RE: Review of HD1000 at Digital Producer. (Notentirelypositive)

I will see what I can do about posting a home control tutorial or white
paper. 

 

A true serial protocol is one that does not require any additional protocol
support for example I should be able to open up the serial port or an ip
port and send a command for example

 

uparrow

downarrow

 

The HD1000 might even respond with

 

uparrow ack

downarrow ack

 

The command set should be exactly the same regardless of being serial, ip,
or more controversial IR. More sophisticated serial protocols will allow for
retrieving data in blocks so for example

 

mp3list album start

mp3list album next

 

The HD1000 would then respond with a small blocks (1-8k in size) of data.
These commands I showed above are highly stylized. A good protocol usually
uses commands that are very short due to the speed serial ports. For example

 

(Stx character)ML(RS character)AL(RS character)ST(Etx
character)(checksum)(Eot character)

 

The main problem I have with the ECP is the command set not being
standardized (ie. different command structures and interactions). In
addition, you end up having to deal with extraneous issues like logging on
and command prompts etc. This requires more processing by the controller.
Now it may not seem like a lot but in a typical 5k-10k sq/ft home you have
lighs, HVAC, audio, video, irrigation, pumps, etc. The Roku is not the
center of the universe. Would you rather have your control processor trying
to figure out the response from the Roku or handle the light request that
just came and the scheduled list of events. True string processing is not
difficult but it is not zero time either. People's expectations are very
high for home automation for example touching a virtual button should react
as fast as a physical mechanical light switch. By the way at 10k sq/ft the
automating of the home becomes and exponential problem. So a 20k sq/ft home
is not double the complexity of a 10k sq/ft home. It more like 10time more
complex as you start layering in distance issues, heating, and power issues.
A 40k sq/ft home is nightmarishly complex for a team of professionals about
on par with trying to write a unified software, voice, and network system
for a fortune 100 company but with a fraction of the resources.

 

There is a large list of control systems out there and currently 90+% is
custom design and programming. There are no standards for any of this stuff.
So for example every serial and IR controlled DVD player has its own set of
commands and how they will interact over the serial port, ip port and IR.
Heck, even the commands between DVDs from the same manufacturer can change
from one month to another. A few companies are trying to change that with
universal plug and play. UPnP is trying to come up with a standard
architecture for home/commercial automation. This would be a huge boon
because integrators could then worry about installation and acquisition of
the equipment matched to the customers budget and desires. Rather than
figuring out how to talk to 20 different devices. And the customers win
because the quality of control systems and interoperability will be there. 

 

Imagine if your serial DVD player died today. The hardware manufacturer has
changed the device or it is no longer in business. Guess what to replace
that DVD player today is not as simple as swap it for another DVD player
with the same or more features. It probably requires rewriting parts of the
control system. Hence something like Universal Plug and Play is highly
desirable.

 

 

  _____  

From: Fred Holmes [mailto:[email protected]] 
Sent: Friday, May 28, 2004 9:42 AM
To: Roku Tech Mail List and Discussion Group
Subject: Re: [Roku-tech] Review of HD1000 at Digital Producer.
(Notentirelypositive)

 

Rabi, 
I have been doing a lot of reading on the internet about "Home Control" ever
since I got the June 
issue of "Sound & Vision" magazine (The Connected Home).  I have read your
review of the 
HD1000 and read material on your web site.  The problem that I am having is
trying to figure 
out what the options are today in this arena, which of the companies that
have products in this 
arena might be worth pursuing (Creston, Premise, etc.).  I understand your
comments about ECP, 
but I am not sure I totally understand what the "serial or network protocol"
is that the HD1000 
should have.  If you could write a "beginners guide" to this area (post it
on your web site 
would be fine), I am sure I and a number of other Roku folks new to this
whole arena might 
be better able to start understanding all of this. 

Thanks for any help you can provide us novices, 
Fred 

Rabi Satter wrote: 

I have looked at a bunch of these convergence devices. This is the first one
that actually out preformed its official feature set. The only issues I have
with the unit are the remote and the lack of a serial or network protocol.
Yes I know about ecp but screen scrapping is not my idea of a protocol and
the majority of home integrators are not up to the task of scripting a Linux
box via telnet. If they were we would have had the Jetson home last century.

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