Hi all,

Can anyone recommend a solid person to tutor the Crestron Suite of programs?

Why not, if you have not already done so, go for Crestron training. It is not uncommon to repeat a course.

If your not a member, I'd start by joining the Crestron Yahoo group. It's like having 2000 tutors. There's also a lot of Crestron guys at IP that are glad to anwser programing question in the verified section.

What are you having problems with?

I already went to the essentials class and did really well, but I am uncomfortable with just enough stuff that I would like to have some one-on-one time with a pro to answer questions as they come up. I'm getting ready to install a pretty big job, and I just need some clarification on a few things. I would like to hire someone to come to Portland for a couple of days next month.

Your decision sounds very wise. Pretty much all of our prgramming has always been done in house so...I haven't used them but I've heard excellent things about www.controlworks.com. Good programmers are usually pretty booked up so I'd get someone lined up ASAP. Good luck.

Thanks Q, I'll shoot 'em a message. I am a firm believer in you get what you pay for, so I don't mind making the investment. I just want to be certain that I'm getting fair value if I'm paying more than $100/hour. I'm sure that CAIPs are much like any other programmer in that only about 20% are worth what they charge.

Well, I'd agree with that statement regarding just about everyone in business these days ;-). Quality unfortunately is not the primary driving force in the market place.

so unbelievably true.

I must have misunderstood your original intentions. Like Gary, I thought you needed some help with programming or design but it appears you want help finding a programmer. While there is nothing wrong with Control Works they are in Cleveland. While they will certainly travel you might find it worth your while to find someone closer to Portland. That said, I would second Gary's advice of posting on the Yahoo site. There are lots of CAIPs and a few dealers there and if nothing else you may get lots of advice on how to choose a proagrammer. A very long time ago I worked with Brian McCarthy ( he is listed on the list of CAIPs on the Crestron site ) and I would recomend his services based upon experience. Of course, he is based out of NY which goes against my advice of selecting someone local.

Here is what I would expect from a prograemmer. He be on site for initial installation. Changes or modifications, if they are not tricky or substansial, can be done off site. I would not hire a programmer by the hour or day. Only by the job. An experienced programmer should be able to guestimate his fee based upon a programming specification. Here is what you need to do to minimize your extras from programming. You need to check all of your wiring before hand. All emitters, interconnects, speaker wires and most especially serial interconnects. I have found that improperly terminated serial cables is the single most common problem when I am programming an other contractor's jobs.

I would make sure that the graphics file was in line with what I wanted and what my client expected.

I would make sure that the GUI met my specificatiions. Many of you understand a GUI far better than most programmers. Here is a second possiblity for programming extras. Make sure any future additions or changes to the system ( save for a dramatic expansion of the system. Obviously, going from a basic distributed audio system irrespective of size to Crestron video with bidirectional audio and video will be a change requring programatic changes and for which you can bill without your client feeling you are pulling something. ). A quick example. Original specification from the contractor is for a basic distributed audio system consisting of Elan dual tuner, cable music and Escient CD server controlled by 6 CT-1000s. He then asks for E-control, Then a C2N-TXM, then he gives me a vtp file from a buddy that he likes more. Then he specifies 3 TPMC10s and finally he asks for 3 RF remotes and a second XM tuner. A basic distributed audio system gets programmed one way ( for price reasons ) while RF panels and devices with lots of 2 way infor an other. I had to rewrite the job due to the RF panels, E-control and extra network traffic. Had the contractor informed me of these potential upgrades when he proferred the job specification I would have chosen the second programming option at the beginning and his programming extras would have been fewer and less dramatic.

When you program your own systems these sorts of mistakes eat into your time with your family. When you are paying a sub contractor to program these mistakes eat into your salary and if they occur too often they will put you out of business. Make SURE that any problems are not the result of your installation errors. I made this point above but I cannot make it often enough. You will be charged additional programming fees if the serial code fails to work and the programmer has to troubleshoot the problem and it turns out to be an improperly terminated cable, bad emitter or an emitter that has fallen off. This is not unreasonable as every problem will be blamed on the programmer. On occasion it will be a programming error but the overwhelming per centage of errors are installation based.

Alan

Alan,

I appreciate the detailed response. I've been to the essentials class, can build a very user friendly, easily legible, and attractive GUI ( programmed at least 200 tsu1k/2k/3k/7k many with my own custom graphics), understand macro strings, delays, code integrity, and jumps far better than many (including competitors) whose remotes I have reprogrammed. My intent here is to pay someone a fair rate to help me through configuration of connected devices and the core of my SIMPL windows program. I've got a really great client who is completely understanding of the situation, and I just want to do this the right way. I am fanatical about installation tidiness and integrity of connections, so these things are not of concern.

I am considering using a 3rd party graphics solution. Would any of you like to comment on the wisdom of this? There is one on the GUIFX site that I agree with from a design perspective. It seems that many of the templates available for purchase are kind of gawdy and unintuitive. Like many of the prontos we have all seen, programmers (especially graphic designers and web developers) frequently overly complicate a GUI and confuse the end user in the process.

If you look at the guifx site there are several templates from Guiwerx that are incredible. I have used several from Noel and his work is outstanding, his designs for the MX3000 are as nice too. He is willing to work on a custom icon if needed, he was asked to make a template for RTI's T3 as well, I have used that one on the last T3 install and needed a new icon, I emailed Noel with my request for an icon and it was in my email in the morning.

www.guiwerx.com is his address and can all be bought from guifx and allows you to receive future updates as well.

Is he returning phone calls these days? For a while there Noel fell off the radar screen. I used a package of his last year, liked it, and called him several times with questions; no answer.

I have only emailed him on several occasions and he has replied each time in a timely manner

I never tried email; if I can remember what it was I wanted from him I'll try that.

Thanks.

Have either of you used the template tht looks like a Macintosh desktop?