I've been tasked with purchasing and implementing the AV gear to go into our new corporate office and have some questions I'd like to put to the experts.

Background: in our current, soon to be sub-corporate conference room, we have a 65" Sharp Aquos. After the company spent $12k on that and some antiquated AV switching gear only a year ago from a company that makes a lot of money doing this (clearly), I updated it. For $1600, I built an HTPC with blu-ray, got an Onkyo TX-SR707 (for video switching mainly), a Logitech Harmony One remote to control all of it (not the pc), and some Polk center and front speakers for a little better sound than what the display was pumping out. We have a bluetooth keyboard and mouse for PC input. Also, I'm in IT. I do some programming/networking. I love this stuff, and I'm eager to learn more.

Now I'm selecting gear for the new site. The Harmony One is cool little device, but I'm thinking maybe about experimenting with IP and RS-232 over wifi. This is driven in part because Windows 7 now has "Connect to Network Projector", and the CIO thinks it would be cool for CEO to walk into the board room with her laptop, click that link, and display her desktop on the screen. I guess that's cool and I'm considering the Optoma TX1080 for it. That in and of itself does not require IP control, but since the projector will have an RJ-45 connection anyway...

Personally, I'm more interested in having a single control device, like maybe a Samsung Q1 Ultra, which has a touchscreen and physical keyboard (albeit thumb keyboard). This would provide control for the gear, the PC, maybe the environment if I wanted; and allow the controller to look on that screen instead of the display. The users also seem to have an issue with holding the Logitech remote in the general direction of the AV gear long enough to turn everything on in the activity. The ability to troubleshoot and possibly solve AV problems remotely is a plus since we're co-locating. Justifying my need to play with something like Girder and NetRemote from Proximis is a double-plus.

The receiver (thinking Onkyo TX-NR1007) also has a lan port and lan control. I'm not finding a flat-panel that has control over IP, but I'm assuming RS-232 coupled with a GC-100 from Global Cache will work.

Oh yeah, get this: There will be a 65" (or larger) flat-panel directly behind the motorized screen. Since the screen is 4:3, and projecting a 16:9 on it isn't going to be much larger than the TV behind I'm a little puzzled by this decision (not mine). I can't really get an answer for why we need both, other than the screen and projector ceiling mount came with the office, the quasi-cool network projector thing, and they want a flat-panel for when they don't want to dim the lights (I guess).

I won't have time to develop the control interface before the room is needed, so I'd likely have to go IR initially. But to those with their ears to the rails, is it worth selecting gear with IP or RS-232 control as a factor for future use? Are we at the cusp of that being a deal-breaker when deciding between A and B? Or is this a situation where it looks good on paper, but I'm likely biting off more than I'm willing to chew?

Thank you for your input, and apologies for my novella. I hope it was all relevant.

I can't believe I read your entire post. However, I did read it and will answer all of your questions.
Yes
No
Yes

LOL. Thanks for taking the time Any, and for your reply. Re-reading it, I suppose I probably could have left off everything but the last paragraph.

I think it worth distinguishing between the interface used by the remote and the interface used by the A/V components.

I would strongly suggest against using an activity based remote that uses IR. Commands will be dropped and so control will fail and the system will be put in an unknown state. That leaves RF and IP (via WiFi.)

You can still get away with IR based control on devices, though look for devices that have discrete control.

Of course, since the remote is not IR, you need a control gateway between the remote and the components to achieve this.

Two-way control via serial, IP, etc. are great, but as pointed out is not yet a slam dunk.

Hello pr0t0,
I'm from a IT background also but have been dabbling with Multiroom and AV for about the last 3 years with much success and only the occasional pitfall.
I think you're questions allow for a lot of debate and opinion so here is mine.
1.Keep it simple
2.Don't over promise functionality
3.What ever you use set it up on a bench before you install it. Make sure it all does what its supposed to do and use the same lengths of cable you'll be using in the finished install
4.IP Control is still fresh out of the box so unless you find an off the shelf solution I think its best left.
5.RS232 is supposedly rock solid but Ive had a night mare 3 weeks trying to control a device this way so I'm not so sure any more.
6.IR is bullet proof in my experience since there is so much kit available to help you solve issues.

My key control product brand is URC (Universal Remote Control), the pro installer kit, not the home user stuff you buy off the shelf. They make an MSC400 control box that has plenty of IR, RS232, some relays and senors for an excellent price. It can turn RF received commands into triggered IR with the use of a URC wand remote. So you don't need line of sight on any device unless you want to. Support is very good and they offer lots of online webinars every month which would help you get up to speed with programing the kit.
Not as cool as an AMX tablet or a flash driven Samsung touch screen but it will work.. every time and in the long run that's what is going to matter to your boss. Hope this helps.

RS-232 is bulletproof. (unless the device you are controlling is just terrible)
However, it can be a PITA trying to figure out what String will get a device to do what you want.

You can always look for the RS-232 documentation before you purchase anything if you aren't sure.