Wouldn't it be great if the living room lights automatically dimmed when you start watching a movie?

Or if smoke detectors could sound an alarm, show you the best escape route and turn off the furnace to stop smoke from spreading during a fire?

Networking different electronic devices within a home is already possible, and it's becoming less expensive than you might think.

One company, Salt Lake City-based Control4 (www.con trol4.com), recently began selling products that can wirelessly link home entertainment equipment and lighting for about $800. More expensive models allow connections to motorize blinds, plus control thermostats, humidifiers and other devices.

"That would have historically been tens of thousands of dollars," says Eric Smith, Control4 co-founder and chief technology officer. "The focus of this is really to get it so regular people can afford it."

Control4 is signing up dealers across the country to sell its products, including Audio Video Alternatives in suburban Detroit.

"It is a very cool product," says co-owner Jim Sanfemio. "It's like on 'The Jetsons.' "

Control4 was the first company to design its products around a new wireless networking standard called Zigbee, which requires less power and provides greater range than Wi-Fi, the wireless networking technology commonly used to connect computers and printers. Zigbee is greatly expanding the benefits of home networking while dramatically reducing the cost, said Erik Michielsen, a research director at technology research firm ABI Research in Oyster Bay, N.Y.

Because it's wireless, existing homes can be retrofitted without having to cut into walls. As costs come down even more, Michielsen said, consumers will be able to pick up home automation equipment from the same electronics retailers that sell televisions and microwaves.

"A lot of this home automation stuff has been out there for years but it's been available only for technology enthusiasts or luxury homes," Michielsen said. "Now you're working toward a more standardized, plug-and-play environment."

The proliferation of wireless computer networks and digitization has paved the way for Control4's products. Many consumers now are accustomed to playing digital music files and using digital video recorders instead of carrying around videotapes and CDs.

During a demonstration, Smith, who previously owned a company that networked electronics in many celebrities' homes, showed how users of Control4's products can select any CD or DVD from their collection with a touch-panel display or remote control. Music can be sent wirelessly to different rooms, and starting a movie dims the lights and closes the window blinds.

Most actions are controlled from a central server that forms the backbone of the system. To control lighting, Control4 must replace standard wall switches with its own high-tech versions that cost $99 each.

Kurt Von Eberstein, manager of Digital by Design, a custom home theater shop in Southfield, Mich., says Control4's products perform similarly to systems made by AMX and Creston Electronics, which he has installed in $1 million-plus homes. He's hoping to persuade local builders to include Control4 networking setups in new houses as an add-on similar to hardwood floors or a fireplace.

"It's perfect for a level of the home-buying public that has been interested in this in the past, but when I have told them the pricing they've had to back down," Von Eberstein says. "I'd love to do it at my house."