The Smartest DIY Home Improvements

What Can HomeSeer HS2 Control?

• Lighting & Appliances

HomeSeer works with 'powerline', 'hard-wired' and 'wireless' technologies for total lighting and appliance control. Homeowners can use easy to install plug-in hardware modules (for table or floor lamps) or built-in modules such as wall switches and outlet receptacles. Lighting 'scenes' may be created with precise dimming levels to suit activities, moods and changing light conditions within the home.

• Security

Connect HomeSeer to your security system and supercharge it's capabilities! With HomeSeer, security alerts can turn all your home's lights on, announce an intruder, shut down your HVAC system, email you at work, call your cell phone, display camera views on your TV or trigger any number of events within the home. And, because HomeSeer is web-enabled, you'll be able to monitor and control all security activities remotely.

• HVAC

Programmable thermostats have been available for many years but they're all limited to just a number of 'timed' events. By adding a HomeSeer-controlled thermostat, here are just a few of the things you'll be able to do:


• Dial by voice
• Create message 'boxes' for the whole family
• Automatically email messages as MP3 attachments
• Use voice commands to control HomeSeer from any telephone in the house... or in the world!
• Listen to your messages over the internet
• Have HomeSeer phone alert you when anything special happens in your home
• Home Theater

Complete audio and video control is close at hand! Use HomeSeer to control TV, DVD, VCR, Cable, Dish and Stereo systems. HomeSeer also supports Microsoft Windows Media Center (MCE) 2005, Windows Media Player 9 & 10 and other popular media players. Add a wireless touchpanel to your coffee table and you'll have the latest in home theater control!

Check out the HomeSeer HS2 Compatability table below for compatible products.

HomeSeer HS2 Works With Many User Interfaces:

• Touchscreen PCs and Monitors

Touchscreen PCs and monitors provide a fun and fast way for users to access and control their homes. The HS2 Software is shipped with a basic touchscreen interface and supports other professional grade interface packages.

• In-Wall "Scene" Controllers

HS2 is designed to work with scene controllers from many manufacturers based on hard-wired, wireless and powerline technologies. Buttons can be easily configured to control devices directly or execute automation 'events'.

• Microsoft Windows Media Center (MCE)

Microsoft Windows Media Center users can now access and control their homes with HS2 using the Media Center Interface and their Media Center remote controls. Rooms, Devices and Events may all be controlled through Media Center.

• Remote and Local Web Control

HS2 includes a complete web-based PC interface that may be accessed by any PC connected to the home network or to the internet. Homeowners and installers can monitor and control homes from anywhere in the world!

• Voice Control by Microphone and Telephone

HS2 is one of the only automation programs available that's designed to work with voice recognition. Support is included for open air room microphones (like the VoiceTracker™), headsets and via telephone (with the Way2Call interface).

• Wireless Remote Control

Attach an infrared interface and HS2 may be controlled by conventional infrared (IR) remotes. Radio Frequency (RF) remotes designed for use in Z-Wave and X10 networks are also supported.

• PDA / PocketPC Control

HS2 includes a built-in webserver and special web interface for small browser-enabled devices like PDAs and PocketPCs; perfect for travelers and vacationers wishing to monitor and control their homes remotely!

System Requirements:

• Operating System: Windows XP Home, XP Pro, 2000 (SP2 or higher), or Vista
• CPU: 800 MHZ or faster recommended
• RAM: 512 MB recommended
• Hard disk space: 150 MB or more
• User must have 'administrator' rights to install and use HomeSeer
• PC must be running at all times for HomeSeer to control your devices.

Note: If you intend to use the NeoSpeech Voices, you will need at least 300Mb of disk space per voice.

HomeSeer HS2 Supported Hardware and Software

HS2 Supports the following hardware and software products either directly or through downloadable plug-ins. Note: an additional charge may apply for some plug-ins and scripts to support the hardware and software shown.

HomeSeer Offers An Extensive List of Features:

