I am looking to purchase and set up an RF based control system for my Home theater and to control zone 2.
What are the benifits and or cons between these two models?

Is there much benifit by going with the 980?

The 810's software is akin to the Harmony wizard style. The 980 has a full control programming software package. If you want to control zone 2 etc, I'd suggest the 980 over the 810. Just understand it costs more is can be more complex if you are not technically minded.

In addition to James' post above I would say that the MX-810 is not ideally suited to a multi-zone setup.

How come?
Not sure if I follow why. it is an RF remote and can be used with the rf extender like the mrf260. I like that I can easily program it. It seems to handle macros well and yes it is much cheaper in long run. Don't know if I could trust myself to program the 980. For the record the 2nd zone would only me for music since it is outside.

My equipent currently:
Mistsubishi WS 65711
JVC DVD/cd player
Integra 9.8 pre/pro
Charter cable Moxi box
The amps can be triggered by the Integra

I currently use zone 2 for music outside

whoops forgot to mention
I plan on getting a bluray soon and
I hope to upgrade to a frontprojector in the end and move that tv to the family room.

What you want is definitely possible with the 810 - but it is not necessarily easy.

The benefit of going with the 980 is open architecture - namely, that once you figure out the general way to program with CCS, you can get anything you need done. This is great for experienced installers but, as you say, can be daunting for the unexperienced.

The 810 is a competent remote. You seem to imply that you already have experience with it. If that is the case, and you feel comfortable with it's programming, then there is nothing wrong with it. Be aware that it is designed to run one room and to make the programming as straight forward as possible. This apparent benefit to the unexperienced programmer comes back to bite you when you want to make the 810 do something nonstandard, like running a zone 2. It seems that you run a great chance of being faced with the same issue as if you had a 980 - trouble with programming - but in that circumstance the 980 wins hands down in terms of potential to get what what you want done with minimum hassle.

my $0.02

Thank you for the responce!!!

Is it hard to teach the 810 commands and custom macros?

Are you doing the programming? or having someone set it up for you? To take complete advantage of the MX-980 I personnally would marry it to the MSC-400 and use the trigger macro's and variable programming. If your doing the programming and that sounds confusing to you I would look at the MX-900. Solid remote when used with the MRF 350 processor & the equip you have listed.

my .02c

It is easy to teach it commands.

Macros other than the activity macros need to be setup using the browser. You basically drag the commands you want in order over to a little window. It is not hard but not terribly intuitive either.

not trying to beat a dead horse here just wanted to point out one thing, when I say I will be controling a second zone, it will be controled by the primary zone equipment running off the Preamp pro.
I guess I just don't understand in this scenario why the 810 wouldn't be a good choice for it.

Cassidycaid gave an excellent response. The 810 tries to set up all your activities (macros) for you with its wizard. You get presented options in the wizard and it tries to set up all your actvities and track the status of your equipment.

It wasn't designed for a second zone so it doesn't know how to do it. It would treat it as another input (activitiy) in the main zone. It wouldn't know to turn on zone 2, select the source for zone 2 and then go to an appropriate screen to control that source. Remember, it tries to make the macros for you. It is not as simple as just putting commands into a macro. It also wouldn't know that the volume for zone 2 is different than the main zone. It doesn't know that zone 2 is separate from main zone, so anything that was done it zone 2 it would track it as if it is in the main zone.

There are work arounds and you can certianly make it work but it is not straight forward like the 980. The 810 was designed to get a SIMPLE system up and running in a short amount of time. Many installers have tried to customize the 810 in ways which it wasn't designed. They quickly found it takes much longer with the 810 and it still doesn't have the flexibility to do certain functions.

The 980 is not difficult to program. It is not wizard based but once you learn its architecture you will appreciate the flexibility. Also, to get a basic remote up and running on the 980 won't be that hard. If you learn how to do variables you can then refine the remote but getting a functional remote with the 980 is not difficult.

It is difficult to explain the differences without being able to show you. If you were using the 810 for basic activities I'd say it is a good choice. I wouldn't recommend it for your application with a second zone. I'd recommend either the 900 or 980. The 980 is a little more time consuming to program mainly because of the graphics. It has other available features over the 900 but they are not necessary to get a functional remote, more for refining the remote.

Hope this helps.

Bob

Thank you Bob
You gave me a much clearer picture of the issue.

The 810 is definitely not the remote to use for a 2 zone setup, much time will be wasted trying to find ways around the 810's logic. Since it thinks for itself, youll be working against what the 810 is trying to do.

Honestly, as much as I like the layout of the MX-810 better than the 980, the MX-810 software is really starting to frustrate me, with it's lack of abilities to do things, things that even the Harmony software can do. One of the main things is being able to specify button press and hold times.

I don't know what state the MX-980 software is in, but the MX-810 software still has some bugs in it too, that also frustrate me(specifically when specifying a specific line for the RF triggers to go thru, commands assigned to the LCD, from other files, don't always use the correct/specified output line).

Just something to keep in mind when considering both.