| Post 195 made on Tuesday February 20, 2007 at 23:38 |
Steve@EI Long Time Member |
Joined:
Posts: | February 2007
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On February 20, 2007 at 21:25, PHSJason said...
OK, I'll bite on the system design challenge thing(sort
of). In this forum, by and large, we are all custom guys.
We all know what our systems can do, the question here
is what can your system do and how does it work in specific
areas that we find important? With that in mind, how
would EI handle the system I propose below? This is a
ridiculously simple system with no lighting control, no
distributed video(other than feeding two displays from
one DVR). There are a lot of features that our clients
have asked for like one button source selection, hold
a button for off etc. Also, how does EI handle the product
in this system that isn't in the current library(like
the Epson 1080p Projector). I know you mentioned a few
pages back that we can use some generic commands for items
like the projector, but how do we get the feedback? If
my spec is out of line from what other integrators do,
I would be surprised. This is a system that we can do
very easily in AMX. How would it work in EI?
No need to go with “private” discussions, we can keep
the pricing to MSRP and keep this whole thing public.
First question, can EI even do the system per the spec?
Especially the source button requirements. If so, How
much for the complete system including keypads, remotes,
panels, controllers, power supplies, control labor, and
programming? Are all the parts available from EI directly?
So at first glance we can do most of what is in the spec, however our approach to this systems is very different. All the two way transport controls and av gear(DVD, CD, Tuner, etc...) is in MCE, done out of the box. If you can swallow that. We would use our UDI tool for the misc rs232 equipment triggers and scripts. The biggest difference is that the interface is very complex in what you are doing to simply play music or a movie. Also most of the content is digital in our world, so you add a lot of metadata and cover art features that i don't see discussed. If we want to run at this spec, we can do it. I personally don't think of this as home automation, but more as an overgrown pronto remote with two way. I am used to bigger jobs and more subsystems instead of button push control. It would be more fun to take the end result of the system and the customer and show him the way we do it and see what he is really finding value in. Doesn't the customer just want it to do what he wants, play a movie, pause it to go to the bathroom, finishing watching it in the master. Also all the cryptic hold this button down for 5 seconds and stuff, the usability is out the window. As i state, we can do most of it, it is just complex IR macro and such, the gui is a problem for us, but keep in mind we beleive that our closed loop gui is one of are biggest assets, i realize some of you disagree, but we will have to let the future tell us who wins here. Lets not have the same arguement again. I would try to design this system with the thought in mind of it being in a weekly rental suite, different guest each week that is paying a ton for the room. Last thing you want is them not be able to watch tv, if a manual or training is needed for each guest. If you take that approach it is generally usable by mom dad kids alike. We certainly differ if the real secret sauce of that system is gui and cryptic hold nose for ten seconds, unbutton fly, flush toilet, and then ask mom for a good night kiss. Got to run, just my end of the day humor. SC
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SC |
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