I have a reasonably simple home theater system, consisting of receiver, 2 CD changers, DVD player, HD SAT receiver and plasma screen. The screen and speakers are in the family room, while all the other gear are 1 floor below (basement) on a rack, with wiring through the wall. IR control is through an IR eye in the wall which connects to flashers on the equipment in the basement. I tried an inexpensive universal remote, but we were frustrated by the slow response time, which I think is made worse by having to use a plasma 'friendly' IR eye.

I'd like to explore hard wired options. I'm imagining a Creston like panel on a table, wired to some form of control box, which then controls the equipment. I assume this is what Crestron equipment does - right? Is there such a thing as a basic system for this purpose? I assume the process would require buying the equipment from a dealer who also does the wiring/programming? Now the big question - I don't want to embarass myself - does something like this cost many thousands, or can something like this be done for less? Thanks.

List on an ST-CP is $1200 Control processor
List on a CNRFHT-30A $600 30 button remote. Configure anyway you need!

This is list so I'm sure you could find a dealer who will help on pricing or check on Ebay. There is a Crestron users group on Yahoo as well if you want to DIY.

Dave

Just to give you an idea, the most basic Crestron system (which is referred to as the SmarTouch system) retails for $3600.00. That includeds an RF wireless touchscreen (the model ST-1700C) and a control system with (2) one way RS-232 ports and 4 IR ports (but you can Y the IR ports to get more IR outputs).

It does not have two way feedback on the touchscreen, which can be very useful in some circumstances. Otherwise, when I say basic, I don't mean to indicate it is lacking. It will do everything most people need for theater control.

Hey QQQ! The 30 button remote isn't basic enough !

The ST-1550C and ST-1700 are great one way panels and are what I would recommend at that price point.

Dave

David:

Looks like we were posting at the same time. OK, I should have said most basic *touchscreen* system.

The RS-232 ports on the ST-CP Certainly ARE 2-way RS-232 communication. Its the panel that is not 2-way(as you mentioned).

The CP is a very powerful entry level processor. And can handle this system easily.

My mistake. We are always using one of the other processors when we are doing two way. Now that I think about it, I don't know what I was thinking :).

The RS-232 port on the ST-CP max speed is 38K so trying to control the Sony HD-200 would be out of the question.