Press 1 button when you go to bed that turns off all lights in the basement and on the first floor, arms the security system, alerts you if the garage door is not closed, makes sure the outside lights are on, turns off the TV and any other A/V component that is on.

When the doorbell button is pressed, do 1 or more of the following:  mute the whole-house audio system, flash lights, display the front door camera on a TV

Mute the whole-house audio system when the doorbell button is pressed and then display the front door camera on a TV.

Mute the whole-house audio system when the doorbell rings.

Automatically turn on lights when you enter a room.

Know when you are not home, turn on outside lights when it gets dark, if you are still gone when it gets dark then turn on and off inside lights in order to give your house a lived-in look, varying the times that this occurs randomly from day to day.

Use a Wi-Fi enabled laptop or PDA to monitor and control devices from anywhere in the home or anywhere cell phone service or internet service is available.

Use the same handheld remote you use for all your a/v equipment to also send commands to your system, such as "all lights on 2nd floor off", or to activate a lighting scene, or to lower the projector screen from the ceiling.

Turn of the A/C when any window is opened.  Turn it back on when all windows are closed, but only if it was turned off because of someone opening a window.

Give your cleaning service a unique security code that only works during certain times of day and days of the week.  This code can also be logged so you know when the cleaning service arrived and left.

Display your CD collection on any TV for easy music selection from any room.