Potential New Guy With Questions

Community Playground Getting Started & Initial Setup
#1

Just bought a house and I’m starting a bit of a DIY remodel on a room to turn it into a dedicated home theater room involving some rewiring of the power circuits, adding some new circuits for some lights, and running in wall speaker wire, HDMI, etc. Room will have three different sets of dimmable lights as well as a ceiling fan. I have my A/V gear controlled by a Harmony remote. I would love to have a single universal remote that can control my A/V gear and the lights, but everything I have been reading seems to say that isn’t possible in the DIY world. Would have to go to some proprietary remote control with proprietary software and pay a dealer for the install and programming. No thank you. Next best option seems to be staying with my Logitech remote for the A/V gear (hmm or maybe I can convince my wife to let me get the latest and greatest new Harmony remote) and using something like Vera to control the lights and fan using an app on my phone or tablet. Vera does open up a many other possibilities too, especially with regards to a security alarm and cameras. I have a couple of things that are hanging me up though.

  1. I work from home so I have to be careful with my network security to make sure I protect my clients data. Who makes the guts of the Vera wireless router? Do I lose any functionality if I shut off the Vera’s wireless and stay with my existing router setup?

  2. What are the functionality differences between the Vera 3, Vera Lite, and the Vera Lite G. The website isn’t very clear on any potential functionality differences other than controlling fewer devices.

  3. Any other A/V enthusiasts been down this road? What did you end up with for a remote control in your theater room? Anything you would change if you did it over?

Thanks!

#2

You can turn off the Wifi on Vera (and I do on mine). Unfortunately on the current UI6 there is a bug that prevents you from accessing the command that shuts off Wifi, but there is a detour that works. No loss of Vera functionality by turning off Wifi.

2. What are the functionality differences between the Vera 3, Vera Lite, and the Vera Lite G. The website isn't very clear on any potential functionality differences other than controlling fewer devices.

I beleive VeraLite does not have a Wifi inbuilt. Other than that, and the number of devices it can handle, no real difference.

3. Any other A/V enthusiasts been down this road? What did you end up with for a remote control in your theater room? Anything you would change if you did it over?

You can use an Android smartphone/tablet with an Infrared emitter (such as the Samsung Galaxy S3/4/5 or Samsung Note 8/10.1/…) to control both the TV stuff and Vera. I use Toughsquid for TV/AV control, and Tasker/AutoVera to control Vera. It is a little bit of work to set up, but a true audio/visual enthusiast should not mind the work :).

#3

Vera lite and Vera lite G are exactly the same. Vera 3 has wifi, extra ethernet ports and twice the memory (128mb for Vera 3 vs 64mb for Vera lite models). The Vera 3 also has two USB ports instead of 1.

If you are concerned about security and your clients data, I highly suggest segmenting the networks using vlans.

  • Garrett