What's the word on the Crestron STS system.I've heard this system is straight-forward as far as programming goes but will eventually be superceded by another system. Does anyone know if it's worth investing in this product?

The ST-CP is getting a little long in the tooth, but works quite well and is great for a stand-alone system while still being expandable for system upgrades & add-ons in the future. Your big investment will be in learning Simple Windows and Vision Tools Pro, which are the same programs used for all Crestron's other products, so there's no loss in starting with the ST-CP. Crestron's not announced a replacement for this unit, and that means any follow-on unit is a year or more out, in my estimation.

The ST-CP replacement is now shipping and and an E control version is available as well. It uses a seperate RF gateway but has traditional com ports more IR ports and the package is not a lot more money than the ST-CP. It is called the CP2. Check out Crestron's website. Crestron's panels are programmed using three programs: SIMPL Windows, Vision Tools Pro-E, and Deal for Windows. SIMPL is an acronym for Symbol Intensive Master Programming Language

This message was edited by Shoe on 06/17/02 06:39.43.

If you are looking to buy i have two for sale that are brand new i can also help you with programming

There are two ways to program the STS system.

The simpler approach is to use ONLY VisionTools; according to Crestron (a couple of months ago), you must use an older version of VisionTools Pro-e to program the STS system, with an older database. They make it easy to find the correct versions of these programs on their web site. VisionTools will not program all of their components, so it is dropping by the wayside in favor of a new program.

To be honest, I have not looked up the new program because I am not ready to take their class yet, but I had a brief exposure to SIMPL Windows, and rest assured that SIMPL does NOT NOT NOT mean simple. An introduction to SIMPL Windows programming reduced a class full of A/V installing programmers to a confused crowd.

I will eventually take the class, but right now you need to spend $500 (if I remember rightly) for some kind of license to be able to enroll in the class, which is offered in Southern California and New Jersey and might be full for a couple of months from the time you get the certificate. The classes are free, but you have to get yourself there. The logic of how the commands are assembled, and linked to the buttons and the components, looked complicated enough that the average programmer would probably have a pretty hard time figuring it out without a class.

I am sticking with the older VisionTools Pro-e until their products make me unable to use it any more. At the moment this happens two ways: they replace the product, or I have a system with an STS but also with a component that cannot be programmed with just VisionTools. Their keypads, for instance.