So, about a year ago I read about the URC MX-3000 on Smarthome.com and did not realize what a pickle I was getting myself into. We were refinishing our basement and putting in a home theatre, this sounded like the perfect remote to fit the differing needs of my family. But... I did not have anyone that could program it.

Here it is a year later, and I am still trying to find a way to get it programmed. I have found an "authorized dealer" locally (only 1) but since I did not purchase the remote through them, they are charging me a premium. Right now - the estimate is 33 hours of programming * $95/hour... that's $3,135.!!!

Can this be right? Can anyone tell me the average programming price or identify what other options I have to get the work completed? At this point, I have a .rcc file that runs through the emulator... but I don't think it has the components linked to it yet. The "look and feel" is pretty much complete and the navigation (although there are some things I would like to change).

Please help. At this point, $2,000 into this purchase ($1000 for unit and base stations, and $1000 for the programming that has been done to date)... it seems ridiculous. I would never have gone down this path if I would have know it would be this expensive to implement.

Please keep the criticisms to a minimum... ie. what did you expect. The situation is what it is, and now I am trying to determine if I should fish or cut bait.

Thanks.

OK, so I take it you can't program it yourself? What programming is already done? The layout/graphics? Who did that portion?

Contact Damon at www.proremotes.com. They offer programming services.

First of all that quote is way out of line. Where are you located? Just as a reference we charge $400-500 to program an mx-3000.

without knowing what he wants to control I wouldn't poo-poo any quote. Maybe the local CI met with this guy and he came of as someone like R_G. He doesn't sound that way here but who knows. He could have two racks of gear with all kinds of esoteric product and no discretes.

Although I've never, ever had that much programming on any remote for a simple home theater. 1 guy for 4 days. Whew!

Here is what I have asked to be completed:

Home Theatre Downstairs
- 4 different user profiles/menus
- basic navigation
> where are you? (upstairs, downstairs, home audio)
> what do you want to do? (watch tv, watch dvd, listen to music)
- varying levels of detail based upon type of user (ie. child, father in law, husband, advanced (me) etc.)
- favorites created for each user profile
- parental lock - ie. child can only access their menu

Home Theatre Upstairs
- same user profiles/menus for downstairs, but modified for upstairs components

Whole House Audio
- RF control throughout house and deck for CD player, XM Satellite and radio

And here is what I have received for 18 hours of programming:

- .rcc file with navigations, layout of screens
- very basic design, nothing fancy
- as far as I can tell, the components have not yet been setup

I pretty much want to cry at this point, based upon some responses I have received it is apparent that I have been taken advantage of. However, I will note that when I do a search on Google to try to find someone to do the programming, not much comes up. So, through the URC website, I found this vendor. At this point, I would rather not divulge the name of the vendor. I am located in the Rocky Mountain region of US.

Comments? Suggestions on how to proceed? A box of kleenex?

well that is a pretty expansive list of requests...you're pretty much maxing it out. Not overtaxing but you're using it all and that takes a LOT of time to program.

I'm thinking this guy is in over his head and wants to be paid for his learning curve.

Have you called any other "local" CI's to see what they say?

My suggestion might be to consider some MX850's/900's in the other rooms and use your 3000 in one room. Instead of trying to over complicate things by piling all you stuff and activities into one remote.

Like tweety says below, you're pinching pennies in one hand and throwing hundred dollar bills with the other

Oy.....let me clarify my position then. We charge 400-500 for single room a/v with one display, one avr, four sources and 10-20 favorites.

What you are requiring is a single remote to control 3 seperate systems for it seems at least 4 different user profiles. What happens when someone wants to use the upper theater at the same time as the lower theater? Not very convenient, IMO.

In any case, you are slowly creeping toward realistic programming charges for what you desire. An off the cuff estimate not knowing what the equipment is as far as models would be around 2,500 from the company I work for and that's assuming we would even take it on due to the huge inconvenience factor of controlling 2 seperate media rooms with only one control.

