One addition to all this:

There IS a way to confirm the power state of a device (whether it has discrete power codes or not). The MSC-400 uses power and video sensors to detect the ON/OFF state of components, and can perform logic operations based on that power state.

Addressing the above example, the MSC-400 could be programmed such that IF the CD Player is ON, then the TV is OFF. And this state can be programmed to occur whether you use the remote control or not.

Our demo setup that we use at many trade shows has an interesting example: We've got RCA jacks connected to a video sensor on the MSC-400. To show off the MSC-400, we connect a camcorder (which nobody ever remembers how to hook up) to the RCA jacks and turn it on. The MSC-400 detects the video signal and immediately runs the macro that reconfigures the system to watch the video from the camcorder. Nobody even touches the remote control. And nobody had to remember what input the camcorder needed to be on for the TV or AV Receiver. The MSC-400 just reconfigures everything according to the macro, which was triggered when it detected video from those RCA jacks.

But of course, you can make even more sophisiticated setups when you DO program with the remote control in mind. In that case, your MSC-400 macro could easily include logic such as "When I choose the DVD Player input on the AV Receiver, only turn on the TV if I also set the AV Receiver to Dolby Digital for DVD Playback." (There are more elegant ways to accomplish this, but I'm trying to illustrate the point.)

That's what makes the MSC-400 so different from just an RF base station. It actually automates the home theater, leaving the remote the relatively simple job of merely dictating the desired state.