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Topic:
Best home remote system withOUT paying a dealer for customization
This thread has 2 replies. Displaying all posts.
Post 1 made on Wednesday June 21, 2017 at 10:35
DrNotes
Long Time Member
Joined:
Posts:
December 2006
18
I have a fairly complex setup in my home, 6 rooms with surround sound and 8 more rooms/zones, plus about 100 Insteon devices controlled by an ISY994 Pro that I control via IR, as well as a Traxon RBG controller for LED strip lighting. The speakers for each zone are driven by AVRs. I have two centralized equipment racks, one upstairs and one for the basement, but other random devices that I directly control via IR. I even control my floor standing fans with the same remote lol. I have one program on my URC MX-3000(s) that controls everything in conjunction with two MRF-350 base stations that send IR directly to devices in the racks, some via IR splitters/repeaters.

Which brings me to my question. The MX-3000 remote is now well over 10 years old, is there a better CONSUMER product available for my type of situation yet? It needs to have a touchscreen with at LEAST the programming capabilities of the MX-3000. The Harmony remotes do not even come close to doing what I need. The features I would require:

1. ZERO requirement to pay an "authorized dealer" for programming, obviously this means the programming software is provided to the consumer
2. Totally customizable LARGE touchscreen with hard buttons for basic functions
3. RF or WiFi communications to a base with addressable IR outputs
4. Comprehensive IR code database, updated regularly, control of 100+ devices by the remote
5. Rechargeable lithium battery
6. Cost effective, need at least 6 of them to have around the house

My number one desire would be to have a larger screen with higher resolution than 320x240. I would be willing to consider an Android app, does such a thing to meet my requirements exist? The Android app would obviously have to interface with some kind of WiFi connected base station that relays IR commands like the MRF-350 does via RF. A line-of-sight IR only solution is not an option.

As far as I know, to this day nothing beats the MX-3000 for my type of configuration, kind of mind blowing given the rate at which home electronics evolve. I wanted to throw this out to the interwebs to see if there are any other better options that I was unaware of. Considering that I can get additional used MX-3000 remotes for $50 a pop on eBay, I'm not aware of any reason to "upgrade" at this point.
Greg Francis
Post 2 made on Wednesday June 21, 2017 at 19:14
mdavej
Active Member
Joined:
Posts:
December 2002
627
iRule is the first thing that comes to mind, but would obviously have no hard buttons.
Post 3 made on Sunday June 25, 2017 at 08:06
buzz
Super Member
Joined:
Posts:
May 2003
4,366
I'm not aware of anything in your overall price range ($50), but you should look at Touch Control. While the App is well within your price range, you'll need to replace your MRF-350's and you may need to purchase iPad/iPhone(s).

You'll have tons more screen resolution and real estate. If you have some imagination and JavaScript skills, you can create advanced interactions that are not possible with the MX-3000. The only hard buttons supported are Volume UP and Volume Down, but they are just buttons as far as the program is concerned and each button can be assigned to any command, macro or function you like.

A system of your scale is not a problem. You would replace the MRF-350's with Global Caché units that are WiFi or wired and can be scattered about as needed. Need to sense when the garage door is open or send IR to a device that is difficult to wire back to a rack? -- no problem.

My programming style for any control system is to allow any remote to control any room. You can then use one remote per area or one remote per user. If the dog eats a remote, you can still control the whole system with one of the remaining remotes.


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