Creating a Clever Home?

eKto1 asks: "We've recently purchased an older, dated home which we are in the process of gutting and restructuring. While there are no walls, we are obviously running the standard Cat5, and speaker cable to each and every room, however we would also like to modernize the house even more by making it intelligent, as in 'Smart'. I'd like to install touch screens in the majority of the rooms, to control things such as media (separate audio and video to each wall unit), lighting, temperature, etc. For those of you on Slashdot who have done this, what has your experience been? Are there guides for doing this easily and effectively, without having to sell the farm? Is there a way to allow distributed content to head units while keeping servers down to one or 2 units?"

Be CAREFUL!

[TripMaster Monkey]

Before embarking on your project, I would highly recommend you watch this [imdb.com] compelling and informative docudrama.

Forewarned is forearmed, after all...

+5, Informative.

[Anonymous Coward]

"For those of you on Slashdot who have done this, what has your experience been? "

Good

"Are there guides for doing this easily and effectively, without having to sell the farm?"

Yes.

"Is there a way to allow distributed content to head units while keeping servers down to one or 2 units?"

Yes

Re:Why?

[ReverendLoki]

(But given the way he's worded things, I don't think he's planning on doing it with experts).

That's ok. Since he's a Slashdot user, he's already an expert. At least, that's what I gather by the posts here, where everyone seems to be an expert on every possible subject... Why, I can feel my level of expertise increasing right now, just by making snide remarks!