| i Understand RTI being offended by this thread, but the reality is their product is a PIA to work with. On top of it being more complicated to program than C4 or Elan, to do it correctly, you have to also be a graphics designer.
Everyone has a right to their opinion, and we all have individual skills and expectations. However, I want to separate the opinion from the actual facts. RTI does not require any skills in Photoshop whatsoever. Before going to RTI, I made a good living as a programmer and programmed various control systems without any knowledge of Photoshop. Having certain skills in some type of graphics software is great if you want to develop your own graphics, but besides built-in graphics and stock templates, here are some resources available:
There are many other resources and sources for graphics.
As far as being more complicated than other control systems, it is important not to confuse "complicated" with "custom". If you go and buy anything with the word "custom" in it, chances are there is another level of work involved. The reward is that you separate your interface or product, and can steal a job or two even when the installer you are competing against is offering the same exact system. It also allows you to get into jobs you otherwise can't and tap markets where an opportunity arises. However, not sure if have seen our new platform which takes all the complicated tasks away and is getting better which each version. However, don't take my word for the programming speed. If you have a dealer account, I will happily send you a video which shows a five source, one room solution with an iPad and touchscreen controller fully programmed and customized in about 25 minutes. (IP control and all else).
I don’t feel like having to learn photoshop to create a full icon set to program an average system. And then after the remotes are done, you have to build the tablet interfaces. Then when something goes bad and the original dealer skips town, the client is *&$#ed because the programming can’t be extracted for the phone and tablet interfaces.
No photoshop necessary! Wish I knew it, but never needed to. While it is true that the programming cannot be extracted, most installers decide to lock up their systems anyway, which they have the right. We are moving towards the cloud, so this may be something that is possible in the future, but in my opinion, if the person who programmed the system is the type to do that to a client, his programming is probably negligible and you might want to take over the system anyway. You don't want to inherit his problems. I don't know many control platforms where this is possible in all cases.
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I tried URC TC. I found it a little better than RTI and Complete Control. But it was still a bit cumbersome to get through. I don’t know how it’s mobile device interface setup is, because I never got to that point. The touch screen and music server were so slow, we boxed it up and sent it all back.
I can't really speak to problems or issues you have had with other companies, but we are very proud of our music distribution and ability to integrate with just about anything. If our software engineers wanted to create a wizard-like programming platform that programs in less time and removes the ability to customize, we would probably do it. But we want to be a fully customizable platform that offers an automated side as well. I think we have that with our new platform and it is something we are very excited about. If you give me a call I would love to be able to show you some of these features and speak to some of these comments.
At the end of the day, control systems are designed with different attributes and features and may or may not appeal to everyone. Everyone offers distinct advantages, and there are always caveats and obstacles. One thing in common is that they do evolve over time, and I always try to clear up any information that might need to be refreshed.
Vincent Bova RTI Dealer Experience Manager Remote Technologies Inc.
