Hi,
Just wondering if anyone on H1 has installed the Clipsal star serve and is it any good as it is a hell of alot cheaper than C-Bus.
Cheers
Heath
Browse Forums Home Theatre & Automation 1 Aug 29, 2011 1:58 am Hi, Just wondering if anyone on H1 has installed the Clipsal star serve and is it any good as it is a hell of alot cheaper than C-Bus. Cheers Heath Re: Clipsal Star Serve 2Aug 29, 2011 9:33 am is also outdated, won't let you broadcast HD content around and is IMO a waste of money Kodiak Data Cabling onFaceBook Consult*, Design and Installation Data, TV, Home Theatre/ AV Cabling, Multi Room Audio, IP CCTV and Door Intercoms Ask for a Quote. *DIY DATA Cabling Is Ilegal Re: Clipsal Star Serve 3Aug 29, 2011 9:43 am Hi Star-Serve is completely different to C-Bus. Clipsal often include them in the same brochures because they are both part of their 'smart home' solutions. Star-Serve is basically a home wiring system that you can use to bring data, telephone and antenna cables back to a single point (The Star-Serve enclosure). Star-Serve also has modulators and IR re-distribution capabilities. The idea of this is you can use a modulator to put your DVD player onto the antenna cabling and then use the IR capabilities to control it from the bedroom. The problem is that this is older technology and so it doesn't support high-definition devices like BluRay and will make your DVD look like VHS. Star-Serve has the advantage of using neat flush-mounted enclosures and electricians often like Star-Serve because Clipsal sells it in nice packages that make it easier for them. If you talk to a decent registered cabler they can give you the same data & telephone cabling for less $$ using standard racks and patch panels- although they may be a little bulkier. There are also plenty of solutions out there that will put HDMI (BluRay) onto the data cable and handle the IR for you, so that part of Star Serve is basically obsolete. C-Bus is a lighting and power control system. The way it works is that your lights are connected to relay and dimmer units located at one or two locations in your house. These units connect to the switch plates using low voltage data cable. The advantages of C-Bus are:
In summary, Star Serve - expensive (for what it is) and outdated (as Pugs said) C-Bus expensive, but current and being updated. Personally I would rather spend money on C-Bus than a $5000 Italian designer bath Paul Re: Clipsal Star Serve 4Aug 29, 2011 4:39 pm cbus is becoming FAR outdated aswell... the sheer amount of home technologies out that are far superior are mind boggling... are more integrated, WAAAY cheaper and look better. I can install a full home automation system for a quarter of the price of a starserve, that looks better, easier to use, and more integration with 3rd party components. even into existing homes without new wiring! as stated above, starserve doesnt support hd distribution, but with a bit of tweaking it certainly can! you can stream hd over coax with special adapters, and when combined to a matrix switch. hd through starserve is now a possibility... and quite easy. also look at hills home hub... bosch have a home hub solution as does ness when you compare all, you will notice that they are basically ALL the same, in really basic terms these ' hubs ' are central points that huse splitters, combiners, modulators, data patch panels, etc.. to distribute information around the house. personally i would look into a custom system that will save you money, and will far outpeform a starserve or hills system, good luck, i hope this helped chris Electrical - Automation - Smart wiring - New homes - Commercial - Data cabling] 1300 050 315 www.cenemelectrical.com.au www.facebook.com/cenemelectrical Re: Clipsal Star Serve 6Aug 29, 2011 9:39 pm Hello, you will need a HD matrix switcher google hd matrix switch and youll find a bucket load of info hope this helped chris Electrical - Automation - Smart wiring - New homes - Commercial - Data cabling] 1300 050 315 www.cenemelectrical.com.au www.facebook.com/cenemelectrical Re: Clipsal Star Serve 7Aug 29, 2011 10:02 pm you can also get hdmi over Cat6 matrix switches.. Kodiak Data Cabling onFaceBook Consult*, Design and Installation Data, TV, Home Theatre/ AV Cabling, Multi Room Audio, IP CCTV and Door Intercoms Ask for a Quote. *DIY DATA Cabling Is Ilegal Re: Clipsal Star Serve 8Aug 30, 2011 8:28 pm hey pugs, ive heard of a