We have the opportunity to bid on a conference room for one of the city departments in our area. I think I have read every thread on conference rooms. In the past we have done some simple control. Mx 5000, Onkyo AVR with 5.1, house pc, Bluray, Sat/cable, wall plates with multiple options, In wall keypad,Polycom conference systems.


This room has no projector and they want large tv 80" sharp. (Metal studs) The room is not very big.The supervisor is a big apple guy and wants to have ipad control. There are 2 shades in room I would like to replace with RadioRA2 shades and do some lighting control and thermostat as well.

I am thinking in wall kp-2000 for control. We are a URC dealer and the ipad option is not available yet. Don't even know how well it will work. I want ipad control! I am thinking about using URC for Control and adding Ipad control later. I was wanting to put a 1280 remote from URC as the desk top remote as well.

If we have a keypad on wall, what is the best location?
What is the best Height for a keypad?
I am 6'1 and hate to look down at these things. It makes sense to me to use a standard remote along side a keypad until the ipad control is available. Am i Crazy?
Hell, the 1280 remote from Total control is not even available.

Fire away!

For the keypad, you want to make sure that they don't have to adhere to any provisions that designate specific height. i can't remember the name of it now, but it has to do with people with disabilities being able to reach and there is some very specific rultes in place. We end up putting them at light switch height most of the time because of this. 

The ipad can get trick because now you need Wi-Fi and you may have little to no say in how the network works and what can be connected to it. You can put in a standalone wi-fi system just for the rooms control. 

I know you don't do Crestron, but just to let you know some options that are out there. They have their MPC line that is a keypad with the control processor built-in that includes a net card so you can do Ipad and Xpanel PC control. We just did a system with an MPC-M5 which retails for about $650 and is powered over PoE. Pretty damn great deal if you ask me. 

All that said, sounds like you can do everything you need with URC except the iPad control. So you could look at RTI which has a better line up of in-wall's IMO and 2-way for everything you need, plus iPad and Computer control.

Or, stick with URC and mix in bitwise, sort of redundant IMO but it would work. 

I think Crestron is the the real solution. I can't deny that. Our competitor sells this and we have tried to stay away from it as long as we can. We don't have the demographics in our area to sell it. Our competitor is over an hour away and operates in our area ocationally. I would love to sell it.

Bitwise was another option I thought of but seemed like I should just be up front with the customer and tell him He will be able to do Ipad Integration in the near future. That way it stays on the same platform. I am leaning more and more towards RTI eveyday. Our Tech's are familiar with URC Currently. I am really liking RTI more and more. I wouldn't drop URC but maybe add RTI to our options. Thanks for the reminder of the wheelchair issue with the keypads. We have done 2 where the keypad was above the light switch.

thanks again

For a small room like you're talking about and the customer wanting Ipad control, this is a good job for Bitwise, and use Iport launchpad/port to hold it on the wall/desk as needed.  Bitwise has the Rs232 for RadioRA as well. So that's not a problem.

I recently just purchased a launchpad for my personal use and really like it.  

Every time you use an AVR in a conference room, God kills a kitten. Keep that in mind...

Now that's funny!

I was ready to post that an AVR is not the best choice for a conference room.

You mean Launchport? I'm not sure I could get over the big ass case that goes around the ipad. YOu really don't mind it?

Funny and VERY accurate. Commercial product for a commercial job. An iPad should ONLY be a secondary controller. Use an in wall or tabletop as the main control.

Do they already have the Polycom pieces? Where is the gear going? Do you have to extend the VTC camera wire? Are you using the stock Polycom mics?

i love crestrons MPC-M5. And for 650 retail you cannot go wrong. That used to be direct only but they moved that line over to AVAD so you you could just become a crestron prodigy dealer over there, take the quick test for commercial products and get authorized. Not to mention an APE without fingers can program it :) hell i farm out every bit of programming but even i could do this :p Especially the ability to use an ipad as a second controller in this price point is just a no brainer.

The commercial crestron line was one thing that made it such a hard thing to drop when crestron reshuffled the whole prodigy line over to avad. :(

As far as an avr in the boardroom; NOT a good idea man, Commercial for Commercial and resi in resi. Sometimes Commercial in resi but NEVER the other way around. Just do a small amp and run everything mono or L&R.

Personally if your not going to do the crestron training then get a XP6 and a RK-3v in either the wall or use this to make it a table top controller. [Link: fsrinc.com] extron also has a adapter like this too but i cant think of the model number right now. Then just do the RTI panel for the Ipad as a second controller and call it a day.

it sounds like you dont dable much in commercial so going for crestron training just for this job might not make sense. So just go the RTI route. The more commercial work you start doing it might make sense to go for it but not for this one job. Just my 2 cents.

[Link: extron.com]

yeah those are the table access connections to the AV stuff but im talking about the FSR extron equivalent of making a wall touch panel a permanent table controller adapter.

The M1 controller from AP has built-in web server for iPad, iDevice and other web browser enabled devices. Controlling the system as easy as entering URL of the controller into the web browser address bar. Multiple devices can access the controller simultaneously and be in sync with each other i.e. pressing the button on one device will cause the same to occur on the others. One notable installation was done for the State of Oklahoma and featured iPad control of a Polycom VSX system and an Elmo document camera in addition to projector, dvd/vcr combo, and multiple input scaler control. All these modules can be cut and pasted into your program so they're ready to use and u don't need to reinvent the wheel. Other nice features included start and quit system macros.

Are you kidding me?

Nezbo, your thread is now forever derailed.

Seriously for this small of a project just do RTI! or if your willing to take the plunge into the crestron world then the MPC is your best solution :) then use xpanel for a stupid simple cost effective ipad solution to satisfy the apple guy!

OMG Dude....I am so sick of seeing your crap in threads I cringe every time I open one.