DUBAI: Wanted to automate your apartment or villa but were unable to do it because of high cost? Well, now you have a less expensive option.
Eurostar is bringing to town an affordable smart WiFi super set-top box which can be used also to watch free-to-air satellite channels with two tuners built in. And the set top box — for just Dh499.
“Users can also record the channels through a built-in 500GB hard disk drive or connect an external hard disk drive via USB and it supports up to 1TB capacity. It supports all the audio and video formats and runs on Android 4.2 operating system,” said Youssef Saidi, chief operating officer at Eurostar Group.
Growing popularity
The popularity of home automation has been growing at a rapid pace for more than 10 years now. But it was limited to those who had the money to splurge. With the proliferation of smartphones and tablets, a technology-wired home is no more going to be perpetually on your wish list. In fact for Dh1,000, users can automate their complete villa or flat.
Saidi said that users can check emails, surf the internet and watch different channels at the same time using picture-in-picture function.
To take advantage of the cheaper home automation option, he added that users need to download an app called Telldus Live from the app store on to the set-top box and to the smart devices and buy an external router to link it to the set-top box. With the router, the set top box will in total cost around Dh1,000.
Whatever devices users want to control they need to first sync with the router through a special socket. There are three kinds of sockets available. One for just to on and off the device, second for variable voltage controls like dimming the light and the third for temperature-controlled devices like air-conditioners.
“Any number of devices can be connected to the set-top box. If a user forgets to switch off the light when leaving the home, he can do it from the office through his/her smartphone or tablet. He can also switch on the air-conditioner when leaving the office and enter home in a chilled condition,” Saidi said.
The group is planning to add a webcam in their next device to monitor the home for security purposes.
