brianhifi,

I'm not a fan of Harmony. Cost aside, I can't get the results that I want.

I've been using TouchControl. Hardware costs are minimal, zero if all of your devices offer IP control. Screen layout and user interactions are limited by your imagination. You'll go through a learning curve because this is a different development environment from Harmony, RTI, ProControl and URC, but once you get used to it, you can rapidly layout screens. Graphics are whatever you want. Every button could be a remote web page if you like, but this sort of scheme would require too much processor power. Unlike ProControl, RTI, and URC, there is no central "processor". If your application requires storing lots of "states" and performing operations when the controller (iPad/iPhone) is sleeping, then TouchControl is not directly applicable -- however, if you throw something like a Raspberry Pi into the mix as a processor (you are on your own for this), the sky is the limit.

Multi-room is very easy. Virtually all of my systems are multi-room and any controller can control any room. If a cable channel or its icon changes, I only need to make one central change and all of the rooms incorporate this change. I don't think that this is a great idea, but one controller can directly interact with another controller and controllers can interact with data in the "Cloud".

While not required for basic programs, you'll achieve the best results if you are comfortable with JavaScript.