QQQ, right on the "money" so to speak. This customer didnt budget the control system in his mind because the sales guy didnt put that thought there when the project grew. I know cause i've done it myself. Doing it after the fact makes it seem as though your just trying to jack the price. Which you are not. The other benefit of doing it up front give you a chance to teach the customer about the "Value" of the control system. Most high dollar customers dont mind spending the money if they feel it adds tangible value to what they are purchasing. Take it from a guy who made a living selling Runco plasmas and Projectors. When a "big Daddy" as we called them is convinced about the value, money is not a problem

Just my 2c.

Eric may need the lap dance more than I do. I've got a big manly wired Crestron touchscreen that women love, not a little bitty remote that runs out of batteries.

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p.s. Imapaqt, Thanks for the offer. Don't know yet if I'm going.

Alas, what my woman loves most about me requires neither batteries nor touchscreens....

I've done probably 12+ 3 screen systems and it's hard enough to get decent functionality using a 1-way AMX/Crestron. The user should be able to have a representation of each screen showing what each one is playing, a seperate section to show which he's listening to and the ability to quickly choose which one he wants to control and to automatically go to the correct xport menu. One step further some people like to be able to swap what's on a side monitor with the main screen. With a 2-way AMX/Crestron this is all fairly straightforward, but I honestly can't envision selling something like this with a Pronto. I've even done a Viewpoint for a 32" TV, DVD and VCR and the client couldn't have been happier thanks to the ease of use.

the simple solution for a customer who used up more than his budget just to get the two plasma tv's is to use a pronto (in my case a color) and go ir for the main THX receiver, and two seperate rf extenders, one for each side tv (in my case 36xbr's). i just built a home page with a picture of his THX wall so that all he has to do to control the main theater is press the picture of the 110" screen and like wise for the two side tv's. work like a champ at a fraction of the cost of crestron. i can even give you the file to use as a template.

sigh.... No one is saying you "can't" canotrol said setup with a pronto. What we're saying is that it shouldn't.

By all means folks, continue selling Prontos with high end systems... I'm more than happy to go in when your done and install a real control system, and the reap the referals.

How many of your clients that you havet heard from since the install was done are you assuming are happy with the system? Fact is, if your not following up, you dont know. Most people are embaressed to call you when they forget how to use their remote that you touted as being simple to use. They get frustrted and call me. I explain to them that the pronto was a cute idea, but a system of their caliber requires a complimenting control system. and if my system doesnt deliver what I'm promising, I'll take it out and refund them.

And I DO follow up after the control system is in.

I have yet for someone to ask me to remove the AMX system because the pronto was just as easy.

RF with any Pronto typed based remote we've ever done, was sketchy at best.

I haven't dabbled with AMX, but I can tell you I have done RF Pronto/Marantz remotes, Lexicon 700T/TCM-3RF control systems, and a few other RF systems, and none yet have compared to the range and reliability of Crestron's RF.

And IR? IR is good for a simple system, but how many times when you are showing the system, have you observed the client pointing the remote at the ceiling to see the touchscreen, pressing a button, and wondering why nothing is happening? And then try to explain how they must "point" the remote at a particular spot for it to work.

Kinda takes the "easy to use" and "simple to operate" statements right out of the equation, not to mention the credibility factor.

Hey, we learned the hard way, went through the learning curve, and were the guinea pigs of many different control systems until we found a few that worked well for the types of systems we do, like a lot of companies did. And in some cases it cost us either time, money, or both due to one issue or another.

Every control system or remote has it's place in this business, it's just deciding which ones will work well for your company and system designs.

JJP

Just wanted to follow up on this one.
As stated in my previous posts I took on the challenge of controlling this system with a pronto pro using a combination of IR for the 2 monitors and rf for everything else.
Works like a Champ. I designed a very simple CCF complete with instructions. My clients are very happy and I've gotten more refferals from this job than any other.
Took me about 14 hours to do the programming. This was alot less than what I was expecting.
The 3 RF extenders worked great for isolating the IR codes to the 3 Zenith HD boxes.
Maybe I got lucky.........maybe I'm just good..:)
Whichever it is, the bottom line is that my client agrees that the system is easy to operate and very pleased. The misses even teared up after I did the demo she was so happy. Now that's cool.
Thanks again for everyone's suggestions.
CMack

If you can still find them the Hughes E86 has 8 addressable command sets and the supplied remote is addressable also.


ahhhhhhhhhh it was so easy

and also if u sold a 50k system and did not sneak in 5-6k for the control then pass the blunt quicker next time u stoned

I am aware of the Hughes and used them for years. The off air tuner in them sucks. So rather than pass on a known problem to my client, I went the extra mile. Call it what you want.
CMack

if u dont mind what model ird for sat did u use email me the info i would like to check em out if better than hughes and what do u mean by off air tuner pardon me if that is a novice ???

Zenith, there's only one and I don't recall the model #.
CMack

WACI is the Web Access Control Interface. It includes a built in web server and uses WEB Standard Programming Languages and off-the-shelf WEB Authoring Tools to develop Dynamic Control Interface Screens.

• Control Small to Medium Size Conference Rooms or VTC Rooms locally and/or from the Internet or Intranet.
• Remotely Control Stand Alone Devices such as Public Displays or Kiosks from a Master Control Room or AV Head End.
• Control and monitor your home entertainment center from a custom webpage. Use your PDA to control your house.
• Use as a security device to monitor access to RAQ cabinets or other locations via contact closures.
• Remotely Control Distance Learning Classrooms/Training Rooms from a Central Location.
• Compliment other LAN Based Control Systems.
• Use for Show Control, Theme Parks, and Stadium Audio Video equipment.

For more information about the product visit:
[Link: auroramultimedia.com]

Main page:
http://www.auroramultimedia.com

Let me know what you think.