• Genereal Features
• Built-in web server allows full control of all your devices via your home network or the internet
• Web server supports cascading style sheets for customization
• Password secure log-in to web server
• If you have a MAPI compliant email client, HomeSeer can display your local email on a web page
• Send email from the web page
• Multiuser support for web access
• Ability to control any X10 compatible device, including devices that support pre-set dim commands and Extended Code dimming (models Leviton 6381, X10 LM14A/PLM21 and others)
• Runs scripts created in VBScript, JScript, or Perlscript (only vbscript and jscript are included in the distribution)
• Includes Microsoft Agent. Microsoft Agents are interactive characters that can speak and be spoken to. HomeSeer can cause the Agent to speak in response to events.
• Events can also be triggered with voice commands. HomeSeer includes the "Genie" character. Other characters are freely available on the Internet.
• Device commands may be embedded in email messages. This allows you to send an email home to turn devices on and off.
• Views are designed to show as many devices or events as possible on your screen, giving the user instant status of devices
• View devices by device or by event, displaying all events related to a device, or all devices related to an event
• Events may be triggered by time, X10 command received, sunrise/sunset, device status change, device value change, infrared received, and various conditions like elapsed time on or off, by email, or recurring
• Trigger actions include, controlling X10 devices, launching applications, sending EMAIL, playing sounds, sending I/R commands, triggering other events, and speaking with or without MSAgent
• Built-in TV/Video game timer which allows you to set time limits on the use of TV's or video games. Kids are given a 4 digit password that is entered on a table top X10 controller. HomeSeer will then turn off the TV after a predetermined period of time has elapsed. Time may be set by day or by week.
• Full logging of all actions either performed locally or via the web
• Microsoft Outlook-like user interface
• A special "Voice Control" web page can be displayed with your custom voice commands
• HomeSeer is implemented as a 32 bit ActiveX EXE. It can be controlled by other applications including ASP web pages
• Imports data from ActiveHome and IBM Home Director
• Genereal Features Specific to HS2:
• Totally re-written using the Microsoft .NET architecture and managed code for better reliability
• Multi-Threaded application so multiple tasks can run concurrently
• May be run as a service or a standard EXE application with easy to install service options from main menu
• Supports ASP.NET web pages and applications
• All audio functions, including text-to-speech, voice recognition, and media play, are handled by a separate application called "Speaker"
• Remote "Speaker" application may be run on the local PC or any PC on the network or Internet
• Voice Recognition may be handled on any number of remote Speaker applications, and concurrently
• Text-to-Speech may be sent to any Speaker app, or just specific ones
• Multiple Speaker applications may be run on the same PC in the case where multiple sound cards are present
• New MDB database format for configuration files (auto imports XML files)
• Multiple events may be selected for Move, Delete, Enable/Disable, and Copy operations
• Infrared devices no longer have a limit on the number of keys per device
• No limit on the number of Infrared commands you may create (other than any hardware limitations)
• All COM based plug-ins (1.X style plug-ins) now run in a separate process so they cannot take down the entire system)
• Plug-ins may be started and stopped without re-starting HomeSeer
• New log maintenance option: The log file may be archived automatically on a daily basis
• New log maintenance option: Old log files may be deleted after specified number of days
• New log maintenance option: Log file name may be set to either ah.log or HomeSeer.log
• Log messages may be displayed in a pop-up balloon from the system tray
• Event log may show new entries at the bottom or the top
• New events are disabled by default saving you from false triggers while building events (may be disabled in the options)
• Web server may be bound to a specific IP address
• Threads web page may be enabled for monitoring system
• Devices are automatically updated when a device type is changed
• New asp.net based updater so updates may be applied from the web, remotely
• New real-time event log display including colors for different event types
• Device Value trigger now supports ranges on the value
• SSL web server for secure connections
• Telephone Interface Support
• Phone support now built into the main application (not a separate app, still separately licensed)
• New phone web interface for:
• Displaying messages
• Messages may be played back through your web browser, or a specific Speaker application (or all speaker applications)
• Editing mailboxes
• Editing phone book entries
• Multiple styles for listing phone book
• Incoming calls display in a pop-up balloon in the system tray on all PC's running the remote Speaker application
• All phone options are now available from the web interface
• User Interface
• All new graphics, colors and layout still controllable through style sheet, many new styles added
• Totally managed via the web with a single user interface
• Device status page updates "In Place" so screen does not flash as device status changes
• Device status page may be sorted by Status, Location, Name, Code, Type, or Last Change
• Notes may be assigned to devices for documenting
• Device web page now allows for multiple selections for moving, deleting, and hide/unhide of devices
• Event references for a specific device may be viewed
• Events page now has 2 views, sorted by event type or by event name
• Notes may be assigned to individual events for documenting
• Event actions may now include multiple actions of the same type, IE more macro like
• Device actions of the same type may be grouped under a single action
• New event action wait
• New event action to removed delayed device action
• New event action to removed a delayed event
• New event to pause and unpause audio
• New event to mute and unmute audio
• New Infrared Signals web page for setting up infrared commands (learning, naming, etc.)
• New Setup web page for setting up entire system
• Voice Web page displays all voice commands for quick reference
• New event log format for better readability, including colors
• Scripting
• Now supports vb.net scripting which is totally .NET based. Scripts are compiled before they are run. Supports the complete Framework.
• Scripts may be run in their own thread so they do not hold up other events from triggering
• Audio related script commands have a new "host" parameter so the audio may be sent so a specific (or all) Speaker applications
• New GetTVGTData script command to get TV Timer information
• New script commands to create events and add event actions
• Running scripts may be monitored from the Threads web page (and a history of pre-run scripts viewed)
• COM port functions do not have a limit on COM port numbers
• Added Zip and Unzip functions
• Added RecurseFiles function
• Added GetOSVersion function
• Added LastVoiceMailInfo to get information about last voice mail left
• Added GetURLImage to download image files
• DeviceValuesAdd now supports ranges
• Added ScriptsRunning to return a list of running scripts
• Programmability
• Remote applications can control HomeSeer from other computers, even over the Internet
• New .NET programming interface so HomeSeer may be controlled by other .NET applications
• .NET remoting is used for application to application communications
• New .NET plug-in API for writing .NET plug-ins
• Z-Wave
• New associations dialog in Setup to associate units with HomeSeer or device to device
• When manually polling, Poll Devices button will only poll devices in the current device view

Note: specifications are subject to change. Listing reflects new features in HomeSeer HS2 as of 08/11/2005