combination hd, cat6 and coax matrix switcher? true true>? Electrical - Automation - Smart wiring - New homes - Commercial - Data cabling] 1300 050 315 www.cenemelectrical.com.au www.facebook.com/cenemelectrical Re: Clipsal Star Serve 9Aug 30, 2011 11:40 pm Thanks guys will go and do a bit more research. Cheers Heath Re: Clipsal Star Serve 10Aug 31, 2011 8:38 am cenemelectrical hey pugs, ive heard of a combination hd, cat6 and coax matrix switcher? true true>? not that i would do it that way.. and not heard of any myself... Kodiak Data Cabling onFaceBook Consult*, Design and Installation Data, TV, Home Theatre/ AV Cabling, Multi Room Audio, IP CCTV and Door Intercoms Ask for a Quote. *DIY DATA Cabling Is Ilegal Re: Clipsal Star Serve 11Aug 31, 2011 12:09 pm Pugs is also outdated, won't let you broadcast HD content around and is IMO a waste of money Hi Pugs, when you say it "won't let you broadcast HD content around" does it mean the HD signal coming from FTA will also be down converted to SD before it distributes to the outlet? Or have I misunderstood what you're saying? I'll be having the Clipsal StarServ as well, (Got no choice, that's what the builder offer together with all the structure wiring) Built: Modified H3nl3y S0h0 Q1 in Melbourne :- Never again Re: Clipsal Star Serve 12Aug 31, 2011 12:41 pm EmeryBB Pugs is also outdated, won't let you broadcast HD content around and is IMO a waste of money Hi Pugs, when you say it "won't let you broadcast HD content around" does it mean the HD signal coming from FTA will also be down converted to SD before it distributes to the outlet? Or have I misunderstood what you're saying? I'll be having the Clipsal StarServ as well, (Got no choice, that's what the builder offer together with all the structure wiring) no it will do that as it purley a "signal" you can't chuck a blue ray player close by and put its signal over the coax/ or a foxtel box and stream it around you only get a modualted "signal" which isn't HD. peronally i would have refused them (unles it is two story house) and even then I would have pushed to have my own cabler come on site.. Kodiak Data Cabling onFaceBook Consult*, Design and Installation Data, TV, Home Theatre/ AV Cabling, Multi Room Audio, IP CCTV and Door Intercoms Ask for a Quote. *DIY DATA Cabling Is Ilegal Re: Clipsal Star Serve 13Aug 31, 2011 1:01 pm paulw11 C-Bus is a lighting and power control system. The way it works is that your lights are connected to relay and dimmer units located at one or two locations in your house. These units connect to the switch plates using low voltage data cable. The advantages of C-Bus are:
How can C-bus use less 240V wiring when everythign needs to be wired to a central point (or two) and back? That's more 240V wiring! Demolition August 2009, Construction Started September 2009, Completed December 2010 Re: Clipsal Star Serve 14Aug 31, 2011 2:58 pm Quote: no it will do that as it purley a "signal" you can't chuck a blue ray player close by and put its signal over the coax/ or a foxtel box and stream it around you only get a modualted "signal" which isn't HD. ah that's alright. All living area will be having its own boxes, so not much an issue. Quote: peronally i would have refused them (unles it is two story house) and even then I would have pushed to have my own cabler come on site.. Unfortunately it's a double storey built by big volume builder, either take that or nothing at all. Built: Modified H3nl3y S0h0 Q1 in Melbourne :- Never again Clipsal Star Serve 15Aug 31, 2011 3:45 pm Casa2 How can C-bus use less 240V wiring when everythign needs to be wired to a central point (or two) and back? That's more 240V wiring! Any given light is only wired back to a single point. You can have relay/dimmer units installed at several points in your house so that you don't need to run any given set of wires too far. Traditional wiring has power and earth running to each light fitting plus two wires running down to each switch. If you have multi-way switching then you need additional wires to link the switches. With C-Bus you run power to the relay/dimmers and then power and earth out to each light. No 240V switch wires and you can have as many switches as you want controlling a light. You won't save enough on your wiring to pay for C-Bus but most sparkys agree that wiring C-Bus is simpler than traditional wiring as there are fewer connections and loops. Paul |