I have been trying to come up with ideas for a new business opportunity for myself to make a career change and do someting that I really enjoy.  I have been in the IT field for 15 years now and I am looking for something new.  I am burnt out by this stuff and for the last 4 years I have been getting into Media Center and using it in my home and love it.  I have Vista PC with XBox 360 Extender, Windows Home Server, and three laptops.  I will be adding more Extenders soon once DirecTV launches their HD tuner for Media Center.  I was wondering about possibly starting a company that does home installs of Vista Media center and all that it has to offer for home automation.  Is this a viable option and has anyone out there maybe thought of doing something like this?  I know there are companies out there that are already doing this, but do you need to be a in the right market to make it work?  I would be curious to hear from people who are currently doing this or have the same thoughts as myself.

 

Thanks

-Scott

I have been in IT for 20+ years and have been thinking about making this exact change myself.

However, the government protected monopoly of Canadian Cable is holding my dream back of getting a consistent HD signal into VMC.

As soon as I get an offering, I think I will go for it!

 

 

How would you go about doing something like this?  Do you have a business plan in place for it?  Would you use Windows Media Center or something else?  What hardware would you use? Would you do a complete home automantion install?  Do you live in a market where people are aware of this technology and would be willing to pay for something that is more of a luxury rather then a need?  I'd really be curious to talk with you about how you would plan on going about starting something like this.

This is one of the small markets, depending on where you live, might be really hard to get into. I've installed maybe about 100 Media Center PCs over the last few years, I also do home theater setup besides my main job that is in IT.

One of the big things about Media Center is support contracts, that is the inportant ones here. It's not that they will never have problems but, they will in time.

As for home automation, I've used X-10 and a few other programs with a Homeseer server with a Media Center pulg in, cool stuff but, a lot of people don't care about it all today. The few clients I have installed this stuff love it but, the market is tight, again depending on where your located. When you get into the costs (touch screens, muli-room audio, remote blinds, etc), people lose interests very fast.

Also, there are a lot of other compaies that do this kind of stuff but, don't touch into Media Center, but will and have been doing this stuff for years.

The major limitations with this is profit from systems you can build vs. out of pocket costs to get "cable card" ready machines. People want HD programming, anyone who would want a VMC box, so there isn't a lot of profit you can make from it, if you know what I am getting at (building a machine for $500 that you can sell for $900 or a $1200-1600 Cable card system, that you almost break even on).

Wondering where your thoughts are, I would like to take this to the next level but, still wondering about these factors, as I have seen limits on where I can go with it. Where are you located ?

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-Dave

MCP, MCSA, MCSE 2003
Windows Vista Connected Exp:Home Theater for Technologists
Windows Vista Connected Exp:Home Theater for Sales professionals

Home theater specialist (10+ years)

I am located in Akron, Ohio.  I can't say that the market I am in is very interested in the stuff.  I am the only person I know of that has this kind of setup in my house.  Mine is very basic but for such a simple thing to do I don't know anyone really using this technolgy.  I have never done an install for someone else and have not gotten into the home automation side of it, but eventually would like to.  Like you mentioned I am not sure there is much room to make any profit off this stuff unless you can sign service contracts with your clients.  The other big thing is getting tuners from all providers so that clients with different TV services can make a setup like this work.  HD is already huge, but we have yet to see DirecTV and Dish Network put out a HD tuner for VMC.  I know DirecTV announced one at CES and supposedly Dish has one coming soon as well. 

Plus with all the different plugins out that do basically the same thing there almost needs to be some standard one built and supported by MS.  Also it is too easy for things to get broken in a setup like this, which for ans installer can be good, but for the consumer could just be a turn off.

I have been doing custom builds for people for about 3 years now. I am very busy with it. my margin is not huge on the pc I build, but in labor for fishing the cat5, installing the AV components etc. People do want this stuff, but it has never been advertised to them. My pitch is this: "Tivo, 10,000 + CD changer, DVD player, DVD Burner, Digital Photo Frame for your HDTV, Home movie orgainizer, and a PC, and no subscription." Add all those things up, and you have as much or more. "Media Center is ONE easy to use EVERYTHING. logmein is a program that has really helped me on the support front, its free and easy.

If you want to give consumers what you know and love about media center, I would recomend searching for a high end AV dealer in your area, apply for a full/part time position, and test the waters.

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Doug Vanden Berg www.vandenbergstereo.com