I originally purchased the MX-850 for the upstairs theatre room and the home audio... but to program two different remotes seemed to double my price... so I thought... why not have the MX-3000 programmed for both and then purchase another mx-3000 for the upstairs/home audio and just copy the program over and delete the other. This was a hopeful cost saving maneveur on my part. I am more than happy to abandon the both level options and have two separate remotes... although I would like the user profile functionality if possible.

Maybe I am asking for a lot, but when you look at the samples on remotecentral.com, it seems to be the norm.

There are no other local authorized dealers...

And, my original quote was for 18 hours of programming. Now that they are into it, they have determined it will require an additional 18 hours... but they will cap it at 33.

I am not trying to bad mouth this particular vendor, just trying to determine how to proceed.

Like I said, I think they're in over their head or they didn't understand what you were looking for up front. If you had told me all this from the beginning I would have said four days. Maybe you did the same thing to this guy unintentionally

But to be fair. He is asking to basically program 4 remotes (Him, father in law, kids, husband) for at least 2 different systems plus the whole house audio. When you break it down, your looking at doing basically the work of 8 remotes plus.

Why buy 1 remote only. Buy a remote for downstairs and 1 for upstairs. Or better yet, have (2) mx3000 for you and a few mx900 for the others.

On the surface it seems your trying to over complicate things.

A 33 hour cap on this sounds reasonable. I dont charge as much as them hourly, but their price isn't out of line. If you like what they have built so far, I'd plow ahead. To be clear, you are asking for everything and the kitchen sink.


If you want the interface to be a work of art, the time involved could be much more (programmers aren't the quickest artists.) What you see on the URC website is definately not the norm. They are showcasing the posibilities :) Thats not to say your requests are out of line. It's merely a complicated and time-consuming job.

The more I think about it, the more fun the job actually sounds. I can't imagine trying this one without quite a bit of experience though. I just visited one of my first URC customers today and couldnt believe how over-complicated I made that one. Yours could be a nightmare in unskilled hands.

Thanks to everyone who has responded, I really appreciate your feedback. What I have learned is 1) scope of project is complex and 2) time frame is not out of line for requirements.

So, one last question... should I proceed with having both upstairs/downstairs/whole house audio at this point, or purchase a 2nd remote to control upstairs and potentially a 3rd to control whole house audio? At this point, with the work that has been done to date (ie. screen layout and navigation), does it make more sense to just continue on?

A lesson learned early on in project management - clearly define the scope and requirements. I guess they are not using the new Alpha template that is supposed to help get the job done a whole lot quicker. Tough to speculate on how/why it would take so long; but given you know what you are in for ($95*33hours), you may want to calculate the total cost of changing the scope in the middle of the project. Chances are you may end up spending even more. Would love to see a detailed specification of what you are asking for/getting. Did they do any mock ups, walk through, etc. to ensure your requirements have been fully captured, or are you going to get an incomplete solution on delivery? I'd be happy to give it a go for fun (I'm not in it for the money), but doubt I could get it done in the time you'd want, especially not being able to sit down to fully understand requirements.

As I suggested early on, separating these tasks out into a couple remotes would be a primary goal.

The number one thing to consider is how you're going to use these. Are you going to control the whole house music from the basement entertainment area? Probabaly not. I'd set that up to operate on it's own.

I'd put the whole house sound system on with the main floor level entertainment system. And most importantly I'd shelve the idea of different user interfaces for every family member. That's just crazy. The whole point of a remote like this is anyone can use it. Set it up simple. Set it up easy so Grandma or the babysitter doesn;t call you to ask how to do this or that. Then you won't have to ask, "which user interface are you in?" "What does that mean?".

Hit "on". Hit "Cable". Hit "DVD". The programmer can bury hidden pages for you to access so you can play with your new tonka truck. No sense making everyone else's life miserable just becasue you can.

Brian