On February 17, 2007 at 14:03, tgrugett said...
This can be a fairly easy process if the components lend
themselves to integration and the programmer has experience
with the particular components.
This is true if the programmer is on site, but absolutely necessary to success of any kind if the programmer is not on site.
Also, the success of the programming is in the hands of
the person doing the configuration.
Actually, I think he meant "not entirely in the hands of...." The following sentence shows that a person doing the programming from afar cannot make a system work properly if there are problems on site that only an installer or programmer is likely to suss out without a period of confusion and disagreement as to whose fault it is:
If something is not
hooked up correctly, an emitter is not located properly,
there is poor line of sight, etc... it could be perceived
that the programming is the problem.
If the equipment qualifies, the automation and
sequencing can be bullet proof.
This is the biggest unknown and source of confusion for people who buy their own equipment without first consulting a programmer (that is, a pro or a custom installer). Your remote will work GREAT to consolidate all of the commands of your system, but if, say, your TV does not have separate ON and OFF commands, the remote will never be able to make system operation automatic. You will always have to start by pushing a button to turn on the TV rather than being able to have that determined automatically by what source button you push. Incidentally, many components respond to such discrete ON and OFF commands, but they do not appear on the remote that comes with the unit. Again, the programmer with experience will know where to find these, if they exist; some of the guys out there know how to generate every possible code that could work with a component, so can check to see if these commands exist.
That last thing might not be necessary, but can't be tested at a distance if needed.
So we're back to, where are you located?
