Home Automation: Control4 , Creston or Lutron?????

Do you want to have the installation done by a professional where you will be locked out of the system (ir must have the professionals come back to make any future changes) or do you want to have more of a DIY scenario where you install and maintain the system?

The two methods are very different obviously. The Pro method has an expensive upfront cost and can be limiting with regards to updates. The DIY method can also be relatively expensive (although definitely cheaper than Pro when talking about $ out of pocket), but is certainly MUCH more labor and time intensive. You do have the flexibility to change the system whenever you want however.

You have to decide which method you want to go with because generally speaking the Pro hardware/software is only available through your dealer while the DIY solutions are available to the end user, but generally speaking there is no support to Pro help to set them up.

I think that preference (same as mine) will exclude Contro4 and maybe the some of the others on your list. If you have any significant investments in hardware, like lightswitches/alarm system/thermostats, you should also consider which HA software will be compatible with those existing systems. This is a great comparison spreadsheet I found very helpful: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AgHb6Gq4ol2CcHEyUzhmdnUySlhFdjFOZTlUSVFoZEE#gid=3

That spreadsheet is pretty out of date though. It was created by the guys at Cocoontech.com, and they have set up another sort of thing like that on their forum now.

Take a look at CQC and HAI.

Your choices are currently not DIY friendly. That does not mean there are not ways around the system of course. Crestron and Control4 are automation and lighting control solutions. Whereas Lutron is a lighting control solution company. I am not up to speed on many of the DIY solutions out there, CQC seems to be a very popular one though.

I've used CQC for years and love it. It's the pricing model and device support that I think makes it stand out from the crowd.

Regarding pricing - most of the other automation systems out there charge you for each device you want to use. In other words, if you use Homeseer and have a LG TV, you would have to buy a LG TV "plugin" to control it. At some point in the future, the time comes when you need to buy a new TV, but you really like a Sony model and decide to buy it. With Homeseer, you are going to have to pay more money to buy the Sony TV plugin while the LG plugin will sit effectively wasted because you no longer own a LG TV to control. CQC is different. They charge based on the TOTAL NUMBER of devices, but you can change the devices at any time without cost. So changing from one brand of TV to another brand of TV doesn't cost a dime because you haven't increased the number of devices you control, only the type/brand of device. Heck, you can even change the type of device. Let's say you have a CQC license for up to 10 device drivers and for some strange reason, all 10 devices are TVs. But you decide that you never use the TV in the hall closet and therefore don't need to control it via CQC. That frees up a device and you can add ANY other device driver/plugin without any problems. So you decide to replace the TV driver with a driver for the HVAC system. No problem and no cost because you are still only controlling 10 devices - now 9 TVs and a HVAC. If you decide that you want to add 15 more device drivers to your system because you suddenly want to control lots of other things you didn't think about when you first purchased CQC, you can buy the additional licenses from CQC at any time without any problem. Then you would have 25 device drivers at your disposal and you can use them interchangeably.

Regarding device support - with Homeseer there are a lot of independent plugin programmers/writers who charge for their work. This makes it confusing because there might be 3 different "drivers" (that's a CQC term) or "plugins" (that's the Homeseer term) for a single device. Which one is better, which one should you choose. The bad thing is that these options are always locked down and no one except for the original programmer can modify them. A few years ago one of those independent plugin developers passed away and left his users without any support. While that is a unique case, it exposes the flaw in their system - a lot of the plugin support is limited to a specific programmer and they can quit supporting their work at any time for any reason. With CQC, not only is the pricing method different, but the plugin/drivers are open (except for one or two that are locked down due to manufacture's requirements). Anyone with a little programming experience can modify the plugin/driver. There have been many drivers that were created by one person, but they stopped actively supporting it for whatever reason and so another person came along and picked up the development of the driver and made changes as necessary. In other words, the device drivers are supported by Dean and the entire CQC community, not just a single developer who has the code locked down so no one can modify it.

Those two factors are huge differences between CQC and the other options. Once you learn about the differences I think it makes CQC a clear winner in this arena.
Edited by sic0048 - 3/4/13 at 12:56pm