Dealer side with experience and product knowledge.
Customer Side waiting 10 months for my system to be in place at my house using native apps for DTV, Sonos, Receivers, and some other ones including all my lighting on the Crestron iPad/iPhone.
Native apps have the advantage of having every possible feature accessible like you mentioned.
Native apps do not have some of the features completely accessible on one screen (Direct TV). Great for setting up features but sucks donkey nads for watching TV. Connection was intermittent at best.
My Crestron Direct TV has channel and transport controls, Number pad, cursor pad, and 18 favorite channels on the same screen. Absolute magic. I like watching TV again.
Music- Sonos is great for what it is but you can get the exact level of control and music from Mirage MMS-5A or MMS-2. All built into your Crestron interface.
I just installed mine and it is just fine. Easy to use and again on one page.
Think about things you will loose like having a light button or Temp button on every single page (Very small icons for the tech savvy). Might never be used by your family but gives you control.
I can say that my handheld remotes arrived today and I never want to open my ipad again. I slowly began to loathe it as a control device.
iPads present great value for their large screen. But when you compair them to a dedicated interface (hopefully with hard buttons) they loose their luster to me.
Again every single system I sell uses them because of their price but if you can afford it please look at some of their dedicated options.
MLX3 is only $500 and it rocks. MTX has touch screen and can be tricked out and is $1100 or so retail.
To be quite honest I have lived without for so long I never want to go back. I wait for the day I can tell my clients (in a loving manor) I told you so.
