners wanted—the home control software, high-def cable TV receiver, digital music player and Blu-ray player—is contained within a single Niveus media server.

About the only visible pieces of high-tech hardware are the half-dozen flat-panel TVs located throughout the residence. These displays are crucial to the control of the various Media Center–centric electronic subsystems. By using any remote, the owners can

Page 1 of 2
1 2 >  Next

About the Author:
Lisa Montgomery - Contributing Writer

Lisa Montgomery has been writing about home technology for 15 years, with a focus on the impact of electronics on a modern lifestyle.