Has anyone been able to do whole house multi zone A/V progamming with a single URC remote?

To Elaborate:
Say you have multiple zones: LR, FR, BedR1, BedR2, Office, Backyard etc.
And multiple devices: DVD, DVR, Cable, Radio,XM, HTPC etc.

A simple approach would be to have one remote per room (zone)
That way the routing macros are hard coded for each remote.

A more powerful programming would be to be able to tell one remote to "now act as the living room remote" for example. After that all devices selected will automatically route A/V to that room (zone)

Easier said than done but raises the following questions:
1) Does URC have programming capability to achieve this? Yes they have variables but can it be done with just simple binary variables?

2) Even if it could be done with a great deal of difficulty, how much of ease of use would be give up in return for power?

Thanks for your answers in advance.

The Mx-3000 is MORE then capable of whole house control...depending on your budget of course...if its tight then just use multipal MRF units per location..... i have an example template i use in our show room and it is controlling 7 whole systems with your choice of in-celing- towers, micro, and in-wall speakers as well as your choice of amps from primare to Elan....lots and LOTS of variables also multiple TVs......its all in the programming and how much time you put into it

If you want one remote to do everything the Mx-950 would my remote of choice for your task. You'll need several RF/IR distribution and routing devices (MSC-400 or MRF350). You also need someone to program it for you.

If you want one TYPE of remote for every room in the house than an MX 850 would be sufficient with the same RF/IR routing devices mentioned above. We did a roughly 7K sq ft home with 8 MX-850's (client didn't want KP's) and they all control a centrally mounted rack for whole house music dstributed AV, everything. They even share local sources! Works like a champ!

And don't foget to hire a pro to help you with all this. It could turn out to be a disaster without one.

Brian @ Connect Source

This is definitely "hire a pro" territory, IMHO. :-)

(ed would be proud! ;-) )

And QQQ is always all over his ass. Ed serves a noble purpose in the circle of life....I felt guilty stepping on his line.

Brian

From a CI's standpoint, although you *can* do it, you should not -- for two very important reasons:

1. The remote will be more confusing for the user to operate.
2. It will be more likely to get lost, because it could be in Room 1, or Room 2, or Room 3, etc. Dedicating the remote to a single room, means (in a perfect world) that's the only place you have to look for it.

It's one thing to have a remote be tied to a given room, most remotes will do this with no problem.

But are all your sources distributed? Or are some of the sources in a central location, all of them, or a split. This makes a difference because how you'd use functions like "Watch" or "Listen" will be dramatically affected by trying to reconfigure the remote to think it's in a different room. I'm not sure a text screen remote would be up to the task (without being obscenely tedious to use). If you want roaming remotes you're really going to want to consider the MX-3000.

The Pronto's are out of the running for lack of variables. Yeah, you could configure an endless array of pages to counter all situations but, ugh, that's way too much work. And if Harmony stick with using their web-based setup for the 1000 (to be shipped...) you'd have a real challenge getting it setup.

What you may find, however, is a mix of remotes works best. Some simple stick-type remotes, possibly even without a display at all, that are tied to each room. This gives you a good "toss around" remote that'll stand up to daily use. Then have a couple of MX-3000 units configured to "do it all".

But programming a remote for that complex a setup is not for the novice. yeah, you could just slog your way through it but there's any number of gotchas that can only be avoided by having done a lot of programming before.

I've programmed MANY MX-3000s in this manner. You do not need to sacrifice ease of use to utilize the remote's power at all. The more power the remote has, the easier it can be designed to use. The remote is perfectly capable to do what you want. It really comes down to how it is programmed.

Feel free to e-mail or call if you would like a free consultation.



Thank you,
Damon DG
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