You have to be kidding! OK, I’m a geek and during a recent remodel, put in a new AV system that one of my friends dubbed “geek heaven.” Up until the point where I needed a control system. The firm that did my custom installation said I needed a $10,000 Crestron control system, which was between 25-30% of the cost of the system – a number I considered ridiculous. And besides, I really didn’t want a proprietary solution which would be both difficult to extend (as standards advanced) and hard for me to program by myself (as I wanted changes or added equipment). So.. I decided to do my own.

With that I learned both how difficult the CE manufacturers make it to control their equipment and how little middleware exists to make this a doable solution. Granted, my system was pretty complex, using a 4×4 HDMI (1080p) matix switch, BluRay, a Media Center PC (with 8GB fast memory, 1.5TB hard drive, and HDMI (1080p) native output), a 1080p projector, 4 video end points, and lots of speakers.

The CE manufacturers should all be ashamed of how difficult they have made it control their equipment. Many now have web connections to their equipment, but don’t use this connection for control.

So.. what did I wind up doing? Because it was a complete remodel, I had wired everything with extra cat5 cable for control. Therefore, I was able to put either RS232 or IR control to each component. This was helpful, allowing me to bring control – necessary but not sufficient.

After lot’s of work and research, and trying to use a individual components and software, I threw in the towel and decided to use a Philips Pronto Pro system: TSU9800 (living room/home theatre), TSU9400 (bedroom), and RFX9600 (serial controller in the equipment rack). While more expensive than trying to integrate my own, they had the middleware and software with the control codes available. And it uses WiFi, Ethernet, and a variant of java script. And the ProntoEdit software is pretty straightforward and functional (with LOTS of room for improvement). Even still, I never got the RS232 control to work, so had to try to do everything via IR, which means no feedback on power sense or volume levels.

Even still, the CE manufacturers don’t expose all of the IR codes via the remotes. If you intend to take this on, you will need to know about Remote Central (www.remotecentral.com), which is a community with lots of codes, formats and discussion boards.

In the end, I’m generally pleased with the result, but the process was no fun at all. And even in the end, I still haven’t been able to control the lights, the solar screens, or fireplaces.

Maybe someday, this will work the way it should. If any CE executives read this blog, please work harder to satisfy your customers.