Two months ago we were replacing a camera on a Doorking unit. I noticed a Marantz AVR and some other a/v and Apple equipment on the floor and asked about it. The client said that her "computer" guy was working on the wifi system and upgrading the a/v system. I gave her a card when done and said if she had any problems give me a call.
Last week her husband called and asked if we could come over and get the house music working, they had a party coming up. He said it only worked sporadically.
So we get there and it's a Harmony Ultimate. I have only dealt with Harmony once before (550 I think), it took me a while to figure out how the guy set it up. The house da music was at the bottom with a weird icon and an H in front of sources, not user friendly at all. It was pretty basic, a feed from zone 2 to a multi channel amp.
It was so fu$;(d up I was ready to toss it. If you turned on the house music first it'd turn it off if you wanted Directv in the Den? Even if you wanted to listen to what the da source was it'd shut off zone 2 feed?
The Ultimate was a piece of crap. I choose Directv for the Den and then there was no keypad to change channels? The client said " you have to swipe over a few pages to the keypad". I couldn't imagine handing this over to my inlaw or house sitter?
YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR......though I have no idea what he paid the "computer guy"
I also asked about his wifi. He said " it's not great, sometimes doesn't get a good signal and very slow". We checked and the guy put in an Extreme and three Airports. A quick Speed Test showed 110 download (hardwired). Probably going to be doing some network stuff too.
I'm giving him a cost to install a professional control system and a pull out rack for the equipment, everything was shoved into a small cabinet. Oh yea, the Ultimate was only ir with the TV over the fireplace. Cabinet doors had to be left open for signal and heat.