Best Microcontroller for Home Security System

[otpowell]

Hello all, not quite sure if this is the right forum for this, but here goes.  I want to automate my home and have a home security system integrated with misc sensors, LCD modules to read weather from the Internet, and relay's to control my outlets. I've been reading quite a few forums and such and I read that Arduino isn't fast enough to process and stream HD video. I want to setup two camera modules and have them wirelessly communicate via ESP8266.  I have an Arduino and a UDOO, considering getting a raspberry pi, Beaglebone or PCduino, or something similar.  Wanted to know if you guys had any good suggestions?  I would like to hookup a distance sensor for my garage door, and a few other misc sensors that can feed the information back to me on the web.  I had an idea to clone my garage door signal too so I can see that my garage door is open on the camera and close it while I'm at work.  What's the best way to do this?  Is there a way to have a USB webcam interface with a ESP8266 or a similar wireless module?  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  I was going to get all arduino compatible components and just use a JPEG camera to take pictures when a event occurs or a sensor is triggered such as my garage door opening.  Is there a better way to acheive same results with HD video streaming?   Maybe I can use my UDOO for this. 

[otpowell]

Maybe a PIC or a ATmega chip?

[dferyance]

That is a pretty open-ended question and there is a lot in it. Are you planning to transmit HD video with ESP8266 or just the results of processing it? I haven't done much with the chip but it isn't designed for streaming that amount of data.

I don't think you should use the same device in all scenarios. In some cases you need a powerful processor and can wire it into the mains. In other cases you have to go off of battery and need something with less power.

For my garage door, I used a very simple setup. I have a box with a Bluegiga ble113, a tilt sensor, and a couple of AAA batteries. The box is mounted on the door and it transmits the tilt sensor data over BLE. For triggering it, I have a relay and ble113 that just shorts the push-button line together. Those two devices are just acting as wireless GPIO and need a more powerful hub device to control them.

You might want to try the PI model A as it is pretty cheap. Also the Odroid C1 is cheap and powerful.

For a MCU, go with whatever seems the easiest to learn and has the best development tools. What that is depends on your price range and expertise. You cannot go wrong with Microchip or Atmel, I also like the Cypress PSoC.

[Rasz]

start with Pee (+ camera module, can be the chinese ebay clone at half the price), its simple and offers instant gratification
from there you can move to more difficult, lower level stuff

[otpowell]

Pee?  What's that?  Raspberry PI?