HDMI media PC and smarthome

[FrenchFrog]

I have exactly the same goal and I have decided to take a Pine64 IOT package to this purpose. I have currently a home automation based on z-wave and would like to enhance it by adding the possibility to control Bluetooth BLE and also to have a decent media center allowing to play h265 and Blu-ray iso files stored on my NAS.

I don't what is the most suited solution to me. OpenHAB runs on Linux and it is currently difficult to install a decent media player on it. In an other hand, what is the current status on the implementation of z-wave on Android devices? Can it be possible to have an icon for enabling/disabling z-wave like for Wifi and Bluetooth? Can we find on play store software for managing z-wave network? I don't know if I will use at the end the PINE64 as primary or secondary controller but I would like to know what is the easiest way to start for having the capability to use the PINE64 as media center AND z-wave controller at the same time without too much trouble (meaning doing simple configuration and not heavy coding).
Another question, can we run application as a service in the background on Android allowing to listen z-wave network and executes eventually rules and scenarios even if we are using the device at the same time for something else?

Finally, I would like to know if that possible to use some PINE64 pins to connect them directly to wall switches for controlling my z-wave lights.



Cédric

There do seem to be a number of Android home automation apps on the Google Play Store that support z-wave. Having not used them, I can't comment on their features or performance, but the software is there. 'Z-Wave Home Automation' and 'InControl Home Automation Free' seem to be the highest rated.

Android is probably your best bet right now, as Linux development is still in process, whereas Android development is more stable and reliable. 

I can't see why you couldn't use the Pine running Android as a home automation system and media centre combined. In theory, at least.

Welcome to the forum!

Thanks for your answer. However, I don't think it will work like that.

The InControl Home Automation (or others android apps) needs to connect to a "brain/hub" and doesn't care about the built-in z-wave chip. The Android apps can be only considered as sophisticated remote control. For InControl, the first step is to plug a USB Z-wave stick to your PC and to run an InControl Console on it. It means that your PC will be the "brain" and will have to be powered up all the time. I use already such kind of application (Imperihome).

Here, the PINE64 has at least to act as a "regular" zwave device visible  that can be included it into the mesh network. It might be also possible to replace the existing hub by the PINE64.
That is for what OpenHAB is meant to be but I don't see something equivalent working on Android and I am not sure to have my media center working if I use OpenHAB...

I know that the company Zipato is releasing the Zipatile (android tablet used as the main controller). It means that is technically feasible but I don't know if I can configure my PINE64 with android as they have done for their product with existing products on the market.