I really like the AD-8x hardware. I can get it for a great price but I'd like to control it via my existing iRule setup. Can this be done or is it useless unless you buy into the RTI system completely?

The IR and RS-232 codes are obtainable from Rti. You could control the ad8x with any device that can issue IR, RS-232 and Ethernet commands

AD-8x also has a web GUI: you can control some features through this portal

However you will not be able to access many of the features of the unit without the RTI software and a control processor

If the codes are available, what features for instance would I not have access to? Perhaps the 2-way feedback?

Here's my situation...

I have a background in UX/UI and am friendly with the iRule folks. My goal is to use iRule as my touch screen remote as I want control over every aspect of the UI. That being said, I'd like every zone to also have a hard-button remote. I don't mind buying into a system like RTI for instance if it can co-exist/play nicely with iRule.

Any thoughts on this?

The AD-8,4x as well as the AD-8 and AD-4 are best utilized and enjoyed with the RTI driver which runs on a control processor. As the other guys mentioned, there are other shorthand ways to control it, but none are even close to harvesting the true power and feature set of the units without using the drivers with processors. Also, iRule makes very good software and it is impressive for the type of user and audience it caters to, but does not compare to Integration Designer.

How much customization is possible in terms of look and feel, icons, etc with the RTI platform?

The RTI platform is graphically wide open.

Really no limits..

[Link: cepro.com]

Rti platform is 100% open ended graphically and as to how it performs and what things do.

To answer the question about limits with control of ad8x from another system. You can gain two way control of this from other control systems. Crestron and savant for example I've seen it done on. Just like the rs232 and IP control commands are open to the public for use with any control system, so are the lists of strings the ad8x responds with to provide feedback to Rti or any other control system.

Now I don't know the system you mentioned using. So I don't know if you have abilities with this system to tell it when the ad8x sends out a string that it means the zone is on or the volume is -5db in zone 6 etc. if you can load in these string and your system will recognize and display this info in a way that makes sense to the user then yes you can get full two way control...