A 1394 home network monitor for gathering information on the state of nodes within a IEEE 1394 home network, and storing the generated information. The IEEE 1394 standard is an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standard for a high speed serial bus for connecting multiple electronics devices. An IEEE 1394 home network, for example, uses the 1394 IEEE standard to connect multiple devices, referred to as nodes, within a home. Some of these devices autonomously change state over time, and such state changes may involve controlling other devices in the home network. An example of such a home network may include a central controller which turns on a Set Top Box (STB) and a VCR at a pre-programmed time in order to record a program.